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UNIVERSITY 
Of  ILLINOIS 

SeSVIsaV 

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Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date  stamped  below. 

Theft,  mutilation,  and  underlining  of  books 
are  reasons  for  disciplinary  action  and  may 
result  in  dismissal  from  the  University. 
University  of  Illinois  Library 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Afit.at  53. 


SE  WARD 


AT 


t^asMixglcm, 


AS 


SENATOR  AND  SECRETARY  OE  STATE 


A  MEMOIR  OF  HIS  LIFE ,  WITH  SELECTIONS 

FROM  HIS  LETTERS. 


1846-1861. 


FREDERICK  W.  SEWARD. 


NEW  YORK: 

DERBY  AND  MILLER,  149  CHURCH  STREET. 

1891. 


t 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety. 


By  FREDERICK  W.  SEWARD, 

In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


WEED,  PARSONS  AND  COMPANY, 
PRINTERS,  ELECTROTYPERS  AND  BINDERS, 

ALBANY,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE. 


In  his  C{  Autobiography  ”  and  Letters,  already  published,  are 
narrated  the  incidents  of  my  father’s  early  life.  Those  of  the  later 

period,  devoted  to  active  participation  in  national  affairs,  are  now 

* 

related  here. 

If  it  shall  seem  to  the  reader,  as  I  confess  it  often  does  to  me, 
that  this  book  is  imperfect,  in  not  dwelling  more  fully  upon  the 
acts  and  achievements  of  other  public  men,  cotemporary  with 
Seward, 7— the  answer  is  simple.  This  book  is  the  story  of  a  life, 
not  the  history  of  a  time.  If  it  undertook  to  recount  their  experi¬ 
ences  as  well  as  his  own,  it  would  fill  not  one,  but  many  volumes. 
But  though  not  recounted  here,  they  were  never  ignored  by  him. 
II  e  was  always  more  ready  to  give  praise  to  others  than  to  claim  it 
for  himself.  His  oft  expressed  belief  was  that,  in  those  eventful 
days,  it  required  all  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest,  and  all  the  bravery  of 
<  the  bravest,  and  all  the  unrecorded  sacrifices  of  thousands  unknown 
to  fame,  to  save  the  Nation’s  life  from  destruction, —  and  even  then, 
it  was  “saved  only  as  through  fire.” 


F.  W.  S. 


894626 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


O' 


V?» 

O' 


PAGE. 

PAGE. 

Frontispiece  —  Portrait. 

Palace  at  Turin, 

407 

The  Home  at  Auburn, 

81 

Prince  Esterhazy, 

427 

Old  Capitol  at  Albany, 

31 

Cavour,  . 

427 

John  Quincy  Adams,  . 

37 

The  Imperial  Family, 

435 

General  Taylor,  . 

37 

Salon  at  Compiegne, 

435 

Railroad  in  1847, 

42 

Lincoln’s  Inauguration, 

516 

Owasco  Lake,  .... 

50 

“  Freedom  ”  in  the  East  Park, 

516 

The  Capitol  at  Washington  in 

The  Old  State  Department, 

520 

1849,  .  .  .  . 

104 

In  the  Secretary’s  Room, 

520 

Dr.  Nott,  .... 

176 

General  Scott  and  Staff, 

552 

Kossuth,  .... 

176 

Harper’s  Ferry  Arsenal  in 

Seward  in  the  Senate, 

263 

Ruins, . 

552 

Mrs.  Seward,  .... 

263 

Baron  Gerolt, 

554 

Quebec, . 

304 

Lord  Palmerston, 

554 

On  the  St.  Lawrence, 

304 

The  7th  in  Camp, 

561 

Off  Point  Saguenay, 

314 

The  69th  at  Prayers, 

561 

Off  Anticosti,  .... 

314 

European  Sovereigns  in  1861, 

568 

Andrew  Johnson,  . 

344 

Examining  Passes  at  George¬ 

Lord  Napier,  .... 

344 

town,  . 

574 

The  Prince  of  Wales  in  1859, 

372 

The  Old  Capitol  Prison,  . 

574 

Lord  John  Russell,  . 

372 

The  Duryea  Zouaves, 

585 

Trentham,  .... 

386 

Fortress  Monroe, 

585' 

The  Houses  of  Parliament, 

386 

Prince  Napoleon, 

607 

Lamartine,  .... 

396 

Gortschakoff,  .... 

607 

The  Congress  of  Paris, 

396 

The  House  on  Lafayette  Square, 

611 

Cardinal  Antonelli, 

400 

In  the  Garden,  .... 

611 

In  the  Vatican,  . 

400 

Fortifications  at  Washington, 

632 

On  the  Appian  Way, 

407 

The  Chain  Bridge, 

632 

CONTENTS. 


4c- 

/v  4 \ 


CHAPTER  I. 

1846. 

After  the  Freeman  Trial.  Reaction  of  Public  Feeling.  The  Judge  and  the  Prisoner.  The 
Army  on  the  Rio  Grande.  Oregon  Treaty.  The  Constitutional  Convention.  An  Elect¬ 
ive  Judiciary.  The  “Anti-Renters.”  The  Constitution  Adopted.  .  .  29 

CHAPTER  II. 

1846. 

Law  Practice.  Whigs  in  Power  at  Albany.  The  New  Executive.  New  Year  in  New 
York.  The  Governor’s  Message.  The“Wilmot  Proviso.”  The  Hour  for  the  Dis¬ 
cussion  of  Emancipation.  Moralizing  at  St.  Peter’s.  .  .  .  .32 


CHAPTER  III. 

1847. 

At  Washington.  The  Mexican  War.  Taylor’s  Victories.  Capture  of  California.  Scott’s 
Plan  of  Campaign.  Visit  to  John  Quincy  Adams.  The  “  Three  Million  Bill.”  The 
“Proviso”  Voted  Down.  Story  of  John  Van  Zandt.  A  Character  in  “  Uncle  Tom’s 
Cabin.”  Seward  and  Chase.  .......  35 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1847. 

Railway  Life.  Planing  Machines  and  Car  Wheels.  “  The  Great  Question  of  Questions.” 
Taylor’s  Victories.  Buena  Vista.  Scott’s  Capture  of  Vera  Cruz.  Dante  and  Tasso. 
Washington  in  the  Recess.  Governor  Marcy.  John  Quincy  Adams.  A  Solemn 
Parting.  Forebodings  for  the  Country.  A  Prediction  of  Rival  Armies.  Returning  to 
the  Old  Law  Office.  A  Week  at  Lyons.  Town  and  Country.  War  and  Peace.  Birth¬ 
day  Reflection.  .........  41 


CHAPTER  V. 

1847. 

Summer  at  Auburn.  Habits  of  Reading.  Taylor  and  the  Politicians.  First  Election  of 
Judges.  Washington  in  Summer.  President  Polk.  Trip  to  Lancaster.  Thaddeus 
Stevens.  Amos  Ellmaker.  Death  of  O’Connell.  Post-Mortem  of  Freeman.  Oration 
on  O’Connell.  Scott  in  Mexico.  .......  47 


6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1847. 

Caucuses,  Conventions  and  Candidates.  The  Vice-Presidency.  Clay’s  Lexington  Speech- 
“The  Diversions  of  Purley.’’  Winthrop.  Walker.  War  Taxes.  Generals  and 
Statesmen.  Reform  in  Europe.  Pius  IX.  The  “  Proviso.”  .  .  .54 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1848. 

War  News  at  Washington.  Polk,  Scott  and  Fremont.  Presidential  Aspirants.  Clay, 
McLean  and  Corwin.  Balls  and  Dinners.  The  White  House.  The  Treaty  of  Peace. 
Death  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  “The  Corner-Stone.”  Revolutionary  Movements 
iu  Europe.  Oration  on  Adams  before  the  Legislature.  .  .  .  .60 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

1848. 

New  York  in  April.  President-Making.  Dogs  and  Flowers,  Gods  and  Goddesses.  Dr. 
Chapin.  End  of  the  Mexican  War.  National  Conventions.  Cass  and  Butler.  Taylor 
and  Fillmore.  Henry  Wilson.  “The  Year  of  Revolutions.”  Louis  Philippe  in 
Exile.  Case  of  the  “Pearl.”  The  Mob  at  Washington.  Horace  Mann.  Laurel  Hill. 
Ex-President  Tyler.  ........ 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1848. 

The  Presidential  Canvass.  “  The  Proviso.”  Corwin.  The  “Free  Soil  ”  Convention  at 
Buffalo.  Van  Buren  and  Adams.  The  French  Republic.  Horses.  Seward  “  On 
the  Stump.”  Speeches  iu  New  England.  First  Meeting  with  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Pennsylvania  Meetings  and  Speeches.  Valley  of  the  Schuylkill.  The  Cartmen’s 
Meeting  at  Vauxhall.  The  Virginia  Story.  Wilmington.  The  Ohio  Tour.  The 
Cleveland  Speech.  Taylor  Elected.  ......  ^ 

CHAPTER  X. 

1848. 

At  Baltimore.  Colonel  Taylor.  Reverdy  Johnson.  John  M.  Clayton.  At  Washington. 
Cabinet  Gossip.  Foreign  Missions.  Gold  Discoveries  in  California.  The  Senator- 
ship.  The  Forged  Letter.  Greeley  in  Congress.  Truman  Smith.  A  Philosophical 
Oration.  Habits  of  Thought.  .......  g* 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1848. 

At  Auburn.  News  from  Albany.  The  “Macomber  Letter.”  Washington  in  the  Inter¬ 
regnum.  The  Legislative  Caucus.  Election  to  the  United  States  Senate.  His 
Acceptance.  Chase  as  Senator.  Dr.  Nott’s  Counsel.  .  .  .96 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1849. 

Going  to  Washington  as  Senator-Elect.  Albany  Greetings.  Governor  Fish.  Vice-Presi¬ 
dent  Fillmore.  The  Tide  of  Office-Seekers.  Meeting  with  President  Taylor  and  his 
Family.  Cabinet-Making.  The  Home  Department.  The  Walker  Amendment.  A 
Night  Session  of  the  Senate.  The  Fourth  of  March.  The  Inauguration .  .  99 


CONTENTS. 


7 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1849. 

Washington  in  1849.  A  Southern  City.  The  Senate  Chamber.  Fellow  Senators.  Sew¬ 
ard’s  First  Speech.  Collamer  and  Calhoun.  Vice-President  and  Senator.  Distri¬ 
bution  of  Patronage.  Averting  Party  Discord.  ....  104 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1849. 

Old  World  Revolutions.  Free  Schools.  Life  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  Southern  Trip. 
Charleston  Hospitality.  Judge  Wayne.  Disunionism.  Death  of  S.  S.  Seward.  A 
Month  at  Florida.  His  Executorship.  The  Institute.  Old  Letters.  Railroad  to  the 
Pacific.  Closing  up  Law  Business.  Pennsylvania  Whigs  and  Clayton.  The  Premier¬ 
ship.  ..........  108 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1849-1850. 

Residence  in  Washington.  Opening  of  Congress.  The  Contest  over  the  Speakership. 
The  New  York  Delegation.  Disunion  Talk.  The  “Father  Matthew ”  Debate.  A 
Biographical  Sketch.  Judge  Conkling.  New  Year’s  Day.  Colonel  Benton.  Mrs. 
Hamilton.  The  Hungarian  Struggle.  Governor  Ujhazi.  Land  for  the  Exiles. 
Taylor’s  California  Message.  The  “  President’s  Plan.”  .  .  .  m 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

1850. 

Clay’s  Compromise.  Personalities  in  Debate.  The  Right  of  Petition.  Southern  Threats. 
Calhoun’s  Forebodings.  Bell’s  Resolutions.  Legislative  Instructions.  Webster’s 
Seventh  of  March  Speech.  Seward’s  California  Speech.  His  Course  Outlined.  118 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1850. 

The  Echo  to  the  Speech.  Criticisms  and  Denunciations.  “The  Higher  Law.”  The 
Nashville  Convention.  The  Administration.  The  Galphin  Claim.  The  Committee 
of  Thirteen .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  127 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1850. 

The  “Omnibus  Bill.”  The  Long  Debate.  A  Stormy  Session.  Clay,  Webster,  Benton, 
Houston  and  Douglas.  The  Crisis.  Seward’s  Second  Speech.  Summer  Life  in 
Washington.  Letter  to  His  Son  About  European  Travel.  Meredith.  The  Galphin 
Claim.  The  President’s  Illness.  Forebodings.  .  .  .  .131 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1850. 

Death  of  President  Taylor.  Resignation  of  the  Cabinet.  Change  of  Administrative 
Policy.  President  Fillmore  and  the  Compromise.  Webster  and  Clay.  Debate  on 
New  Mexico.  The  Compromise  Gaining  Ground.  California  Admitted.  Territorial 
Bills.  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  “  Final  Settlement  of  the  Slavery  Question.”  144 


8 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1850-1851. 

“Finality.”  The  Fall  Elections.  The  New  York  Whigs.  Enterprises  of  the  Day. 
The  Lull  after  the  Storm.  In  a  Minority.  French  Spoliations.  Homestead  Law. 
Cheap  Postage.  A  Lieutenant-General.  California  Measures.  The  Nashville  Con¬ 
vention.  Fugitive  Slave  Cases.  A  Plan  for  Emancipation.  Letter  to  a  Tennessee 
Whig.  Weed  as  an  Adviser.  .......  155 

l 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

1851. 

Orange  County.  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Celebration.  The  Special  Election.  Canal 
Eulargement.  A  Summer  at  Detroit.  The  Railroad  Conspiracy  Trials.  General 
Cass.  A  Canadian  Visit.  “  The  New  Creed.”  ....  163 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1851. 

European  Events.  Greeley’s  Trip.  Free  Schools.  Fugitive  Slave  Cases.  The  “Jerry 
Rescuers.”  The  “  Underground  Railroad.”  Chautauqua  Affairs.  Charlotte  Cushman 
in  Buffalo.  The  State  Election.  Death  of  Judge  Miller.  .  .  ,  168 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

1851-1852. 

The  New  Congress.  Fish,  Wade,  and  Sumner  Entering  the  Senate.  Linn  Boyd  Speaker. 
Arrival  of  Kossuth.  Enthusiastic  Welcome  in  New  York.  Debates  and  Doubts  at 
Washington.  Weed  in  Europe.  Louis  Napoleon’s  Coup  d' Etat.  Reception  of  Kos¬ 
suth.  The  Hungarian  Question.  “  Intervention  and  Non-Intervention.”  Irish  Pat¬ 
riots.  Kossuth  at  Mount  Vernon.  Pulszky.  The  Japan  Expedition.  Ocean  Com¬ 
merce.  The  Kossuths  at  Auburn.  ......  173 

CHAPTER  XXIY. 

1852. 

The  National  Convention.  Pierce  and  King,  Scott  and  Graham.  Kossuth’s  Fund. 
Pulszky.  Lola  Montez.  Platforms  and  Principles.  Death  of  Henry  Clay.  183 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

1852. 

Theodore  Parker.  Harbor  Defenses.  Catlin’s  Pictures.  Commerce  of  the  Pacific.  Sum¬ 
ner  in  Debate.  Governing  the  Nation.  A  Steamboat  Disaster.  The  Presidential 
Canvass.  Official  and  Private  Life.  Rantoul.  Webster  and  the  Fisheries.  A  Politi- 

t 

cal  Heresy.  Conflict  of  Freedom  and  Slavery.  Address  at  Rutland.  The  American 
Farmer.  George  E.  Baker.  “  Seward’s  Works.”  “  A  Waterloo  Defeat.”  .  189 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1852-1853. 

The  Interregnum.  Honors  to  the  Memory  of  Webster.  Clayton  and  Taylor.  Adams. 
The  “Monroe  Doctrine.”  American  Commerce.  A  Prediction.  Inauguration  of 
President  Pierce.  Everett  in  the  Senate.  Mrs.  Fillmore.  Cabinet  Discords.  196 


CONTENTS. 


9 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

1853. 

Summer  Life  at  Auburn.  Colonel  Bowen.  A  Visit  to  Scenes  of  Andre’s  Capture  and 
Execution.  At  Cooperstown  Again.  The  Crimean  War.  Address  at  Columbus. 
“The  Destiny  of  America.”  Letters  to  Theodore  Parker.  Address  before  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Institute.”  Democratic  Factions.  “  Hards  ”  and  “  Softs.”  Rise  of  the  “  Know- 
Nothing”  Party.  “ Have  You  Seen  Sam? ”  .....  203 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

1853. 

Washington  in  the  Session.  Business  and  Society.  Election  of  Printer.  Bachelor’s 
Life.  A  Dull  Xmas.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .211 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

1854. 

New  Year’s  Visits.  The  Beginning  of  a  Great  Struggle.  Douglas’ Nebraska  Bill.  Colonel 
Benton.  Public  Attention  Awakened.  The  Debate.  Speech  on  “Freedom  and  Pub¬ 
lic  Faith.”  An  Appeal  to  the  Authors  of  the  Compromise  of  1850.  The  Rising  Storm. 
Wade,  Sumner,  Fessenden,  Everett,  and  Toombs.  The  Vote  in  the  Senate.  Protest 
of  Three  Thousand  New  England  Clergymen.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  A  Presidential 
Dinner.  Wreck  of  the  “San  Francisco.”  Closing  Speech.  Passage  of  the  Bill. 
“ Freedom’s  Eclipse.”  A  Challenge.  ......  215 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

1854. 

Fugitive  Slave  Case  at  Boston.  “Nebraska”  and  “Anti-Nebraska.”  Old  Parties  Break- 
ing  Up.  Presidential  Gossip.  Projects  and  Conferences.  State  or  National  Action  ? 
Birth  of  the  Republican  Party.  Emigrant  Aid  Societies.  Discriminations  Against 
Adopted  Citizens.  Address  at  Yale.  “The  Development  of  the  American  People.” 
At  Saratoga.  Chancellor  Walworth.  The  “Hook-Headed  Spike  Case.”  Summer 
Hotel  Life.  “  Ballston  Spa.”  A  Visit  to  Bemis’ Heights.  The  Elections.  .  230 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

1854-1855. 

Returning  to  Washington.  Greeley’s  Letter.  Ominous  News  from  Kansas.  Emigrants 
and  “  Border  Ruffians.”  Governor  Reeder.  Battles  in  the  Crimea.  Siege  of  Sebasto¬ 
pol.  Opening  of  the  Session.  Family  Affairs.  The  Question  of  Re-election  to  the 
Senate.  Business  Depression.  The  Poor  of  New  York.  The  Homestead  Bill.  Regu¬ 
lar  and  Volunteer  Soldiers.  .......  239 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

1855. 

The  Senatorial  Contest  at  Albany.  “Know-Nothing”  Tactics.  Railroad  Building. 
American  Steamers.  The  Texas  Debt.  A  Slave-catching  Bill  Hurried  through  at 
Midnight.  Oregon  Rejected.  Another  House  in  Washington.  .  .  244 


10 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1855. 

Kansas  News.  Governor  Reeder.  Attacks  on  “  Free  State  ”  Men.  Sumner  at  Auburn. 
Yachting  Excursions.  New  York  Friends.  Disruption  of  the  “American  ”  National 
Council.  Gradual  Growth  of  the  Republican  Party.  The  Presidential  Question. 
Passmore  Williamson.  The  Two  Conventions  at  Syracuse.  Their  Union.  Speech  at 
Albany.  “  Let  the  Whig  Party  Pass.”  A  Lonely  House.  The  Elections.  The  Tri¬ 
umph  of  “  Sam.”  .........  249 


CHAPTER  XXXIY. 

1855-1856. 

A  New  Home.  Meeting  of  Congress.  Changes  in  the  Senate.  A  Dead-lock.  The  Ora¬ 
tion  at  Plymouth.  Wendell  Phillips  and  Theodore  Parker.  The  Message.  The  Clay- 
ton-Bulwer  Treaty.  A  Conference  at  Silver  Spring.  Blair,  Chase,  Fremont,  and 
Preston  King.  Battles  in  the  Crimea.  The  Kansas  Struggle.  An  Extraordinary 
Message.  ..........  259 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

1856. 

Banks  Elected  Speaker.  Kansas  in  the  House.  Alvah  Worden.  The  Pittsburgh  Conven¬ 
tion.  The  Congressional  Caucus.  The  “  $3,000,000  Bill. ”  The  Kansas  Debate.  The 
Investigation.  Seward  Advocates  Immediate  Admission.  Presidential  Conferences. 
Caucuses  and  Conventions.  The  Assault  on  Sumner.  ....  266- 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1856. 

The  Kansas  Struggle.  “Border  Ruffians”  and  “Free  State”  Men.  The  Presidential 
Canvass.  National  Conventions.  Fillmore  and  Donelson.  Buchanan  and  Brecken- 
ridge.  Fremont  and  Dayton.  .......  275 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

1856. 

Kansas  at  the  Doors  of  Congress.  The  Investigating  Committee’s  Report.  Stormy  De¬ 
bates.  A  Midnight  Speech.  Passage  of  his  Bill  by  the  House.  Sumner.  Watching 
and  Waiting.  General  Webb.  The  Army  Bill.  The  House’s  Proviso.  “Hurly- 
Burly.”  A  Projected  Sea  Trip.  Wrecks.  The  Conference  Committee.  An  Extra 
Session.  “  Executive  Theatricals.”  The  Surrender.  ....  2SO 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

1856-1857. 

The  Presidential  Canvass.  Seward  “  On  the  Stump.”  Northern  Responsibility  jfor 
Slavery.  The  “Ancient  and  Eternal  Conflict.”  Buchanan  Elected.  The  Short  Ses¬ 
sion.  An  Explanation  in  Three  Volumes.  Kidnapping  Cases.  Solomon  Nortlirup. 
Georgetown  and  Brooklyn.  Rights  of  Witnesses.  The  Atlantic  Telegraph.  The 
Electoral  Count.  Another  Kansas  Bill.  Minnesota.  ....  291 


CONTENTS. 


11 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

1857. 

Buchanan’s  Inauguration.  The  “National  Hotel  Disease.”  The  New  Cabinet.  Lord 
Napier.  Walker  and  Stantou.  The  Dred  Scott  Decision.  Northern  Indignation. 
Lincoln  and  Douglas.  The  Atlantic  Cable.  .....  297 


CHAPTER  XL. 

1857. 

A  Canadian  Journey.  Niagara.  Lase  Ontario.  The  Thousand  Islands.  The  St.  Law¬ 
rence.  Montreal.  Quebec.  A  Cruise  to  Labrador.  The  “Emerence.”  Life  on  a 

Fishing  Schooner.  St.  Thomas.  Wrecks.  Karnouraska.  Tadoussac.  The  Sague¬ 
nay.  Hudson’s  Bay  Station.  Bic.  Point  de  Monts.  Mackerel  Catching.  The  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence.  Cod-Fishing.  The  Labrador  Coast.  Mingan  Islands.  An  Indian 
Camp.  A  Lost  Whale.  Salmon  and  River  Trout.  The  Island  of  Anticosti.  Lobster 
Fishing.  Bears  and  Wolves.  A  Whale  Story.  Homeward  Bound.  Fogs  and  Col¬ 
lisions.  Canada’s  Future.  .......  301 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

1857. 

The  East  India  Mutiny.  The  Commercial  Revulsion  of  1857.  Suspension  of  Specie  Pay¬ 
ments.  Francis  P.  Blair’s  Letters.  Governor  Walker.  The  Kansas  Struggle  Con¬ 
tinues.  “  Hard  Times.”  Political  Reverses.  .....  323 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

1857-1858. 

At  Washington  Again.  Rumors  of  Discords.  Caucuses  and  Committees.  Hamlin. 
Foote.  A  Daughter’s  Birth-day.  Douglas  Breaks  with  the  Administration.  A  Vir¬ 
ginian  Visit.  Lord  Napier.  Sartiges.  Incidents  of  Slavery.  Another  Year.  “  Fili¬ 
bustering  Expeditions.”  The  Troops  at  Salt  Lake.  The  Mormons.  The  Debate  over 
“  Lecompton.”  .........  328 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

1858. 

The  “Lecompton  Debate.”  The  Coalition  Between  President  and  Court.  The  Kansas 
Governors  and  the  People.  Southern  Utterances.  The  Crittenden  Amendment.  The 
Conference  Committee.  The  English  Bill.  A  Forecast  of  Coming  Events.  The  Fu¬ 
ture  of  Kansas.  ...•••••  336 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

1858. 

Washington  Society.  Lack  of  Police.  Common  Schools.  Myrtilla  Miner.  Two  More 
States.  Treasury  Notes.  John  Bell  and  Andrew  Johnson.  Oregon  and  Minnesota. 
Utah  and  the  Mormons.  Troubles  in  the  Gulf.  Mr.  Vinton.  Mrs.  Gaines.  Confer¬ 
ence  with  Kansas  Settlers.  The  Napiers.  Baron  Gerolt.  An  “Anti-Lecompton  ” 
Gathering.  Visits  and  Acquaintances.  A  State  Funeral.  Arranging  Personal  Dis¬ 
putes  Between  Senators .  A  Pennsylvania  Excursion.  .  .  .  .341 


12 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

1858. 

Auburn  Enterprises.  The  Methodists.  The  Atlantic  Cable  Laid.  Rejoicings.  The  Slave 
Trade.  The  Albany  Bridge  Case.  The  Fall  Elections.  Lincoln  and  Douglas.  Sew¬ 
ard’s  Rochester  Speech.  The  “Irrepressible  Conflict.’’  The  Future.  Returning  to 
Washington.  .........  348 

* 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

1858-1859. 

Another  Residence.  Story  of  the  “Amistad.”  An  Unpublished  Speech.  The  Pacific 
Railroad.  Leaving  the  Old  Senate  Chamber.  The  “Thirty  Million  Bill.”  Cuba  and 
the  United  States.  The  Kansas  “Free  State”  Constitution.  The  African  Slave 
Trade.  Threats  of  Secession .  The  Napier  Ball.  The  Homestead  Bill.  “  Slaves  for 
Slaveholders,  or  Homes  for  Freemen?”  The  Overland  Mail  Route.  The  Special 
Session.  A  Visit  to  Europe.  Departure  and  Farewell.  .  .  .  354 


CHAPTER  XLVI I. 

1859. 

«  . 

Visit  to  Europe.  The  Ariel  and  Her  Passengers.  Great  Britain.  London.  Lord  Lans- 
downe.  Kossuth  and  Pulszky.  Dhuleep  Singh.  Sir  Charles  Napier.  Lord  Lynd- 
hurst.  The  Comte  de  Paris.  Dr.  Mackay.  Lord  Palmerston.  Blackwood.  Lord 
Derby.  Stafford  House.  Duchess  of  Sutherland.  Presentation  at  Court.  The  Queen 
and  Prince  Albert.  Lord  John  Russell.  The  Marquis  of  Westminster.  Macaulay. 
Hampton  Court.  The  Argyles.  Opening  of  Parliament.  Cardinal  Wiseman.  Court 
Balls  and  Routs.  Gladstone.  Disraeli  and  John  Bright.  Louis  Blanc.  Oxford. 
Its  Memories  and  Celebrities.  The  Duke  of  Devonshire.  Sir  Joseph  Paxton.  The 
Charity  Scholars  at  St.  Paul’s.  Westminster  Abbey.  The  Metropolitan  Club. 
Whitebait  Dinner  at  Greenwich.  Leave  Takings.  Warwick  Castle.  Kenilworth. 
Stratford-on-Avon.  The  English  Lakes.  Miss  Martineau.  Scotland.  Glasgow. 
Fires  and  Forges.  Stirling.  Ruined  Castles.  Scott.  English  Manufacturing  Towns. 
The  Capitalists.  The  Artisans.  Leeds.  Bradford.  Manchester.  Birmingham. 
Republicanism  and  Aristocracy.  Trentham.  Ducal  Life.  Litchfield.  Dr.  Johnson. 
Dover.  France.  Calais.  Paris  Under  the  Second  Empire.  Lamartine.  Itistori . 
Count  Walewsky.  Lord  Cowley.  The  Four  Great  Parties.  The  Next  Revolution . 
Lyons.  Avignon.  The  Mediterranean.  Italy.  The  Coliseum.  St.  Peter’s.  Roman 
Daily  Life.  The  Papal  Government.  The  Temporal  Power.  The  Jews.  Churches 
and  Columbaria.  The  Vatican.  Cardinal  Antonelli.  Pius  IX.  A  Day  at  Pompeii . 
Capri.  Malta.  A  Cruise  in  the  Levant.  “Mah-Brookah  the  Blest.”  Arab  Passen¬ 
gers.  The  Holy  Land.  The  Shrine  of  Three  Faiths.  The  Hebrew  Race  and  History. 
Mahometan  Life  and  Modern  Civilization.  On  Board  the  Macedonian.  Naval  Life. 
Austria.  Its  Armies  aud  its  People.  The  Future  of  the  Empire.  Prince  Esterhazy. 
Count  Rechberg  and  Baron  Brock.  The  Emperor.  The  Tombs  of  the  Ilapsburgs. 
Venice.  Its  Past  and  Present.  Verona.  Its  Monuments  and  Memories.  The  Battle 
Field  at  Solferino.  The  Irrepressible  Conflict.  Magenta.  North  and  South.  Cavour. 
Dahomeda.  King  Victor  Emanuel.  A  Day  at  Compiegne.  Waterloo.  Brussels. 
The  Hague.  Old  and  New  Amsterdam .  King  Leopold  of  Belgium.  Rogier.  Con¬ 
stitutional  Government  in  Europe.  Americans  in  Paris.  Returning  Home.  362 


CONTENTS. 


13 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

1860. 

Welcome  Home.  At  Washington  again.  Meeting  with  Members  at  the  Capitol.  Bro¬ 
derick’s  Death.  The  Jofyn  Brown  Investigation  and  Debate.  Disunion  Talk.  Pen¬ 
nington  Elected  Speaker.  Speech  on  the  Bill  for  Admitting  Kansas.  Southern 
Opinions.  A  Biography.  Spread  of  the  “  Irrepressible  Conflict.”  .  .  437 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

1860. 

The  Presidential  Canvass.  The  Charleston  Convention.  The  Platform.  Douglas  and 
Davis.  A  Divided  Party.  Chase,  Dennison,  Wade,  and  Corwin.  Republican  Dele¬ 
gates.  The  Chicago  Convention.  Receiving  the  News  at  Auburn.  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin  Nominated.  Evarts,  Andrew,  and  Blair.  Newspaper  Comments.  Letter  to 
the  New  York  Committee.  Return  to  Washington.  ....  447 


CHAPTER  L. 

1860. 

The  Greeley  Letter.  Charles  Francis  Adams.  John  L.  Schoolcraft.  Close  of  the  Ses¬ 
sion.  The  Two  Democratic  Conventions.  Douglas  and  Johnson.  Breckenridge  and 
Lane.  “  On  the  Stump.”  In  New  England.  The  Boston  Speech.  Telegraph  Ex¬ 
tended  to  St.  Paul.  The  Western  Tour.  The  “  Wide-Awakes.”  Receptions  and 
Speeches  at  Detroit,  Lansing,  Kalamazoo,  Madison,  Lacrosse,  St.  Paul.  A  Prediction 
of  Alaska.  A  Warning  of  the  War.  Receptions  at  Dubuque.  Chilicothe.  St.  Joseph. 
Leavenworth.  Lawrence.  Atchison.  St.  Louis.  Meeting  with  Lincoln  at  Spring- 
field.  At  Chicago.  Reminiscence  of  John  Brown .  Cleveland.  Erie.  Buffalo.  At 
Home.  Visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Close  of  the  Canvass.  New  York  Speech. 
The  Night  Before  Election.  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  Elected.  .  .  .  456 


CHAPTER  LI. 

1860. 

After  Election .  South  Carolina  Withdrawing  from  the  Union.  Georgia  Arming.  Se¬ 
cession  Spreading.  Northern  Incredulity.  Alarm  at  Washington.  Proposed  Con¬ 
vention  of  the  People.  Opening  of  Congress.  The  Message.  The  Debates.  Proffer 
of  the  Secretaryship  of  State.  The  New  England  Dinner  Speech .  Correspondence 
with  the  President-Elect.  The  Committee  of  Thirteen.  The  Outlook  Described. 
The  Southern  View.  President  Buchanan’s  Cabinet.  Major  Anderson.  “Treason 
Around  and  Amongst  Us.”  .......  477 


CHAPTER.  LII. 

1860-1861. 

Progress  of  Secession.  Major  Anderson’s  Movement  to  Sumter.  “  Revolutionary  Times.” 
“  Showing  Union  Colors.”  Cabinet  Changes.  Seward  and  Stanton.  Correspondence 
with  the  President-Elect.  Speech  on  “The  State  of  the  Union.”  The  New  Issue. 
Whittier.  Letters  on  the  Situation.  Uniting  the  Union  Men  of  all  Parties.  The 
Admission  of  Kansas.  Petitions  from  New  York.  “  Fighting  for  the  Union.”  More 
Steps  Toward  Disunion.  Slemrner  at  Pickens.  Holt  and  Dix.  Gulf  and  Border 
States.  “  The  Government  Can  be  Saved.”  .....  489- 


14 


CONTEXTS. 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

1861. 

The  Coming  Storm.  Activity  of  Secessionists.  Alarm  in  Washington.  The  Virginia 
Election.  Tennessee  for  the  Union.  The  Peace  Conference.  A  Lull.  Plans  of 
Compromise.  Lincoln’s  Letters.  The  Electoral  Count.  Seward’s  Successor.  The 
Last  Month  in  the  Senate.  Change  of  Congressional  Feeling.  Parting  with  Associ¬ 
ates.  Preparation  for  Inauguration  Day .  .....  501 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

1861. 

General  Scott.  Military  Precautions  for  the  Safety  of  Washington.  Journey  of  the 
President-Elect.  Warning  of  a  Plot  for  His  Assassination .  A  Night  Trip.  Arrival 
in  Washington.  Meeting  with  Friends.  Lincoln  and  Seward.  Notes  and  Confer¬ 
ences.  End  of  the  Peace  Conference.  “The  Day  of  Compromise  is  Past.”  The 
Last  Day  of  Congress  and  the  Administration.  .....  507 

CHAPTER  LV. 

1861. 

Inauguration  of  President  Lincoln.  Speech  to  New  York  Friends.  The  Inaugural  Ad¬ 
dress.  The  Ball.  The  Cabinet.  The  Department  of  State.  Mr.  Hunter.  Appoint¬ 
ments  and  Tenure  of  Office.  The  Diplomatic  Corps.  The  Beginning  of  a  Diary. 
Circular  to  Ministers.  Office-Seekers  and  Office-Holders.  The  Foreign  Appointments. 
Holt,  Dix,  and  Stanton.  ........  515 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

1861. 

The  Army  and  Navy.  “  The  Border  States.”  Efforts  to  Win  them  to  Secession,  and  to 
Save  them  to  the  Union.  Southern  Unionists.  The  Relief  of  Sumter.  Cabinet 
Discussions.  The  Written  Opinions.  The  Southern  Commissioners.  A  “Memo¬ 
randum.”  Instructing  the  New  Envoys.  The  Senate.  Preston  King  and  the  Flag. 
The  Virginia  Convention.  News  from  Sumter  and  Pickens.  Preparing  Expeditions 
for  Relief.  “  Some  Thoughts  for  the  President’s  Consideration.”  .  .  526 

CHAPTER  LVII. 

1861. 

The  Crisis  Reached.  Dispatch  of  the  Sumter  Expedition.  “  The  War  upon  Us.”  De¬ 
parture  of  the  Southern  Commissioners.  Successful  Reinforcement  of  Fort  Pickens. 
Instructions  to  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Corwin.  Questions  to  be  Settled  after  the  War. 
The  Bombardment  of  Sumter.  The  Cabinet  Meeting.  The  Call  to  Arms.  The 
Proclamation  for  75,000  Men.  The  Response.  Northern  Enthusiasm.  Southern  De¬ 
fiance.  Border  State  Refusals.  A  Diplomatic  View  of  the  Situation.  The  Procla¬ 
mation  of  Blockade.  The  “  War  Democrats.”  Seizure  of  Harper’s  Ferry.  Attack 
on  the  Troops  in  Baltimore.  The  Norfolk  Navy  Yard.  Washington  Cut  off  and 
Beleaguered.  .........  536 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 

1861. 

Washington  Isolated.  Wild  Rumors.  The  Administration  and  the  Crisis.  Vesting  Pro¬ 
visional  Powers  in  New  York.  Communications  through  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania. 


CONTEXTS. 


15 


General  Scott.  Amusing  Incidents.  “No  Troops  through  Maryland.”  British 
Mediation  Suggested.  Troops  Arriving  at  Annapolis.  The  Dispatch  to  France. 
How  Governments  Converse.  The  Key-note  of  Seward’s  Foreign  Correspondence. 
Faith  Under  Difficulties.  Proffering  the  Principles  of  the  Paris  Congress.  Arrival 
of  the  Seventh  Regiment  and  the  Massachusetts  Eighth.  The  Dead-lock  Broken. 
News  from  North  and  South.  ......  kko 


CHAPTER  LIX. 

1861. 

Troops  for  the  Defense  of  the  Capital.  Visiting  the  Camps.  The  House  in  La  Fayette 
Square.  Growth  of  the  Union  Army.  Its  Generals.  The  Confederacy.  Guarding  the 
Railways.  Occupying  Baltimore.  The  Movement  into  Virginia.  Fortifying  the 
Heights.  Ellsworth’s  Death.  Changed  Aspect  of  Washington.  A  Great  Camp. 
Scott’s  Plan  of  Campaign.  Building  up  a  Navy.  The  Blockade.  Relief  of  Fort 
Pickens.  ..........  560 


CHAPTER  LX. 

1861. 

The  State  Department.  Dealing  with  Foreign  Powers.  Great  Britain.  France.  Spain. 
Austria.  Italy.  Switzerland.  Denmark.  Holland.  Belgium.  Rome.  Russia. 
Sweden.  Portugal.  Prussia.  Nicaragua.  Peru.  Mexico.  Stopping  Information 
and  Supplies  to  the  Insurgents.  Spies  and  Blockade-Runners.  “Arbitrary  Arrests.” 
Passport  Regulations.  Fort  La  Fayette.  Suspension  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus. 
Southern  Unionists.  East  Tennessee.  West  Virginia.  Maryland.  Missouri.  Let¬ 
ters  to  Weed.  .........  567 


CHAPTER  LXI. 

1861. 

“A  House  Divided  Against  Itself.”  The  Panama  Route  in  Danger.  San  Domingo  Seized 
by  Spain.  British  Precipitanc}\  The  Queen’s  Proclamation.  Manifestations  of  Un¬ 
friendly  Feeling.  Suspicions,  about  Canada.  England  and  France  Acting  in  Concert. 
Refusal  to  Receive  their  Communications.  Project  of  Seizing  Lower  California  and 
Sonora.  The  Spanish-Americau  Republics.  Treasonable  Correspondence.  .  576 


CHAPTER  LXII. 

1861. 

Troops  Gathering  at  Washington.  Camps,  Drills  and  Skirmishes.  “  The  Old  Club-House.” 
Daily  Life  and  Occupations.  Correspondence  with  Home.  The  Conduct  of  the  War. 
European  Friends  and  Opponents.  Popular  Impatience.  .  .  .  584 


CHAPTER  LXIII. 

1861. 

Congress  Assembles.  The  Extra  Session.  The  Message.  Its  Story  of  Sumter  and 
Pickens.  Congressional  Enthusiasm.  The  Extra  Constitutional  Acts  Approved. 
Ample  Powers  and  Appropriations  Given.  Urging  “  Vigorous  Prosecution  of  the 
War.”  Replies  to  Seward’s  Dispatches.  His  First  Treaty.  An  Advance  Movement 
of  the  Army.  Popular  Impatience.  The  Battle  of  Bull  Run.  A  Great  Disaster.  At¬ 
tempts  to  Retrieve  it.  .......  593 


16 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  LXIV. 

1861. 

After  Bull  Run.  “Beginning  Again. ”  Quelling  a  Mutiny.  Reorganizing  the  Army. 
Judge  Wayne’s  Decision.  Great  Britain  and  “Paper  Blockades.”  “Three 
Months  Men  and  Three  Tears  Men.”  Growth  of  the  “Army  of  the  Potomac.”  Visit 
of  Prince  Napoleon.  Arrest  of  Spies  and  Blockade-Runners.  “Seward’s  Little 
Bell.”  Garibaldi.  Battles  and  Skirmishes  in  Missouri  and  Virginia.  The  Hatteras 
Expedition.  Washington  in  War  Times.  The  Maryland  Legislature.  .  .  601 


CHAPTER  LXV. 

1861. 

Confederate  Privateers.  The  “Sumter.”  Proposed  Accession  to  the  Congress  at  Paris. 
Prisoners  of  War.  Slaves.  “Contrabands”  and  “Freedmen.”  New  Phases  of  the 
Slavery  Question.  Laws,  Orders  and  Proclamations.  D.  A.  Hall.  European  Officers. 
The  Prince  de  Joinville.  The  Comte  de  Paris  and  Due  de  Chartres.  Active  Operations 
in  the  West.  A  Grand  Review.  Visiting  the  Camps  in  Virginia.  General  Hancock.  614 

CHAPTER  LXVI. 

1861. 

Replies  From  Foreign  Governments.  Admission  of  Confederate  Vessels  into  British  Ports. 
A  Friendly  Italian  Hint.  A  British  one  to  the  Confederacy.  Differences  of  Opinion 
in  England.  Russia,  Switzerland  and  Italy.  The  Blockade.  British  Subjects  and 
Vessels.  Lord  Lyons  and  Mr.  Archibald.  A  Captured  Bag  of  Letters.  Consul 
Bunch.  “A  First  Step  toward  Recognition.”  An  Exequatur  Revoked.  Advice  of 
Law-Officers  of  the  Crown  Respectfully  Declined.  Harbor  Defenses.  .  .  624 


CHAPTER  LXVII. 

1861. 

Department  Work.  The  Treasury  and  the  Banks.  Organization  of  the  State  Department. 
Gossip  and  Slander.  Mr.  Seaton.  Life  of  Man  and  of  the  Nation.  The  Port  Royal 
Expedition.  Military  Successes  at  the  West.  The  Stade  Dues.  Spanish  Occupation 
of  San  Domingo.  France,  Spain  and  Great  Britain  Combining  against  Mexico.  In¬ 
structions  to  Ministers.  The  “  Sumter  ”  in  Brazil.  ....  C32 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


•K  •*£ 


CHAPTER  I. 

1846. 

After  the  Freeman  Trial.  Reaction  of  Public  Feeling.  The  Judge  and  the  Prisoner.  The 
Army  on  the  Rio  Grande.  Oregon  Treaty.  The  Constitutional  Convention.  An 
Elective  Judiciary.  The  Anti-Renters.  The  Constitution  Adopted. 


A  hot  August  sun  was  pouring  its  afternoon  rays  down  on  the  vil¬ 
lage  of  Auburn.  Seward,  seated  in  his  old  writing  chair,  by  the 
window  of  his  study,  was  penning  a  letter  to  Weed: 

For  the  first  time  in  two  months,  I  lay  aside  the  papers  in  my  murder 
trials,  and  look  out  upon  the  world,  behind,  around,  and  before -me.  I  rise 
from  these  fruitless  labors,  exhausted  in  mind,  and  in  body,  covered  with 
public  reproach,  stunned  with  protests.  It  remains  to  be  seen,  whether  I 
shall  be  able  to  retrieve  any  of  all  these  losses.  If  I  know  the  line  of  personal, 
or  that  of  professional  duty,  I  have  adhered  to  it  faithfully  and  unflinchingly. 

i 

But  time  already  was  calming  the  popular  excitement.  Gradually 
the  community  was  coming  to  believe  that  possibly  “the  negro  might 
be  crazy  after  all.”  The  press  throughout  the  country  began  to  notice 
"Seward’s  argument.  In  that  argument,  which  had  been  listened  to 
so  impatiently,  passages  were  found  to  have  “eloquence  and  pathos.” 
It  did  not  at  all  stir  public  anger,  when  it  was  known  that  Freeman’s 
counsel  had  applied  to  the  Governor,  and  to  the  courts,  for  stay  of 
execution.  When  in  October,  Seward  appeared  at  Rochester,  to 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court,  that  tribunal  reversed  the  judgment, 
and  granted  a  new  trial. 

One  morning  Seward  invited  Judge  Whiting  to  walk  with  him  to 
Freeman’s  cell,  in  order  to  obtain  the  prisoner’s  recognizance.  Such 
a  document  would  be  one  of  the  legal  forms  preliminary  to  trial. 
After  vain  attempts  to  make  the  poor  idiot  comprehend  what  they 
wanted,  or  who  they  were,  or  even  to  fix  his  wandering  attention,  the 


30 


AFTER  THE  FREEMAN  TRIAL. 


[1846. 

Judge  exclaimed,  “It’s  of  no  use,  you  might  as  well  try  to  get  a  recog¬ 
nizance  from  a  horse! ” 

Since  the  period  of  violent  mania  of  six  months  before,  he  had  sunk 
into  imbecility.  At  no  time  during  the  trial,  had  he  ever  compre¬ 
hended  that  Seward  was  his  friend;  much  less,  that  he  was  standing 
between  him  and  the  gallows.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  manifested 
dread  and  antipathy.  His  disordered  brain,  dwelling  upon  the  title 
“  Governor,”  had  somehow  formed  a  confused  idea,  that  the  man 
speaking  to  him  was  the  magistrate  who  kept  him  locked  up.  On 
one  occasion  he  made  a  piteous,  incoherent  appeal  to  be  “let  out,” 
asking  if  he  “hadn’t  been  punished  long  enough?” 

Judge  Whiting,  satisfied  now  of  the  prisoner’s  mental  condition, 
refused  to  try  him  again,  and  Freeman  remained  in  his  cell. 

This  summer,  the  newspapers  were  full  of  stirring  events  abroad. 
The  English  were  abolishing  their  “  Corn  Laws.”  The  Irish,  threat¬ 
ened  with  famine,  were  flocking  to  the  seaports,  to  emigrate  to 
America.  The  College  of  Cardinals,  in  solemn  conclave,  had  elected 
a  new  Pope;  and  as  sometimes  happens  in  political  conclaves,  had  set 
aside  all  the  well-known  candidates,  and  elected  the  comparatively 
young  and  obscure  Mastai  Ferretti,  thenceforth  to  be  known  to  the 
wrorld  as  Pius  the  Ninth. 

On  the  Eio  Grande,  the  little  “Army  of  Occupation”  was  not  only 
holding  its  ground,  but  preparing  to  advance.  Volunteers  were  mus¬ 
tering  to  the  sound  of  the  drum;  and  regiment  after  regiment  taking 
its  departure  for  the  seat  of  war.  At  Washington,  there  was  a  crowd 
of  eager  applicants  for  epaulettes. 

President  Polk  had  vetoed  the  Harbor  bill,  and  approved  the  abro¬ 
gation  of  the  tariff  of  1842.  He  had  asked  Congress  for  two  millions, 
to  buy  peace  and  territory  from  Mexico,  and  Congress  was  debating 
whether  to  grant  it  with  or  without  the  “  Wilmot  Proviso.”  But 
while  the  debate  was  going  on,  the  fall  of  the  Speaker’s  gavel  an¬ 
nounced  twelve  o’clock,  and  the  end  of  the  congressional  session. 

The  Oregon  dispute  had  come  to  a  conclusion  that  averted  conflict 
with  Great  Britain.  Secretary  Buchanan  had  negotiated  a  treaty  with 
Mr.  Pakenliam,  the  British  Minister,  giving  up  54°  40  ,  and  fixing  the 
49th  parallel  as  the  boundary  line.  Hardy  emigrants  were  already 
preparing  their  canvas-covered  wagons  for  the  long  journey  across  the 
plains  and  mountains,  to  settle  on  the  banks  of  the  Columbia. 

At  Albany,  high  debates  were  going  on  in  the  old  Capitol.  The 
Constitutional  Convention  was  in  session.  The  “Hunkers”  and 
“  Barn-Burners  ”  were  in  warm  argument  over  canals  and  finance. 
The  Whigs,  being  only  a  minority,  were  sometimes  co-operating  with 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

dNIVERSITY  CF  ILLINQIE 


OLD  CAPITOL  AT  ALBANY. 


THE  HOME  AT  AUBURN 


1846.J 


THE  STATE  CONVENTIONS. 


O  -I 

ol 

one,  and  sometimes  with  the  other  of  the  Democratic  factions.  Dur¬ 
ing  August,  the  Convention  was  reorganizing  the  Judiciary,  making 
judges  elective,  establishing  “  Courts  of  Conciliation”  to  prevent  law¬ 
suits,  substituting  a  new  “  Court  of  Appeals  ”  for  the  old  senatorial 
“Court  of  Errors,”  and  dividing  the  Supreme  Court  judges,  so  that 
some  should  sit  in  each  district.  In  September,  it  settled  the  vexed 
questions  of  canal  and  State  debt,  adopting  the  policy  of  the  “  Stop 
and  Tax  Law”  of  1842.  Its  closing  days  were  spent  in  considering 
the  questions  about  manorial  tenures,  presented  by  the  “Anti- Renters.” 
It  finally  adjourned,  on  the  9th  of  October,  in  time  to  allow  the  new 
Constitution  to  be  printed,  read  and  considered  by  the  voters  before 
deciding  upon  it  at  the  ballot-box.  As  to  the  provision  allowing  col¬ 
ored  men  to  vote,  the  Convention  avoided  responsibility,  by  submitting 
it  to  the  people,  as  a  distinct  proposition,  on  which  they  could  vote 
by  separate  ballot  “Yes”  or  “No.”  Neither  of  the  three  parties  had 
gained  complete  success  in  the  formation  of  this  Constitution;  though 
so  many  of  the  leading  ideas  of  each  had  been  engrafted  upon  it  as  to 
render  its  adoption  tolerably  certain. 

Seward,  out  of  public  place,  and  busy  in  law  office  and  court-rooms, 
would  have  been  free,  had  he  chosen,  to  avoid  committals  in  regard 
to  these  questions.  But  his  interest  in  the  various  reforms  bad  in¬ 
duced  him,  at  an  early  period,  to  take  ground  in  favor  of  a  convention. 
He  believed  such  a  body  could  hardly  fail  to  bring  about  those  judi¬ 
cial  changes  he  had  long  urged;  and  it  might,  and  probably  would, 
offer  an  opportunity  to  secure  universal  suffrage.  He  wrote  to  Weed: 

The  propositions  in  the  Convention,  for  reorganizing  the  Judiciary,  all 
indicate  the  progress  of  our  principles.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  shall  have  a 
far  better  Constitution.  Things  are  at  loose  ends  with  us  politically;  but  I 
think  that  our  principles  and  policy  will  become  less  offensive  with  the  lapse 
of  a  few  years.  You  see  I  am  cheerful.  It  is  a  philosophy  which  extracts 
hope  out  of  despair;  but  still  it  is  wise,  I  think. 

Early  in  the  autumn,  came  the  several  State  conventions.  There 
had  been  some  difference  of  opinion  among  the  Whigs  about  candi¬ 
dates  for  Governor — Millard  Fillmore,  Ira  Harris,  and  John  Young 
each  having  supporters.  Mr.  Young  bad  occupied  a  prominent  place 
in  the  Legislature,  and  had  been  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Speaker's 
chair.  Perhaps  what  turned  the  scale  in  his  favor,  was  that  he  would 
receive  the  support  of  the  “Anti-Renters,”  now  grown  to  be  a  political 
organization,  controlling  votes  enough  to  “hold  the  balance  of  power” 
in  several  counties.  Hamilton  Fish,  of  New  York,  was  deservedly 
popular  among  the  Whigs  of  that  city.  His  nomination  for  Lieutenant- 
Governor  was  agreed  to,  as  forming  that  balance  between  east  and 


32 


LAW  PRACTICE. 


[1846- 


west,  between  town  and  country,  and  between  radicalism  and  conser- 
vatism,  in  whicli  party  managers  delight. 

The  Democrats,  waiving  their  differences  for  the  sake  of  success, 
when  they  met  in  convention,  agreed  to  renominate  Governor  Wright 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  Gardiner.  The  “Anti-Renters ”  followed, 
and  nominated  a  ticket  made  up  from  the  other  two,  taking  Young  as 
their  candidate  for  Governor,  and  Gardiner  for  Lieutenant-Governor. 

In  November,  when  election  day  came.  Governor  Wright  was  de¬ 
feated.  The  Whig  candidate  for  Governor  was  chosen,  but  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  Lieutenant-Governor  was  re-elected.  The  “Anti-Renters”  had 
carried  both  their  candidates.  The  Abolitionists  had  cast  about  thir¬ 
teen  thousand  votes  —  a  less  number  than  in  1844.  But  the  Whigs 
had  regained  a  part  of  their  lost  power  at  Albany.  They  had  elected 
a  majority  of  the  new  members  of  the  Legislature,  and  had  carried 
twenty-three  out  of  the  thirty-four  congressional  districts.  The  new 
Constitution  had  been  adopted.  But  the  colored  man  was  still  re¬ 
quired  to  be  the  owner  of  a  house  and  lot  before  he  could  vote. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1846. 

Law  Practice.  Whigs  in  Power  at  Albany.  The  New  Executive.  New  Year  in  New  York. 
The  Governor’s  Message.  The  “  Wilmot  Proviso.”  The  Hour  for  the  Discussion  of 
Emancipation.  Moralizing  at  St.  Peter’s. 


LTNDERthe  familiar  roof  of  the  old  Eagle  Tavern,  at  Albany,  Seward 
was  a  frequent  guest.  *  His  law  cases  called  him  often  to  the  capital. 
Rather  unexpectedly  to  himself,  his  practice  was  increasing.  The 
Freeman  case,  which,  while  going  on,  seemed  to  be  leading  him  to 
ruin,  was  now  bringing  him  appreciative  friends  and  clients.  Appli¬ 
cations  for  copies  of  his  speech  wrere  coming  in  from  all  quarters.  For 
some  weeks,  he  was  occupied  in  attending  courts,  and  arguing  causes 
at  Rochester,  Lyons,  Geneva,  and  Albany,  and  in  the  journeys  between 
those  places.  He  wrote  home: 

Eagle  Tavern,  Oct.  18,  1846. 

Every  day  since  my  retreat  from  public  life,  the  profession,'  which  I  once  so 
ungratefully  despised,  has  been  increasing  its  rewards,  until  we  are  no  longer 
pressed  by  fear  of  disaster  or  sickness;  although  I  have  been  diverted  so  often, 
and  so  long  from  lucrative  engagements.  Our  boys  are  pleasantly  obtaining 
an  education,  which  is  a  better  patrimony  than  riches.  If  our  comforts  do  not 


1846.] 


THE  GREAT  QUESTION. 


.33 


decrease,  and  our  children  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  neglect,  we  shall  have 
passed  through  life  happier  and  I  hope  die  better  than  we  should  if  my  earliest 
schemes  of  wealth  had  been  accomplished. 

At  Albany,  power  was  now  reverting  to  the  Whigs.  To  the  surprise 
of  all  parties,  the  one  which  had  been  in  a  minority  in  framing  the 
Constitution,  was  the  first  whom  the  people  selected  to  carry  out  its 
provisions.  Already  there  were  conferences  at  the  Eagle,  and  Con¬ 
gress  Hall,  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued  by  the  new  Administration, 
and  the  new  Legislature.  Appointments  were  to  be  made,  and  State 
papers  to  be  prepared.  Occasionally,  Seward’s  advice  or  aid  was  in¬ 
voked. 

Called  to  Albany  again,  at  the  opening  of  the  New  Year,  he  wrote 
home: 

My  time  thus  far  has  been  spent  amid  the  fatigue  and  annoyance  of  travel. 
I  passed  a  night  here,  and  proceeded  thence  to  New  York.  The  first  day  there 
was  New  Year.  The  people  abandoned  every  thing  else  for  the  festivities  of 
the  season.  I  made  an  effort  to  visit  friends,  but  gave  it  up  after  calling  at 
Doane’s,  Draper’s,  Grinnell’s,  P.  Hone’s,  and  Webb’s. 

I  did  not  forget  my  personal  responsibilities,  the  sense  thereof  being  quick¬ 
ened  by  the  evidences  around  me,  of  the  general  sense  of  importance  of  such 
duties  as  the  season  seems  to  enjoin.  I  wrent  first  to  toy  stores,  supplied  little 
boys  and  girls  with  magic  lanterns,  portable  kitchens,  a  standing  army,  and  a 
troop  of  dancers. 

Saturday  I  did  little  else  than  attend  to  the  trial  for  which  I  had  gone  to  the 
city.  I  went  with  Mr.  Hone  and  his  family  to  Trinity  on  Sunday;  where  every 
thing  was  in  harmony  with  an  elaborate  ceremonial  of  public  worship. 

J  returned  from  New  York  yesterday  by  way  of  New  Haven  and  Springfield, 
a  long,  fatiguing  ride,  which  brought  me  to  the  Eagle  at  nine,  last  evening. 
Here  I  found  A.  B.  Dickinson,  and  Hunt,  and  Whittlesey. 

To-day  the  Governor  has  given  us  a  message;  which  has  disarmed  his 
enemies  and  assured  his  friends,  by  its  concise  brevity.  You  will  be  sure  to 
see  it;  and  I  need  not,  therefore,  express  my  opinion  concerning  its  other  merits. 
I  called  on  his  Excellency  this  morning  in  the  Executive  Chamber,  and  found 
him  surrounded  by  troops  of  friends.  He  has  much  practical  good  sense,  and 
much  caution. 

Monday  Morning. 

If  you  study  the  papers  at  all,  you  will  see  that  the  “Barn-Burners”  of  this 
State  have  carried  the  war  into  Africa,  that  is  to  say,  into  Washington;  and 
the  extraordinary  spectacle  is  exhibited,  of  Democrats  making  up  an  issue  of 
slavery  at  Washington.  The  consequences  of  this  movement  cannot  be  fully 
apprehended.  It  brings  on  the  great  question  sooner  and  more  directly  than 
we  have  even  hoped.  All  questions  of  revenue,  currency,  and  economy  sink 
before  it.  But  there  is  an  immediate  consequence.  The  North  will  not  want 
to  vote  supplies  to  conquer  Mexico,  if  the  territory  to  be  gained  shall  not  be 
3 


34 


MORALIZING  AT  ST.  PETER’S. 


[1846. 


declared  free.  The  South  will  not  want  to  prosecute  a  war  for  the  extension 
of  freedom.  So  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  war  will  be  brought  speedily  to  a 
close. 

Albany,  Thursday ,  Jan.  14,  1847. 

I  have  just  finished  my  argument  in  the  Ohio  Slave  case.  It  is  scarcely  as 
long  as  that  in  Freeman’s  defense,  but  has  required  much  labor  and  study.  It 
must  be  submitted  to  the  Court  at  Washington,  in  printed  form,  and  is  now  in 
the  press.  I  am  detained  to  read  the  proof-sheets.  Living  here  in  the  busy 
political  world,  an  object  of  some  interest  to  some  portions  of  it,  I  am  yet,  not 
of  it.  I  have  not  gone  out  of  the  house,  except  one  visit,  in  three  days. 

The  debates  in  Washington  have  changed  the  aspect  of  political  affairs.  The 
division  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  has  led  the  Whig  party  into  powrer  in 
this  State,  has  reached  Washington;  and,  for  the  first  time,  the  Democratic 
representatives  of  the  North  have  taken  bold  ground  against  the  pretensions 
of  slavery.  This  state  of  things  encourages  us  to  hope  that  the  hour  for  the 
discussion  of  emancipation  is  nearer  at  hand,  by  many  years,  than  has  been 
supposed. 

Jan.  16,  1847. 

My  argument  in  the  Ohio  case  is  half  through  the  press,  and  still  retains  its 
favor  in  my  eyes;  a  test  which  few7  of  my  productions  bear  so  long. 

Jan'y  17,  1847. 

To-day  I  have  been  at  St.  Peter’s  and  heard  one  of  those  excellent  discourses 
of  Dr,  Potter.  There  was  such  a  jumble  of  the  wrecks  of  parties  in  the  church, 
that  I  forgot  the  sermon,  and  fell  to  moralizing  on  the  vanity  of  political  life. 
You  know  my  seat.  Well,  half  way  down  the  west  aisle  sat  Silas  Wright, 
wrapped  in  a  coat  tightly7"  buttoned  to  the  chin,  looking  philosophy,  which  it 
is  hard  to  affect  and  harder  to  attain.  On  the  east  side  sat  Daniel  D.  Barnard, 
upon  whom  “Anti-Rent  ”  lias  piled  Ossa,  while  Pelion  only  has  been  rolled  upon 
Wright.  In  the  middle  of  the  church  w7as  Croswell,  who  seemed  to  say  to 
Wright,  “You  are  welcome  to  the  gallow7s  you  erected  for  me.”  On  the  oppo¬ 
site  side  sat  John  Young,  the  saved  among  the  lost  politicians.  He  seemed 
complacent  and  satisfied. 

Returned  to  Auburn,  he  wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,  Tuesday  Morning. 

I  wrish  you  could  breathe  the  free  air  of  the  country,  if  for  only  a  day.  No¬ 
body  knows  or  cares  for  all  the  questions  which  engage  you  and  everybody  in 
Albany. 

Here  there  is  not  a  breeze  on  the  wraters,  nor  does  a  ripple  from  Albany  reach 
us.  I  am  left  to  conjecture  all  I  learn,  and  I  had  conjectured  that  I  was  utterly 
forgotten  there.  It  amuses  me  to  hear  that  I  am  abused,  with  you,  about  ap¬ 
pointments. 


1347.] 


THE  MEXICAN"  WAR. 


35 


CHAPTER  III. 

1847. 

At  Washington.  The  Mexican  War.  Taylor’s  "Victories.  Capture  of  California.  Scott’s 
Plan  of  Campaign.  Visit  to  John  Quincy  Adams.  The  “Three  Million  Bill.”  The 
“  Proviso  ”  Voted  Down.  Story  of  John  Van  Zandt.  A  Character  in  “  Uncle  Tom’s 
Cabin.”  Seward  and  Chase. 

Over  the  frontier  of  Mexico  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  pushing 
forward.  General  Taylor's  4 ‘Army  of  Occupation”  had  not  only  oc¬ 
cupied  the  debatable  ground,  between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande, 
but  had  driven  the  Mexicans  out  of  it;  had  defeated  them  at  Palo 
Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma;  had  crossed  the  river,  captured  Mata- 
moras  and  all  the  Mexican  posts  in  the  neighborhood;  had  besieged, 
stormed  and  carried  Monterey.  Though  the  war  had  as  yet  lasted 
hardly  a  year,  its  history  had  been  one  of  almost  uninterrupted  suc¬ 
cess.  The  country  rang  with  the  exploits  of  “  Old  Zack”and  his 
Generals  Worth,  Wool  and  Quitman.  Popular  prints  illustrated  the 
gallant  charge  of  Captain  May,  the  battery  of  Captain  Bragg,  the 
deeds  of  Captain  Walker,  and  the  death  of  Major  Ringgold.  Fresh 
volunteers  were  eagerly  hastening  to  join  the  advancing  columns. 
From  the  far  West  came  news  of  victories  costing  less  bloodshed,  but 
securing  a  vast  stretch  of  territory.  Kearney  had  hoisted  the  flag 
over  New  Mexico;  Fremont,  Sloat  and  Stockton  were  in  possession  of 
California.  The  navy  had  blockaded  Vera  Cruz,  bombarded  Tabasco, 
captured  Alvarado,  and  taken  possession  of  the  California  coast.  The 
Mexicans  had  apparently  lost  confidence  in  their  leaders.  Arista  had 
been  removed;  Ampudia  court-martialed;  President  Paredes  had  been 
deposed.  Santa  Anna,  recalled  from  exile,  had  been  made  Military 
Dictator,  and  intrusted  with  control  of  forces,  gathering  in  the  in¬ 
terior,  to  resist  the  Northern  invaders.  His  grandiloquent  manifes¬ 
toes  to  the  “Liberating  Army”  were  contrasted  with  the  simple  and 
straightforward  statements  of  General  Taylor,  who  promising  nothing, 
achieved  every  thing. 

General  Scott  was  to  take  the  field  this  winter,  in  person,  to  lead 
another  invading  army  into  the  heart  of  Mexico.  It  was  believed  in 
Washington  that  another  campaign  would  finish  the  war,  and  that 
the  United  States  would  be  in  a  position  to  dictate  the  terms  of 
adjustment.  Not  only  Texas,  but  the  whole  region  from  the  Rio 
Grande  to  the  Pacific,  seemed  likely  to  fall  into  American  hands. 
These  probable  conquests  awakened  fresh  cupidity  among  the  slave¬ 
holders,  and  fresh  anxiety  among  anti-slavery  men.  “  Would  slavery 


36 


taylor’s  victories. 


ns47. 


be  extended  into  these  newly-acquired  territories?”  wras  the  question,, 
even  before  they  were  obtained. 

General  Taylor  found  himself  suddenly  before  the  country,  in  a 
blaze  of  glory,  as  a  military  hero.  Demonstrations  were  made  in  his 
honor,  complimentary  resolutions  of  meetings  and  thanks  of  public 
bodies  were  tendered  to  him.  It  was  proposed  to  vote  him  a  sword, 
to  vote  him  a  medal,  to  add  a  new  star  to  his  epaulettes,  to  run  him 
for  President.  Already  anecdotes  of  camp  life,  illustrating  his  stern 
integrity  and  simple  habits,  were  going  the  rounds  of  the  newspapers. 
The  popular  nickname  for  him  had  already  been  found,  and  he  was 
described  in  mottoes,  in  print,  and  in  conversation  as  “  Old  Rough 
and  Ready.”  There  was  a  little  uneasiness,  in  the  public  mind,  at 
the  thought  that  military  glory  has  always  to  be  paid  for.  Already 
the  expenditures  for  troops,  ships  and  munitions  began  to  look  fright¬ 
fully  large,  to  a  people  accustomed  to  habits  of  peace  and  unaccus¬ 
tomed  to  national  debt.  Still,  there  was  little  hesitation  in  agreeing 
to  sanction  whatever  might  be  pecessary.  The  people  were  ready  to 
submit  to  a  duty  on  tea  and  coffee,  to  an  issue  of  government  bonds, 
or  to  the  increase  of  taxes.  It  was  believed  that  the  war  could  not  be 
long.  It  was  hoped  that  the  .vague  and  conflicting  stories  of  revolu¬ 
tions  in  Mexico  betokened  division  among  that  people,  which  would 
make  them  incapable  of  resistance.  And  it  was  confidently  asserted, 
by  quidnuncs  at  Washington,  that  Santa  Anna,  so  long  the  master 
spirit  in  Mexican  councils,  would  negotiate  a  peace  advantageous  to 
the  United  States. 

The  closing  days  of  February  found  Seward  on  his  way  to  Wash¬ 
ington.  Arriving  there,  he  wrote: 

Washington,  Friday ,  Feby  27,  1847. 

Yesterday  brought  me  to  this  city,  at  the  end  of  a  fatiguing  journey,  at 
'midnight. 

Washington  was  in  harmony  with  itself.  The  windows  of  one  of  the  great 
ball-rooms  were  hotly  illuminated.  Music  broke  forth  upon  the  night  air. 
Lovers  of  pleasure  were  abroad  on  their  wanderings,  and  the  hackmen  and 
horses  were  winning  the  rewards  of  their  toilsome  attendance.  The  city  is 
full  of  candidates  for  military  commissions,  and  their  partisans.  I  was  shown 
into  a  room  where  a  cot  awaited  me,  which  stood  between  two  beds,  each  of 
which  had  an  unknown  occupant. 

This  morning  they  began  to  discourse  of  their  party  and  their  personal  pros¬ 
pects,  and  I  soon  discovered  they  were  from  New  York.  At  breakfast  I  found 
the  same,  or  nearly  the  same,  coterie  that  I  met  last  winter  at  Coleman’s,  j 
went  to  the  Supreme  Court  this  morning,  and  completed  the  submission  of 
the  Van  Zandt  cause.  It  will  be  decided  next  week.  I  cannot  but  hope  a 
favorable  result. 


U BKARV 

OF  THE 

JNIVERSITV  OF  ILLINO,r 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 


GENERAL  TAYLOR 


1847.] 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES. 


37 


My  first  duty  was  to  pay  my  respects  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  whom  I  found 
in  his  place  looking  unharmed.  But  he  speaks  constantly  with  forebodings  of 
his  speedy  departure.  I  have  promised  to  visit  him  to-night,  and  shall  enjoy 
much  greater  pleasure  in  that  interview  than  I  should  at  Mrs.  Bodisco’s  grand 
ball. 

I  spent  the  morning  in  listening  to  Mr.  Hannegan,  who  uttered  a  very 
spirited  piece  of  declamation,  in  the  shape  of  a  speech  on  the  “  Three  Million 
Bill.” 

February  29,  1847. 

It  is  Sunday,  a  weary  Sunday,  out  of  church  and  away  from  home.  Politics 
here  are  all  the  occupation  of  everybody;  and  I  am  weary  of  them.  Mr.  Polk 
was  tempted  by  the  glory  of  a  war,  which,  being  waged  against  a  distracted 
and  poor  State,  he  expected  would  be  of  short  duration.  Every  military 
movement  has  been  successful,  and  some  have  been  brilliant;  and  yet  the  war 
'  is  odious,  and  the  Government  sinking  under  the  divisions  and  discontents  it 
has  produced. 

I  was  in  the  Capitol  yesterday,  and  in  several  instances  saw  the  Administra¬ 
tion,  with  its  large  majorities,  voted  down  in  both  Houses.  I  sincerely  hope 
that  the  experience  of  the  President  may  instruct  his  successors,  for  many 
years  to  come,  that  wars  for  slavery  are  behind  the  spirit  of  the  age.  It  is 
understood  here  that  General  Scott  will  make  his  attack  on  Vera  Cruz  this 
week.  He  expects  to  capture  the  city,  and  then  to  besiege  the  castle  of  San 
Juan  D’Ulloa,  and  reduce  it  within  a  few  days,  This  done,  he  proposes  to 
proceed  to  Jalapa  and  Mexico,  where  it  is  supposed  the  Mexicans  will  finally 
give  battle. 

I  spent  Friday  evening  with  Mr.  Adams.  He  was  very  much  feebler  than 
’when  I  saw  him  last  winter;  although  I  could  not  discern  that  the  paralysis 
affected  his  movements  in  any  degree.  He  wras  exceedingly  kind  to  me.  I 
was  quite  alone  with  him  for  several  hours,  and  I  shall  remember  the  instruc¬ 
tions  received,  with  gratitude  and  affection,  as  long  as  I  live.  Judge  McLean 
gave  me  a  very  hearty  greeting.  The  political  discussion  runs  high  over  him 
and  his  Whig  competitors  for  the  Presidency.  Mr.  Crittenden  and  I  are  to 
meet  this  afternoon  to  talk  over  the  McLeod  affair,  which  alienated  Mr.  Web¬ 
ster’s  feelings  as  well  as  Crittenden’s. 

To  Weed  he  wrote: 

It  is  very  clear  that  this  Administration  has  lost  strength  and  power  here. 
What  I  have  seen  has  given  me  much  instruction.  There  is  no  union  among 
the  leaders  of  the  Administration  party,  which  is  bad  for  them  and  good  for 
us.  There,  is  as  little  of  concert,  buff  more  of  harmony,  among  our  friends. 

I  saw  Judge  McLean  yesterday  morning,  at  an  hour  he  had  appointed  for  a 
private  interview.  His  wife,  a  young,  handsome  and  spirited  Abolitionist, 
came  in  for  a  few  minutes.  But  the  mayor  of  Philadelphia,  and  other  friends 
of  the  Judge,  came  in  and  put  an  end  to  the  interview,  before  we  had  reached 
the  subject  most  interesting  to  him.  He  is  quite  happy.  Last  winter  he  was 
alone.  Now  he  is  manifestly  the  head  of  a  party,  and  is  visited,  consulted  and 
flattered  as  such.  Corwin  is  openly  regarded  as  a  candidate.  The  Ohio  mem- 


38 


THE  W1LM0T  PROVISO. 


[1347. 


bers  are  warmly  engaged  for  him.  We  are  to  have  the  interview  to-morrow 
morning  which  I  promised  him.  It  is  quite  necessary  for  me  to  be  away,  and 
I  mean  to  go  on  Tuesday  or  Wednesday  at  farthest,  since  I  have  ascertained 
the  position  assigned  to  me,  which  is  that  of  umpire  between  rival  candidates. 

John  Quincy  Adams  said  to  me:  “  You  made  General  Harrison  President; 
you  can  make  the  next  President.  Will  you  give  us  a  man  who  is  not  for 
slavery?  Tell  me  that.  Assure  me  of  that,  and  I  shall  be  prepared  to  make 
my  testament.”  Reverdy  Johnson  sought  to  know  whether  New  York  would 
be  content  to  let  Mangum,  a  slaveholder,  be  Vice-President.  Johnson  seems 
now  to  be  in  favor  of  McLean.  Curtis  is  here,  and  Ogden  Hoffman,  and  Mr. 
Webster  is  their  patron.  I  hear  nothing  of  his  prospects.  Mr.  Mangum  is 
very  civil.  But  every  one  whom  I  meet  seems  to  have  wrapped  himself  up  in 
this  belief,  that  we  Whigs  of  New  York  hold  the  control  of  the  question,  while 
we  are  so  radical,  so  democratic,  so  revolutionary,  that  we  are  not  entitled  to 
be  regarded,  farther  than  to  be  allowed  to  contribute  to  the  triumph  of  the 
party.  If  I  understand  it  rightly,  this  was  our  position  in  1840.  Administra¬ 
tion  men  announce  oracularly  that  before  Saturday  night  Vera  Cruz  will  be  in 
possession  of  General  Scott.  The  Castle  of  St.  John  D’Ulloa  is  to  fall  in  six 
days.  By  the  middle  of  March,  Scott  will  be  at  Jalapa,  where  the  new  Lieu¬ 
tenant-General  will  relieve  him,  and  wage  battle  with  the  yellow  fever. 

In  both  wings  of  the  Capitol,  the  “  Three  Million  Bill  ”  was  engross¬ 
ing  attention.  It  contemplated  the  appropriation  of  13,000,000  to 
negotiate  a  peace,  on  the  basis  of  a  cession  to  the  United  States  of 
California,  New  Mexico,  and  the  disputed  territory  between  the 
Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande.  The  debate  was  protracted.  The  oppo¬ 
nents  of  slavery-extension  had  insisted  upon  attaching  to  the  bill  the 
“Wilmot  Proviso,”  prohibiting  slavery,,  in  language  quoted  from  the 
Ordinance  of  1787.  Among  those  who  took  active  part  were  Preston 
King,  then  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  from  New  York,  and 
John  A.  Dix,  then  Senator  from  the  same  State.  The  latter  made  a 
strong  speech  in  favor  of  the  “  Proviso,”  which  the  Legislature  of  New 
York,  with  great  unanimity,  had  instructed  their  Senators  to  support. 
Other  Northern  Senators  had  taken  similar  ground.  Webster  had 
presented  the  resolutions  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature;  Upham 
and  Hamlin  had  moved  the  “  Proviso”  in  the  Senate.  Dayton  had 
supported  it.  Douglas  and  Graham  had  endeavored  to  amend  it,  by 
proposing  the  Missouri  Compromise  line.  Berrien,  of  Georgia,  fol¬ 
lowed  by  some  of  the  Southern  Whigs,  had  gone  so  far  as  to  protest 
against  the  acquisition  of  any  Mexican  territory  whatever.  The  sup¬ 
porters  of  the  “Proviso,”  backed  by  public  opinion  at  home,  had,  at 
the  outset,  felt  confident  of  its  passage.  But,  as  time  wore  on,  the 
Administration  and  the  South  exerted  their  influence  over  the  timid 
and  the  ambitious.  The  closing  weeks  of  the  session  found  many  of 


1847. J 


JOHN  VAN  ZANDT. 


39 


the  Northern  men  demoralized.  On  the  1st  of  March,  the  question 
came  to  a  vote  in  the  Senate;  and  the  “  Proviso ”  was  voted  down  by 
ten  majority.  Renewed  as  an  amendment  on  the  3d,  in  the  House,  by 
Wilmot  himself,  it  was  voted  down  by  102  to  97. 

Meanwhile,  Seward,  in  the  vaulted  basement  chamber,  where  the 
Supreme  Court  held  its  solemn  state,  submitted  his  argument  in  the 
Ohio  Slave  case.  The  story  of  that  case  was  briefly  this:  John  Van 
Zandt,  who  lived  not  far  from  Cincinnati,  was  an  old  farmer,  poor  and 
uneducated,  but  honest,  worthy  and  benevolent.  He  had  passed  the 
earlier  part  of  his  life  in  Kentucky;  and  from  what  he  had  seen  and 
heard  there,  became  a  hearty  hater  of  slavery.  The  Ohio  river  was 
well  understood,  by  slaves,  to  be  the  dividing  line  between  bondage 
and  freedom;  and  many  were  led  to  cross  that  barrier,  by  opportunity, 
courage,  or  despair.  When  any  ragged,  trembling  fugitive  knocked 
at  John  Van  Zandt’s  door,  it  was  not  in  John  Van  Zandt’s  heart  to 
refuse  him  food,  shelter,  and  help,  on  his  way  to  Canada. 

One  night  in  April,  1842,  nine  poor  wretches  risked  their  lives,  in 
an  attempt  at  liberty.  Among  them  were  a  husband  and  wife  with 
three  small  children.  They  got  across  the  river  and  as  far  as  Walnut 
Hill,  two  miles  beyond.  Here  they  were  met  by  John  Van  Zandt. 
He  had  been  to  the  Cincinnati  market,  with  a  wagon-load  of  farm 
produce,  and  was  returning  home.  He  heard  their  story,  pitied  them, 
told  them  to  get  into  his  now  empty  wagon,  and  decided  to  try  to 
carry  them  toward  Lebanon.  At  three  o’clock  in  the  morning  the 
horses’  heads  were  turned  northward.  One  of  the  fugitives,  who  could 
drive,  was  intrusted  with  the  reins;  and  the  other  eight  huddled  to¬ 
gether  in  the  wagon.  But  there  was  money  to  be  made  on  the  high¬ 
ways  in  those  days,  in  Ohio,  and  plenty  of  enterprising  knaves  ready 
to  turn  slave-catchers.  Early  in  the  morning  a  gang  of  this  class  met 
the  wagon,  about  fourteen  miles  north  of  Cincinnati.  They  knew 
nothing;  suspected  every  thing.  They  were  armed,  and  they  at  once 
seized  and  stopped  the  horses.  Andrew,  the  driver,  had  just  time  to 
jump  and  run.  The  others  were  . obliged  to  surrender  at  discretion. 
Before  long  they  were  traveling  back  to  slavery. 

A  futile  attempt  was  made  to  punish  the  slave-catchers,  by  indict¬ 
ing  them  for  kidnapping,  but  public  sentiment  was  on  their  side,  and 
they  walked  out  of  court  with  the  proud  consciousness  that  they  had 
“  upheld  the  Constitution  and  laws,”  and  made  $450  hy  it. 

Eight  had  been  recovered,  but  one  had  escaped.  That  “  pound  of 
flesh  ”  was  now  to  be  exacted,  through  the  courts  of  the  United  States. 
Andrew’s  owner,  Wharton  Jones  by  name,  brought  suit  against  John 
Van  Zandt.  Salmon  P.  Chase  became  Van  Zandt’s  counsel.  The  case 


40 


A  CHARACTER  IN  “  UNCLE  TOM’S  CABIN.”  [1847. 

was  tried  before  Judge  McLean/ at  Cincinnati,  in  July,  1842.  The 
jury  brought  in  a  verdict  against  Van  Zandt  for  $1,200  damages.  A 
like  verdict  was  rendered  against  him  for  $500  more,  the  penalty  for 
violating  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793. 

Motion  wras  made  for  a  new  trial  and  arrest  of  judgment.  The 
judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  were  divided  in  opinion,  upon  questions 
stated  in  the  argument,  and  the  cause  was  carried  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  Van  Zandt  was  poor,  and  could  not  meet 
the  cost  of  the  trial.  But  the  case  had  begun  to  attract  some  attention, 
and  a  small  amount  was  contributed  by  friends,  though  it  proved  not 
enough  to  cover  the  actual  expenses  of  the  case.  Seward  was  solicited 
to  take  part  in  conducting  it  and  cheerfully  assented.  Both  he  and 
Chase  gave  their  services  without  compensation.  Seward's  argument 
began  with  an  elaborate  analysis  of  the  declaration  and  evidence,  to 
show  them  to  be  insufficient.  But  in  the  latter  portion  he  took  a 
bolder  and  broader  ground:  1st,  that  the  law  of  1793  was  in  conflict 
with  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  under  which  Ohio  was  organized;  and  2d, 
that  the  law  of  1793,  so  far  as  it  affected  the  questions  before  the 
court,  was  unconstitutional  and  void.  As  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Laws 
in  general,  he  remarked: 

There  is  luxury  in  affording  succor,  help,  and  comfort  to  the  needy  and 
oppressed  ;  and  we  are  commanded  to  do  so  by  divine  laws,  paramount  to  all 
human  authority. 

And  in  conclusion,  he  added: 

I  supplicate  that  slavery,  with  its  odious  form,  and  revolting  features,  and 
its  dreadful  pretensions,  for  the  present  and  for  the  future,  may  not  receive,  at 
this  great  tribunal,  now,  sanction  and  countenance  denied  to  it  by  a  Conven¬ 
tion  of  American  States  more  than  half  a  century  ago. 

Mr.  Chase’s  argument,  an  admirable  one,  was  submitted  at  the  same 
time.  With  their  usual  grave  deliberation,  the  judges  took  the  case 
into  consideration.  But  when  the  decision  was  finally  promulgated, 
it  was  against  Van  Zandt.  Judgment  for  the  penalty  was  entered 
against  him  in  the  court  below.  Impoverished  and  embarrassed  by  the 
long  litigation,  he  never  recovered  from  its  effects.  He  died  a  few 
years  later,  probably  without  ever  'dreaming  that  the  whole  system  of 
law,  under  which  he  suffered,  wras  so  soon  to  be  swept  from  the  Statute 
Book.  When  Mrs.  Stowe,  five  years  after  these  events,  wrrote  “Uncle 
Tom’s  Cabin,”  she  portrayed  in  it  John  Van  Zandt,  under  the  name 
of  “Honest  old  John  Van  Trompe,”  and  her  book,  as  Mr.  Chase  well 
said,  is  “Van  Zandt’s  best  monument.” 

Seward  and  Chase  had  had  some  previous  correspondence  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  public  affairs.  But  this  Van  Zandt  case  brought  them  to  more 


1847. J 


RAILWAY  LIFE. 


41 


intimate  acquaintance  with  each  other,  and  was  the  beginning  of  labors 
in  common  in  years  to  come.  In  a  letter  to  Lewis  Tappan,  Chase  said: 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  Governor  Seward’s  argument  lias  been  given  to  the 
public  in  the  New  York  Tribune ,  in  a  condensed  form;  and  it  is  one  of  the 
gratifications,  and  one  of  the  greatest  too,  that  I  have  derived  from  my  con¬ 
nection  with  the  case,  that  it  has  brought  me  into  intercourse  with  that  gentle¬ 
man.  I  regard  him  as  one  of  the  very  first  public  men  of  our  country.  Who 
but  himself  would  have  done  what  he  did  for  the  poor  wretch  Freeman?  His 
course  in  the  Van  Zandt  case  has  been  generous  and  noble;  but  his  action  in 
the  Freeman  case,  considering  his  own  personal  position  and  circumstances, 
was  magnanimous  in  the  highest  degree. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1847. 

Railway  Life.  Planing  Machines  and  Car  Wheels.  “  The  Great  Question  of  Questions.” 
Taylor’s  Victories.  Buena  Vista.  Scott’s  Capture  of  Vera  Cruz.  Dante  and  Tasso. 
Washington  in  the  Recess.  Governor  Marcy.  John  Quincy  Adams.  A  Solemn  Part¬ 
ing.  Forebodings  for  the  Country.  A  Prediction  of  Rival  Armies.  Returning  to  the 
Old  Law  Office.  A  Week  at  Lyons.  Town  and  Country.  War  and  Peace.  Birthday 
Reflections. 


Traveling  by  stage-coach  and  railway,  to  attend  courts  in  differ¬ 
ent  places,  now  occupied  much  of  Seward’s  time.  Most  frequent  of 
all,  was  the  trip  down  the  Mohawk  Valley  to  Albany.  Usually  his 
journeys  there  were  made  in  the  baggage  and  mail  car,  where  he  could 
have  a  quiet  place  to  read  or  smoke,  and  where  his  cigars  and  conver¬ 
sation  made  him  a  welcome  traveling  companion  to  the  baggage-men 
and  mail  agents.  The  postmaster’s  chair  offered  a  convenient  place 
for  reading,  and  a  pile  of  mail  bags  made  a  not  uncomfortable  lounge 
for  a  siesta,  as  the  train  went  whirling  through  villages  and  fields. 

Once,  while  Erastus  Corning  was  President  of  the  Central  railroad, 
as  Seward  stepped  into  the  baggage  car  for  his  customary  seat,  the 
baggage-man  said,  “Very  sorry.  Governor,  I’m  always  glad  to  have 
you  in  here;  but  they’ve  been  making  a  new  law  that  forbids  it.” 

“And  what  is  the  new  law?”  said  he,  as  he  lighted  his  own  cigar, 
and  handed  another  to  the  baggage-man. 

“Well,  it  is  that  nobody  shall  ride  in  the  baggage  car.” 

“Oh,  no!”  said  Seward,  “I  think  not;  I  think  you  have  mistaken 
the  law.  The  law  is,  that  nobody  shall  ride  in  the  baggage  car  but  me.” 


42  “THE  GREAT  QUESTION  OF  QUESTIONS.”  [1347. 

“Is  that  it?”  said  the  baggage-man,  doubtingly, 

“Yes,”  said  Seward,  “and  if  you  don’t  think  I’m  right,  you  can 
ask  Mr  Corning  the  next  time  you  see  him.” 

When  the  train  ran  into  the  Albany  depot,  Mr.  Corning  happened 
to  be  standing  there  with  some  friends,  and  the  baggage-man,  stepping- 
up  to  him,  diffidently  reported  the  incident,  saying  that  the  Governor 
had  told  him  “he  hadn’t  got  the  law  right.” 

“  Well,  what  does  lie  say  the  law  is?”  asked  Mr.  Corning. 

“  He  says  it  is,  that  there  shan’t  nobody  ride  in  the  baggage  car  but 
him.” 

Mr.  Corning  smiled.  “  Well,”  said  he,  ‘*'1  rather  guess  that  is  the 
law.” 

So  his  title  to  a  seat  in  the  baggage  car  thenceforth  remained  un¬ 
questioned,  down  to  the  era  when  smoking  and  palace  cars  were  in¬ 
vented. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  he  wrote: 

\  Eagle  Tavern,  March  31,  1847. 

I  spent  Tuesday  in  preparing  my  case,  and  in  inspecting  planing  machines. 
Wednesday,  I  was  engaged  from  9  a.  m.  until  8  at  night  in  examining  wit¬ 
nesses,  and  then  adjourned  to  10  this  morning.  All  the  patentees  are  around 
me.  When  they  release  me,  I  pass  into  the  care  of  the  members  of  the  Legis¬ 
lature  and  politicians. 

Weed  goes  to  New  York,  on  an  errand  of  love  and  tenderness  to  Greeley, 
who  is  sinking  under  the  weight  of  his  domestic  griefs,  and  his  health  im¬ 
paired  by  his  exposure  in  his  nightly  walks  from  his  office.  Weed  goes  to 
bring  Greeley’s  child  home,  to  take  care  of  for  a  few  weeks. 

General  Taylor  fights  well,  and  writes  better  than  he  fights.  His  battles 
and  his  correspondence  are  rapidly  bringing  him  before  the  country  as  a  can¬ 
didate  for  President,  and  his  nomination  and  election  scarcely  admit  of  doubt. 
I  am  not  prepared  to  speculate  upon  the  consequences  of  events  so  great  and 
unlooked  for  as  these.  What  will  be  their  effect  upon  the  “  Great  Question 
of  Questions,”  which  underlies  all  present  political  movements? 

More  war  news  had  come  from  Mexico.  There  had  been  a  passing 
feeling  of  popular  discontent  with  General  Scott,  occasioned  by  the 
publication  of  correspondence  in  regard  to  his  taking  away  so  many 
of  Taylor’s  veterans,  for  service  in  his  own  “Army  of  Invasion,”  as  it 
was  called,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  “Army  of  Occupation.”  But 
these  feelings  all  rapidly  melted  away,  as  bulletin  after  bulletin  was 
published  of  the  triumphant  successes  of  both  armies;  of  Scott’s  land¬ 
ing  at  Sacrificios;  of  his  bombardment  of  Vera  Cruz;  of  the  capture 
of  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  d’Ulloa;  of  Taylor’s  alternate  advance  and 
retreat  near  Saltillo;  of  his  three  days’  hard  fighting  with  a  force 
quadruple  his  own,  ending  with  the  brilliant  victory  at  Buena  Vista. 


VIEW  AT  LITTLE  FALLS 


LIBRARY 

OF  V  E 

UNIVER  j .  Y  Cr  1  L!NOfS 


WASHINGTON  IN  SUMMER, 


43 


1847.] 

Little  doubt  was  now  entertained  that  the  war  was  to  end  successfully. 
Already  the  march  of  the  armies  was  described  as  being  undertaken 
to  “conquer  a  peace. ”  High  expectations  were  expressed  that  Gen¬ 
eral  Scott  and  his  army  would  soon  “revel  in  the  halls  of  the  Monte- 
zumas.” 

Seward  wrote  from  New  York: 

Astor  House,  April  4,  1847. 

The  news  from  Mexico  has  produced  a  general  impression  here,  that  peace 
has  been  conquered  by  General  Taylor.  The  intelligence,  brought  by  the  last 
mails,  of  the  destitution  of  Santa  Anna’s  army,  their  desertions,  and  the  disso¬ 
lution  of  the  Mexican  Government,  with  insurrections  in  several  of  the  States, 
almost  obliges  me  to  believe  that  peace  may  be  extorted.  I  am  so  anxious  to 
have  this  miserable  wrar  ended,  that  this  conclusion  is  more  cheerfully  ad¬ 
mitted.  General  Taylor's  last  brilliant  battles  have  produced  a  conviction 
among  Whigs,  and  I  think  among  Democrats,  that  he  will  be  nominated  and 

elected  President. 

♦ 

Philadelphia,  April  0,  1847. 

I  have  stopped  here  to-day  to  prepare  for  an  argument  I  am  to  make  next 
Monday  in  the  United  States  Court  here.  Nothing  offers  to  my  observation 
but  the  call  of  a  meeting  to-night  to  nominate  ‘‘Rough  and  Ready”  for  the 
Presidency.  The  feeling  has  taken  deep  root. 

Occasion  offered  while  at  New  York  to  purchase  some  translations  of  books 
which  I  have  long  desired,  and  which  are  wanting  in  our  library.  I  have 
bought  Dante,  Tasso,  Ariosto,  Chaucer,  and  Lane’s  “Arabian  Nights’  Enter¬ 
tainments.”  The  “Divine  Comedy ’’ is  my  book  for  reading  on  my  journey, 
although  all  I  get  from  its  perusal  is  a  paraphrase  of  the  thoughts,  without 
the  harmony  and  music  of  the  verse.  It  is  about  as  near  an  approach  to  the 
beauties  of  the  original  as  a  translation  of  the  Italian  opera  without  the  acces¬ 
sories  of  voice  and  instruments.  I  promise  myself  that  you  will  enjoy  much 
the  study,  even  in  this  poor  way,  of  Italian  poetry. 

With  much  love  to  the  boys,  and  to  her  who  is  yet  too  young  to  know  the 
import  of  the  message. 

Washington,  April  7,  1847. 

To-day  is  one  of  the  most  bland  and  beautiful  April  days,  even  in  this  tem¬ 
perate  clime.  I  write  with  my  window  open.  The  beauty  and  fashion  of  the 
city  are  abroad,  the  pedestrians  sweep  the  pavements  which  the  wheels  cover 
with  dust.  Washington  is  abandoned  by  the  national  councillors.  Mr.  Web¬ 
ster,  Mr.  Berrien,  and  here  and  there  a  senator,  are  seen  passing  about  like 
shadows  of  the  great  Legislature.  The  blood  of  the  political  system  sets  in 
upon  Washington  during  the  winter,  and  flows  back  throughout  the  country 
in  the  recess.  The  great  heart  seems  now  quite  lifeless.  Nothing  could  seem 
more  indolent  and  wearisome  than  the  life  of  this  city  population.  Their 
occupation  ends  with  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  and  even  their  amuse¬ 
ments.  The  capital  of  an  empire  of  twenty  millions  sinks  into  a  quiet  country 
village.  The  quidnuncs  lounge  on  the  piazzas,  studying  the  pedestrians,  and 


44 


THE  PARTING  WITH  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 


LI  847. 


the  pedestrians,  in  their  turn,  become  the  loungers.  When  the  mail  comes 
every  one  inquires  eagerly  for  the  news,  expecting  and  needing  daily  nothing 
less  than  intelligence  of  another  pitched  battle  in  Mexico,  or  of  the  successful 
sacking  of  Vera  Cruz.  I  have  seen  very  few  of  the  very  few  I  know  here.  I 
called  at  Governor  Marcy’s  on  business,  and  found  him  quietly  directing  this 
great  storm  of  war.  I  inferred,  from  his  remarks,  that  he  had  much  hopes  of 
peace. 

I  still  continue  the  reading  of  Dante,  but  have  gone  only  two-thirds  through 
“Hell  and  Purgatory;”  “  Heaven,”  I  fear,  will  be  unattainable.  I  wronder 
that  such  extravagant  and  puerile  conceptions  should  enable  Dante  to  stand 
as  a  rival  of  Milton.  But  the  book  is  instructive,  as  showing  the  taste  and  in¬ 
telligence  of  Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century,  then  on  the  lead  of  Christian 
states.  I  donbt  whether  the  Saracens  did  not  excel  the  Europeans,  at  the 
period,  in  intellectual  development  and  in  the  exhibition  of  virtue.  The  book 
at  least  shows  the  “darkness  visible  ”  of  the  Church  at  that  early  day. 

Philadelphia,  April  10,  1847. 

During  my  stay  in  Washington,  I  enjoyed  pleasure  and  instruction  in  a 
whole  day  spent  with  Mr.  Adams,  en  famille.  I  could  not  repeat  here  any  of 
the  thousand  lessons  I  learned  from  him.  But  the  parting  was  affecting:  “I 
trust,  Mr.  Seward,  you  will  allow  me  to  say  that  I  hope  you  will  do  a  great 
deal  for  our  country;  yon  must,  and  you  will.  I  am  going.  I  shall  be  here 
but  a  little  while.  I  look  to  you  to  do  a  great  deal.” 

The  temper  of  a  people  is  even  more  variable  than  that  of  an  individual. 
Mr.  Adams  says  that  the  character  of  this  people  will  change,  and  with  it  the 
Constitution ;  that  there  will  be  martial  administration  until  rival  chieftains  and 
rival  armies  wield  the  political  power  of  the  country.  I  hope  this  is  too  gloomy  a 
view  of  the  future,  but  it  moves  my  deepest  apprehensions.  He  says  that  war 
is  a  natural  and  eternal  element  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  as  of  the  Romans. 

April  11,  1847. 

The  sun  has  lighted  up  a  bright  and  beautiful  day.  I  have  engaged  to  go 
to  church  with  Bishop  Potter’s  family.  Yesterday  I  spent  chiefly  in  business 
and  dined  with  the  Bishop.  The  youthful  Potters  are  legion ;  promising, 
bright  boys  they  are  too. 

My  physician  is  here  —  Dr.  McClellan —  who  has  entertained  me  with  a 
history  of  the  great  Webster  dinner. 

To  Mr.  Weed  lie  wrote  on  the  same  day; 

A  short  time  ago  I  saw  Governor  Marcy,  nervous  lest  the  Yera  Cruz  expedi¬ 
tion  might  fail,  at  the  very  moment  that  the  last  hopes  of  retaining  his  own 
official  powers  were  giving  way,  beneath  the  universal  acclamations  of  the 
people,  in  favor,  not  of  him,  nor  of  the  President,  but  of  their  proscribed 
General,  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista.  The  almost  bloodless  capture  of  Vera 
Cruz  will  only  increase  the  homage  the  people  pay  to  the  military  leaders. 
Polk  and  Marcy  have  called  into  action  a  spirit  that  thrusts  dowrn  VanBuren, 
Wright,  Calhoun,  Benton,  and  Cass  and  Clay,  Webster,  Clayton  and  McLean; 
but  themselves  go  down  with  their  rivals. 


1S47.J 


A  COUNTRY  LAWYER. 


45 


Mr.  Adams  was,  as  I  learned  from  others,  depressed  in  spirits.  He  feels  that 
his  strength  fails,  his  occupations  cease.  Greener  than  any  other  mind  of 
eighty  years,  he  begins  to  experience  the  loneliness  of  surviving  so  many  gen¬ 
erations.  He  deems  a  return  from  tins  military  career,  of  the  government  and 
the  people,  to  the  quiet  and  the  progress  of  a  pacific  state,  distant  and  hope¬ 
less.  His  language  was  so  solemn,  so  oracular,  and  my  veneration  for  him  so 
great,  that  I  dare  not  trust  myself  yet  to  doubt,  while  I  shrink  from,  his  con¬ 
clusions.  He  was  affectionate  to  me  beyond  my  former  pleasant  experience. 

There  is  nothing  thought  of  or  heard  of  here  but  sieges,  battles  and  con¬ 
quests  and  their  heroes.  The  parties  and  factions  here,  as  elsewhere,  hasten 
to  take  advantage  of  the  popularity  of  General  Taylor.  The  Whigs  had  a 
meeting  last  night,  to  second  the  nomination  of  the  chieftain  for  the  Presi¬ 
dency.  This  was  hurried,  and  took  bold  and  decisive  form,  to'anticipate  the 
Democratic  demonstration  to-morrow  night;  which,  although  not  avowedly  to 
nominate,  still  will  virtually  amount  to  the  same  thing,  and  may  even  take 
that  precise  form. 

Returning  to  Auburn,  lie  wrote  to  Weed: 

April  24,  1847. 

I  find  here  your  letter,  which  crossed  me  on  my  descent  toward  Albany,  a 
month  ago;  but  it  contains  nothing  to  be  “spoken  to  ”  now,  except  your  ad¬ 
vice  to  the  orphan  girl  in  the  Normal  School.  I  wish  such  discreet  counsel 
could  be  always  obtained  by  young  women  as  you  gave  her,  and  such  benevo¬ 
lent  resistance  by  all  ambitious  politicians  as  you  made  to  M. ’s  request  for 
notoriety  in  the  Journal.  I  go  to  Wayne  county  on  Monday  for  two  or 
three  days.  Have  removed  from  my  office  on  stilts,  in  the  main  street,  to  the 
little,  low,  modest  “stand”  where  my  fortunes  were  begun.  Morgan  and 
Blatchford,  and  all  our  boys,  have  taste,  and  confidence  enough  in  our  destiny 
to  be  glad  of  the  change. 

Our  politicians  here  have  given  General  Taylor  their  hearts.  The  one  who 
received  that  beautiful  letter  from  Clay  has  stretched  a  Taylor  flag  across  the 
street. 

Letters  to  Mrs.  Seward  described  the  incidents  of  his  journeyings: 

Lyons,  April  26,  1847. 

My  watch  marked  seven  o’clock  when  I  passed  the  post-office,  and  only 
eleven  and  ten  minutes  when  I  drove  into  Lyons.  As  the  sun  gradually  rose, 
the  clouds  dispersed  and  there  was  bright  sunshine  around  me,  as  there  was 
cheerfulness  within.  The  black-birds,  some  with  glossy  necks  and  others  with 
red-tipped  wings,  made  the  meadows  of  the  Seneca  valley  vocal;  while  larks 
and  robins  continued  the  concert  over  the  fields  and  through  the  woods.  I 
had  only  one  regret  —  your  inability  to  enjoy  the  excursion  with  me.  But  I 
should  not  have  the  boldness  to  ask  you  to  share  a  country  lawyer’s  lodgings. 
Here  I  am,  dining  at  an  ordinary  with  sixty  persons,  all  of  whom  gulp  down 
their  pudding  before  I  have  fairly  attacked  the  turkey;  and  then,  as  to  lodg¬ 
ing,  think  of  a  room  eight  by  ten,  in  a  phalanx  of  such,  and  be  thankful.  The 


BIRTHDAY  REFLECTIONS. 


[1847. 


4b 

gardeners  are  very  busy  everywhere,  digging,  grafting  and  planting  The  daf¬ 
fodils  have  burst  their  buds  to-day. 

The  court  has  adjourned  for  evening,  and  my  studies  are  to  begin.  I  like 
them  not  much.  It  would  be  far  more  pleasant  to  study  Dante  and  Tasso 
with  you.  The  memories  of  such  reading,  however,  must  suffice  me,  while  I 
try  to  acquire  the  knowledge  and  spirit  fit  for  the  forum.  How  strangely  are 
we  humans  contrasted  and  bound  together !  I  fear,  abhor,  detest,  despise  and 
loathe  litigation.  The  irascible,  the  headstrong,  and  the  obstinate  pity  my 
peaceful  disposition  ;  yet  they  solicit  my  aid  to  extricate  them,  and  I  am  forced 
into  contests  for  others  wThich  nothing  could  engage  me  to  in  my  own  behalf. 

A  Democrat  here  says  the  people  give  me  high  praise  for  defending  Free¬ 
man,  whether  innocent  or  guilty.  This  is  consoling.  How  unsafe  is  popular 
passion  to  rely  upon !  Less  than  a  year  has  passed  since  no  execrations  were 
too  severe  for  the  people  who  now  judge  favorably  of  my  conduct,  without 
any  regard  to  the  question  whether  my  client  deserved  death  or  not! 

The  sun  has  just  withdrawn  behind  the  hill  that  overlooks  my  little  cham¬ 
ber,  and  the  night  is  gathering  in  upon  me.  I  hold  fast  to  my  pen,  as  if  it 
were  a  talisman  and  had  the  power  to  summon  and  hold  you  before  me. 

Another  birth-day  was  approaching,  and  some  allusions  to  the  youth 
now  past,  and  the  years  of  middle  life  swiftly  following,  prompted 
these  thoughts: 

Your  good  sense  suggested  to  you  on  Sunday  many  reflections  for  the  past, 
and  hopes  for  the  future,  that  I  had  not  attempted.  The  past  is  irrevocable, 
and  ought  not  to  be  deeply  lamented.  As  to  the  future.  We  must  do  our 
duty  and  leave  the  consequences  to  God ;  by  no  means  assuming  that  such 
consequences  as  we  forebode  will  certainly  happen.  His  Providence,  which 
has  made  us  so  that  we  cannot  fail  to  err,  is  at  the  same  time  tender  to  us; 
and  either  averts  the  apparently  irretrievable  evils  we  fear,  or  modifies  them,  or 
prepares  us  to  bear  them.  May  I  venture  oq  another  reflection?  Your  duties 
and  mine,  your  happiness  and  mine,  so  far  as  the  domestic  relations  are  con¬ 
cerned,  are  chiefly  toward  each  other.  Our  relations  to  our  children  are  a 
consequence,  an  incident,  and  the  duties  of  those  relations  will  be  all  the  more 
wisely  and  well  performed,  according  as  we  preserve,  deep  and  full,  the  foun¬ 
tain  of  love  for  each  other.  I  prove  this  to  be  so  when  I  think  of  my  brave 
oldest  boy,  my  cheerful,  spiritual  Fred,  my  kind  and  faithful  Willie,  and  the 
laughter-loving  eyes  of  my  mother  blazing  anew  in  the  soft,  sweet  face  of  her 
whom  you  are  teaching  to  love  me  so  devotedly.  But  a  truce  to  moralizing. 
God  grant  us  grace  to  continue  for  the  remainder  of  our  pilgrimage,  and  bring 
us  to  a  reunion,  free  from  the  grossness  that  unavoidably  enters  into  the  most 
hallowed  earthly  relations. 


1S47.] 


FAVORITE  AUTHORS. 


47 


CHAPTER  V. 

■  1847. 

Summer  at  Auburn.  Habits  of  Reading.  Taylor  and  the  Politicians.  First  Election  of 
Judges.  Washington  in  Summer.  President  Polk.  Trip  to  Lancaster.  Thaddeus 
Stevens.  Amos  Ellmaker.  Death  of  O’Connell.  Post-mortem  of  Freeman.  Oration 
on  O’Connell.  Scott  in  Mexico. 


The  old  house  at  Auburn  was  this  summer  in  the  hands  of  carpen¬ 
ters  and  masons.  A  wing  and  a  tower  were  to  be  added  on  its  north 
side.  Taste  in  domestic  architecture,  in  the  United  States,  was,  as 
jet,  in  its  infancy.  Villas  and  rural  dwellings  were  usually  square  in 
form,  and  presented  a  monotonous  array  of  white  paint  and  green 
blinds.  Rut  signs  of  change  were  beginning  to  appear  near  New 
Yrork  and  Boston.  Downing,  if  he  did  not  commence  the  revolution, 
was  its  chief  promoter.  His  books  and  magazines  found  ready  place 
on  Seward’s  library  table,  and  were  always  consulted  when  any  im¬ 
provement  of  house  or  grounds  was  talked  of.  The  tower,  albeit  a 
very  modest  one,  attracted  many  curious  gazers  and  no  small  amount 
of  criticism,  fsot  many  years  elapsed,  however,  before  towers  and 
balconies  began  to  multiply  in  the  land,  and  this  early  effort  was 
eclipsed  by  more  pretentious  structures  all  around  it.  Its  lower  story 
was  henceforth  to  be  Seward’s  study.  Hither  his  books  and  writing- 
chair  were  now  removed. 

In  his  library,  novels  occupied  but  a  meager  space,  history  and 
philosophy  taking  many  more  shelves;  and  nearly  all  the  romances 
were  old  ones.  The  English  poets  he  often  read;  Scott,  Spencer, 
Southey,  Coleridge,  Chaucer,  and  Burns,  were  his  favorites.  In  his 
reading  he  dipped  into  various  sciences.  He  wTas  not  specially  attracted 
by  the  details  of  any.  On  the  contraiy,  he  studied  each  with  reference 
to  its  bearing  upon  the  general  welfare  of  the  human  race.  Political 
science  was  the  study  he  especially  liked,  and  he  studied  the  others  so 
far  as  he  found  them  auxiliary  to  that  line  of  inquiry.  Bacon,  Burke, 
Bolingbroke,  Hallam,  Jefferson,  and  Franklin  he  read  with  care.  His 
favorite  studies  at  college  had  been  the  classics,  while  mathematics 
were  distasteful  and  difficult  to  him.  He  used  to  say  that  he  was  never 
sure  that  he  had  added  up  a  column  of  figures  correctly  until  some¬ 
body  else  had  gone  over  his  work  and  verified  it.  Yet  he  was  accurate 
in  accounts,  and  his  success  in  the  study  and  demonstration  of  the 
mechanical  problems  forced  upon  him  in  his  patent  cases,  was  a  grati¬ 
fying  surprise  to  himself.  He  never  lost  his  taste  for  the  classic 
authors;  but  would  occasionally,  of  an  evening,  take  up  Horace,  Lucian, 


I 


48  ELECTING  JUDGES.  [1847. 

or  Martial  to  read  a  few  pages;  and  would  spare  a  moment  even  from 
business  to  aid  liis  boys  in  construing  Cicero  or  Virgil. 

A  judicial  election  was  to  be  held  this  year.  It  was  the  first  one 
under  the  new  Constitution.  The  experiment  of  an  elective  judiciary 
was  regarded  with  apprehension  by  many  who  feared  that  the  bench 
would  become  partisan,  and  perhaps  the  instrument  of  mob  tyranny. 
In  deference  to  this  feeling,  it  was  virtually  though  not  formally 
agreed  by  the  party  leaders  to  keep  the  election  distinct  from  either 
the  local  contests  of  the  spring  or  the  general  one  of  the  fall.  The 
7th  of  June  was  settled  upon  as  the  election  day.  The  nominations 
were  based  upon  professional  or  judicial  experience,  rather  than  party 
opinions  or  services.  In  some  districts,  the  two  parties  could  agree 
upon  the  same  name,  thus  insuring  the  election.  The  list  of  nomi¬ 
nees  contained  some  of  the  most  respected  jurists  of  the  State.  Among 
them  were  Judges  Bronson,  Jewett,  Buggies,  and  Lieutenant-Gover¬ 
nor  Gardiner,  for  the  Court  of  Appeals;  and  Judges  Edmonds,  Strong, 
Barculo,  Wright,  Parker,  Harris,  Cady,  Paige,  Watson,  Willard,  Grid- 
ley,  Allen,  Shankland,  Mason,  Johnson,  Maynard,  Welles,  and  Sel- 
den,  for  the  Supreme  Court. 

In  a  letter  to  Weed,  Seward  said: 

Auburn,  May  23,  1847. 

Our  district  convention  went  off  well.  It  depends  upon  our  adversaries 
whether  we  shall  begin  a  new  constitutional  cycle,  with  a  judiciary  capable  of 
comprehending  the  dignity  of  the  State,  and  of  feeling  the  sympathies  of  free¬ 
dom  and  humanity.  It  would  be  pleasing  to  others  to  be  assured,  as  I  am, 
that  we  can  in  no  event  have  a  worse,  while  we  hope  for  a  better,  judiciary 
than  heretofore.  It  is  particularly  gratifying  that  we  have  been  able  to  show 
our  appreciation  of  Whittlesey  and  Maynard,  and  Reynolds  and  Jordan. 

/ 

Friday. 

I  wish  H.  had  written  his  own  address.  The  National  Intelligencer  gives  it 
as  a  model  of  all  political  addresses,  present  and  future.  I  prosper  quite  well 
when  I  write  incog. 

There  is  much  need  of  sound  advice  as  to  whether  I  should  practice  law 
under  the  new  Constitution  at  Auburn  or  at  Albany.  The  new  system  is  just 
adapted  to  my  habits  and  ways.  I  can  get  along  well  under  it  in  either  place ; 
better  of  course  in  Albany.  But  to  leave  home  —  and  such  a  home  —  and 
fling  myself  into  a  heated  city!  I  shall  think  long  of  it. 

The  election  in  June  resulted  in  the  choice  of  an  able  and  creditable 
bench.  The  whole  array  of  judges  chosen  by  the  people  was  thought 
to  favorably  contrast  with  that  of  the  judges,  good  and  bad,  who  had 
at  previous  periods  been  appointed  by  Governors  or  Councils  of  Ap¬ 
pointment. 


1847. J 


NEW  INVENTIONS. 


49 


The  war  news  continued  auspicious.  Taylor  remained  awaiting 
reinforcements,  but  neither  disturbed  nor  menaced.  California  and 
New  Mexico  were  peaceably  held  by  the  handful  of  Americans  who 
had  made  conquest  of  them.  Scott  was  climbing  from  the  lowlands 
of  the  sea-coast  to  the  higher  and  more  salubrious  regions  of  the  in¬ 
terior  of  Mexico.  He  had  occupied  Jalapa,  captured  Perote,  and 
achieved  a  brilliant  victory  at  Cerro  Gordo.  The  officers  of  both 
commands  were  winning  golden  opinions.  Seward’s  two  old  friends 
at  Albany,  Colonel  Worth  and  General  Wool,  had  come  to  distinction 
and  rank,  second  only  to  the  chief  commanders  of  the  two  armies. 
Colonel  Jefferson  Davis,  a  son-in-law  of  General  Taylor,  commanding 
a  Mississippi  regiment,  had  gained  great  credit,  and  when  disabled  by 
a  wound  at  Buena  Vista,  for  further  service  in  the  field,  had  been 
chosen  bv  his  State  to  represent  her  in  the  United  States  Senate.  The 

«  -L 

names  of  May,  Bragg,  Fremont,  Stockton  and  Doniphan  were  grow¬ 
ing  familiar  to  every  reader  of  the  newspapers.  Political  circles  were 
watching  carefully.  But  the  politicians,  though  keen  enough  to  per¬ 
ceive  Taylor’s  strength  as  a  candidate,  were  divided  in  opinion  as  to 
the  expediency  of  taking  him.  Neither  party,  as  yet,  felt  quite 
assured  as  to  his  political  predilections.  His  life  had  been  devoted  to 
the  military  service,  and  like  most  army  officers  he  had  kept  aloof 
from  politics.  Yet  two  things  about  him  were  known.  He  was  a 
Whig,  and  he  was  a  slave-holder.  One  of  these  characteristics  made 
it  difficult  for  the  Democrats  to  nominate  him,  and  the  other  was 
believed  by  Whigs  to  have  been  fatal  to  their  last  nominee,  Mr.  Clay. 

Among  the  incidents  at  Auburn  this  summer,  was  one  illustrating 
the  unconscious  rapidity  of  national  changes.  The  great  gate-way  of 
the  prison  opened  one  day  to  let  out  an  old  convict,  who  had  served  his 
allotted  term  of  twenty  years.  A  few  minutes  later  he  was  found 
standing  on  the  railroad  track,  gazing  at  it  in  a  sort  of  bewildered 
amazement ;  and  asking,  “  what  those  long  bars  were  for  ?”  He  ac¬ 
cepted  the  explanation  of  bystanders,  that  it  was  a  new  form  of  road 
by  which  one  could  go  to  Albany  in  a  day.  But  he  was  incredulous 
and  indignant,  when  told  that  a  message  could  be  sent  to  the  same 
place  and  an  answer  returned  in  five  minutes,  by  the  wires  and  poles 
above  his  head. 

Again  called  away  by  his  law  cases,  Seward  wrote  : 

Eagle  Tavern,  Monday  Eve.,  May  31,  1847. 

Although  quite  discontented  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  the  home  that 
has  become  so  attractive,  I  would  not  waste  a  day.  So  I  drew  my  Godwin 
from  the  capacious  great-coat  pocket,  took  a  chair  by  the  open  window  of  the 
post-office  car,  and  alternately  read  the  small  treatise  in  my  hand,  and  the  ex- 
4 


50 


MIDSUMMER  AT  WASHINGTON. 


[1847. 


pansive  and  ever-varying  volume  that  opened  its  leaves  before  me  through  the 
long  steam  ride.  It  was  almost  six  when  I  reached  the  Eagle.  The  venerable 
inn  rejoices  in  a  new  administration  conducted  by  Houghton  &  Acker.  They 
are  always  well-disposed  friends,  and  the  servants  who  came  around  me  wore 
old,  familiar  faces. 

Albany,  June  2,  1847. 

Business  presses  me  more  here  than  at  home.  My  clients  are  Gibson,  Corn¬ 
ing  and  Many,  and  one  of  them  is  here  whenever  I  am.  Harris  is  pressing  me 
to  come  to  Albany,  and  take  his  office.  He  makes  it  seem  very  attractive.  I 
have  not  yet  advised  or  even  thought  seriously  about  it. 

Washington,  June,  11,  1847. 

I  have  made  commas  and  semicolons  in  my  journey  until  now,  when  I  affix  a 
period.  We  came  into  the  Federal  capital  in  a  cloud  of  dust,  at  eleven  in  the 
morning.  The  depot  is  on  Pennsylvania  avenue,  halfwTay  from  the  Capitol 
to  Coleman’s  —  which  was  Gadsby’s,  when  you  visited  Washington.  Our  walk 
from  the  car-house  to  the  hotel  in  the  morning,  and  sundry  successive  prome¬ 
nades  on  the  same  route,  under  a  fierce  sun,  revealed  to  me  that  this  great 
avenue  was  on  the  line  of  the  Ecliptic.  It  is  never  in  the  shade  for  an  hour. 
Washington  has  not  the  levity  of  Paris  because  the  city  wants  the  wealth  to 
indulge  in  the  frivolity  that  relieves  idleness.  The  departments  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment,  dispersed  about  the  city,  keep  their  inmates  very  industriously  en¬ 
gaged.  The  petty  shops  are  without  customers.  There  is  no  trade,  compara¬ 
tively  no  travel,  and  no  pastime.  In  the  winter  the  legislators  are  omnipotent 
and  omnipresent.  Senators,  Representatives,  Speakers,  Sergeants,  Pages  and 
Messengers  swarm  in  the  streets  and  in  the  hotels.  They  meet  you  at  table, 
on  the  avenue,  crowd  the  lobbies,  and  fill  the  drawing-rooms.  Now  the  Exec¬ 
utive  Department  is  alone  seen  and  felt.  Here  and  there  are  officers  of  the 
army  or  of  the  navy,  coming  for  instructions.  Contractors  are  applying  to 
the  auditors  of  the  treasury,  and  the  inventors  examining  the  archives  of 
the  Patent  Office.  All  these  have  a  look  of  independence  or  rather  noncha¬ 
lance.  They  are  men  whose  fortunes  are  made,  as  they  think.  They  are  safe. 
They  indulge  voracious  appetites,  and  have  the  luxuries  of  the  market,  which 
of  course  is  very  fine.  They  wear  great  whiskers,  and  talk  loud  at  table  about 
their  visits  to  the  Secretaries,  and,  forsooth,  the  dust  on  their  coats,  and  the 
deep,  dark  shadow  of  their  countenances  support  their  pretensions. 

Of  course  the  executive  powers  here  are  strangers  to  me  ;  scarcely  an  old, 
familiar,  friendly  face  presents  itself.  I  strolled  yesterday  through  the  Capitol 
grounds.  They  are  neat  and  pretty,  but  diminutive  and  artificial.  Among 
others  here  I  met  an  ex-Governor,  who,  at  the  age  of  nearly  seventy,  shows 
how  the  free  spirit  of  a  man  of  genius,  and  an  American,  can  be  broken  into  the 
humble  routine  of  a  courtier.  Assiduous  he  is  to  all,  because  here  no  one  can 
know  from  wrhat  quarter  the  capricious  breeze  of  popular  favor  may  blow  next. 

June  12,  1847. 

After  writing  to  you  yesterday,  I  studied  the  business  that  called  me,  and 
then  rode  with  some  naval  officers  to  call  on  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr. 


OWASCO  LAKE. 


.4 


LlcSRftt’Y 

Of  r  t 

JNIVERSliY  Cr  LtlROIS 


1847.] 


STEVENS  AND  ELLMAKER. 


51 


Mason,  whom  I  had  known  when  he  was  Attorney-General.  He  is  a  fat, 
pleasant,  agreeable  man,  of  how  much  talent  I  do  not  certainly  know.  He 
has  just  returned  from  a  jaunt  with  the  President  to  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  which  was  honored  by  being  the  President’s  alma  mater.  I  left  him 
and  dropped  into  the  War  Department,  where  I  found  Governor  Marcy  as 
calm  as  a  summer  morning,  awaiting  the  course  of  a  war,  which  had  already 
been  so  successful  as  to  save  its  authors  from  the  disgrace  of  failure ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  to  render  it  sure  that  they  must  give  place  to  the  military 
agents  who  had  won  such  amazing  victories.  No  one  can  see  how  the  war  can 
be  continued  longer,  and  yet  nobody  has  discovered  any  indications  of  peace. 

From  Mr.  Secretary  Marcy’s  I  fell  into  the  society  of  a  Democratic  Senator 
and  a  Democratic  Cherokee  Commissioner,  who  entertained  me  all  the  morn¬ 
ing,  attended  me  to  my  lodgings,  and  dined  with  me.  I  am  amazed  at  nothing 
so  much  as  the  feebleness  of  this  Executive.  With  patronage  and  power  ex¬ 
ceeding  that  of  almost  any  monarch,  he  has  not  affection  nor  even  support  ; 
nor  does  he  seem  to  have  inspired  fear  among  his  own  beneficiaries.  He  is 
absolutely  without  a  party,  without  friends,  without  supporters.  All  around 
him,  even  in  his  Cabinet,  are  intrigues  for  the  succession.  The  worthy  gen¬ 
tlemen  who  honored  me  with  their  company  are  of  the  opinion  that  Taylor 
must  be  the  next  President,  and  they  are  becoming  ready  for  that  event. 

Lancaster,  Penn.,  June  13. 

“Marriage,”  some  philosopher  has  said,  “  is  a  union  founded  upon  contrasts.” 
There  you  are  at  home  all  your  life-long.  It  is  too  cold  to  travel  in  winter  and 
home  is  too  pleasant  in  summer  to  be  forsaken.  The  children  cannot  go  abroad 
and  must  not  be  left  at  home.  Here  I  am,  on  the  contrary,  roving  for  instruc¬ 
tion  when  at  leisure,  and  driven  abroad  continually  by  my  occupation.  Flow 
strange  a  thing  it  is  that  we  can  never  enjoy  each  others’  cares  and  pleasures, 
except  at  intervals. 

Lancaster  is  a  city  and  contains  about  ten  thousand  people.  The  streets  are 
regular,  clean,  and  well  paved;  the  buildings  eminently  substantial  and  com¬ 
fortable,  although  not  particularly  tasteful.  Few  American  towns  present 
an  aspect  of  so  much  wealth.  We  arrived  at  four.  Negotiations  -were  com¬ 
pleted  at  six,  and  at  nine  I  had  all  the  papers  signed,  sealed  and  delivered. 
Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  the  great  Pennsylvania  Whig  leader  of  our  school, 
called,  and  revived  old  recollections  of  our  association  in  the  anti-masonic 
convention  at  Baltimore.  I  sank  to  rest,  weary  and  lonely,  at  eleven  o’clock ; 
and  through  the  livelong  night  heard  the  annunciation  of  the  progress  of  the 
hours;  first,  by  the  shrill  German  house  clock  that  regulates  affairs  at  the 
Swan  Inn  ;  then  repeated  by  the  iron  tongue  of  the  town  clock ;  and  then  re¬ 
iterated  in  a  chant  by  the  watchman  under  my  window,  “  one  o'clocJc  and  all  is 
well.  ” 

I  met  Amos  Ellmaker,  a  lawyer  living  here  in  1831.  In  1832  we  nomi¬ 
nated  him  for  Vice-President  with  Mr.  Wirt.  I  called  at  his  house  this  morn¬ 
ing  and  found  he  wras  sinking  under  premature  old  age  and  infirmities.  Six¬ 
teen  years,  what  changes  do  they  make  in  the  human  family,  in  the  domestic 
circle,  as  well  as  in  national  combinations! 


52 


DEATH  OF  O  CONNELL. 


[1847 


Ireland  was  now  in  mourning.  O’Connell  was  dead.  The  national 
grief  over  the  loss  of  the  “Liberator”  was  deep  and  sincere.  It  was 
echoed  across  the  Atlantic.  To  every  mind  the  questions  presented 
themselves:  “  Will  he  have  any  successor?  Can  any  other  man  so  sway 
the  Irish  people?  Or  if  any  does,  will  he  move  them  to  good  or  evil?  ” 

In  New  York  there  was  an  earnest  desire  that  Seward  should  be¬ 
come  his  eulogist,  and  the  22d  of  September  was  designated.  He 
wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,  August  27,  1847. 

It  seems  a  pity  that  we  cannot  elect  General  Taylor  without  drawing  into 
our  ranks  all  that  is  venal  and  base  in  the  other  party.  Was  it  so  when  Jack- 
son  was  elected?  If  so,  we  must  have  had  a  good  riddance  of  all  our  allies 
who  joined  the  conquering  army.  That  last  letter  of  Taylor’s  will  do  no  harm 
to  him,  although  it  would  be  enough  to  ruin  any  other  person. 

How  does  Greeley  bear  your  indirect  disclaimers  and  reproofs?  Ill  enough, 
I  should  think.  He  is  certainly  the  most  abused  man  in  the  world.  He  pro¬ 
vokes  everybody  to  quarrel  with  him,  and  then  gives  them  his  own  columns  to 
belabor  him  in.  Could  any  thing  be  more  absurd  than  his  kindling  a  religious 
fanaticism  against  himself  by  his  review  of  that  miserable  humbug  “Davis’ 

Revelations  ?  ” 

% 

While  attending  court  in  Ithaca,  he  received  intelligence  from  Au¬ 
burn  that  Freeman  had  died  in  his  cell.  The  case  had  attracted  so 
much  attention  among  medical  men,  that  there  was  a  general  desire 
for  a  post-mortem  examination.  Some  of  the  resident  physicians 
telegraphed  Doctors  Brigham  and  McCall,  who  came  from  Utica. 
With  Doctors  Briggs,  Fosgate,  Van  Epps,  Hyde,  Luce,  a  number  of 
lawyers  and  others  assembled  to  witness  the  examination.  The  brain 
was  carefully  dissected.  “It  presented  the  appearance  of  chronic 
disease.  The  skull  itself  appeared  diseased;  temporal  bone  carious; 
internal  structures  of  the  ear  destroyed.”  It  did  not  need  even  medi¬ 
cal  knowledge  to  perceive  that  such  a  brain  was  incompatible  with 
sanity.  The  testimony  of  his  keeper,  that  the  muscles  of  his  face  had 
been  paralyzed  and  his  mouth  drawn  to  one  side  for  weeks  before  his 
death,  was  amply  explained.  For  once  doctors  did  not  differ.  All 
agreed  to  the  statement  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Brigham  and  signed  by  him¬ 
self  and  six  others. 

Hardly  a  month  intervened  before  the  time  appointed  for  the 
O’Connell  oration.  Its  preparation  was  to  be  accomplished  at  such 
intervals  as  could  be  snatched  from  the  duties  of  the  law  office.  A 
letter  to  Weed  said: 

Auburn,  September  15,  1847. 

Making  orations  in  a  country  lawyer’s  office  is  as  hard  a  task  as  writing 
philosophy  at  a  daily  newspaper  desk.  I  have  clone  it,  however,  and  if  my 


1847. 


ORATION"  ON"  O’CONNELL. 


53 


friends  are  disappointed  in  it  they  must  be  careful  not  to  push  me  into  new 
enterprises.  It  has  seemed  best  to  me  to  write  about  O’Connell  as  I  felt  and 
thought,  without  tempering  my  speech  to  meet  the  prejudices  of  the  age  and 
country. 

On  the  evening  before  the  gathering  at  Castle  Garden,  Seward 
wrote: 

New  Yoke,  September  21,  1847. 

My  oration,  for  better,  for  worse,  is  already,  at  eight  o’clock  Tuesday  even¬ 
ing,  in  the  type  of  the  Tribune.  The  weather  is  fine,  and  there  is  expectation 
of  a  great  assemblage. 

I  break  off  to  read  the  proof  of  my  speech,  which  I  suppose  will  reach  your 
eyes  as  soon  as  this  disjointed  letter. 

On  the  morning  of  the  22d,  thousands  of  O’Connell’s  countrymen 
were  in  the  streets,  and  long  before  the  appointed  time  Castle  Garden 
was  filled  to  overflowing.  On  Seward’s  appearance  he  was  greeted 
with  enthusiastic  welcome,  which  died  away  into  complete  silence  as 
he  stepped  forward  upon  the  platform  and  commenced: 

There  is  sad  news  from  Genoa.  An  aged  and  weary  pilgrim,  who  can  travel 
no  further,  passes  beneath  the  gate  of  one  of  her  ancient  palaces,  saying  with 
pious  resignation,  as  he  enters  its  silent  chambers:  “  Well,  it  is  God’s  will 
that  I  shall  never  see  Rome.  I  am  disappointed.  But  I  am  ready  to  die.  It 
is  all  right.”  The  superb  though  fading  “  Queen  of  the  Mediterranean  ”  holds 
anxious  watch,  through  ten  long  days,  over  the  majestic  stranger’s  wasting 
frame.  And  now  death  is  there;  the  “Liberator”  of  Ireland  has  sunk  to  rest 
in  the  Cradle  of  Columbus. 

The  oration  continued  in  historic  resume  of  the  experiences  of  Ire¬ 
land  during  a  thousand  years,  its*  conquest  by  Great  Britain  and  its 
condition  since  that  period.  Then  sketching  the  life  of  O’Connell, 
born  in  the  same  year  that  the  first  blow  for  American  Independence 
was  struck  at  Lexington,  it  analyzed  his  character  and  the  questions 
of  the  century  with  which  he  had  to  deal,  the  agitation  which  he 
commenced  and  carried  to  successful  accomplishment  against  the  laws 
imposing  disabilities.  Then  giving  a  brief  summary  of  the  “  monster 
meetings  ”  for  repeal,  of  the  arrest,  trial  and  imprisonment,  reversal 
of  judgment,  exile  and  death,  he  said: 

Stop  now  and  write  an  epitaph  for  Daniel  O’Connell!  He  gave  liberty  of 
conscience  to  Europe,  and  renewed  the  revolutions  of  the  kingdoms  toward 
universal  freedom,  which  had  been  arrested  by  the  anarchy  of  France. 


In  the  closing  part  of  the  address,  Seward  reverted  to  the  problem 
which  had  engrossed  so  much  of  his  thought  during  the  preceding 
year.  He  told  his  audience  that  the  agitation  in  Ireland  was: 


54 


THE  ARMY  IN  MEXICOo 


[1847. 


Only  one  of  the  incidents  of  an  all-pervading  phenomenon;  the  dissolution 
of  monarchical  and  aristocratical  governments,  and  the  establishment  of  de¬ 
mocracies  in  their  place.  I  know  this  change  must  come,  for  even  the  men¬ 
aced  governments  feel  and  confess  it.  I  know  that  it  will  be  resisted,  for  it  is 
not  in  the  nature  of  power  to  relax.  It  is  a'fearful  inquiry,  how  shall  that 
change  be  passed?  Is  every  step  of  human  progress  to  be  marked  by  blood? 
Must  the  nations,  after  groaning  for  ages  under  vicious  institutions,  wade 
through  deeper  seas  to  reach  that  condition  of  more  perfect  liberty?  Or  shall 
they  be  able  to  change  their  forms  of  government,  by  slow  and  measured  de¬ 
grees,  so  as  to  adapt  them  peacefully  to  the  progress  of  the  age? 

On  his  way  home  to  Auburn,  he  found  flags  waving,  newspapers 
exultant,  and  the  people  jubilant  over  new  victories  in  Mexico.  Scott 
had  pushed  on  rapidly  over  the  table-lands,  entered  the  historic  valley 
of  the  capital,  encountering  and  defeating  the  Mexican  army  at  Con¬ 
treras,  San  Antonio  and  Churubusco.  General  Worth  had  pursued 
the  flying  enemy  almost  to  the  gates  of  the  capital.  Santa  Anna  had 
asked,  through  a  flag  of  truce,  an  armistice,  and  Trist,  the  American 
Plenipotentiary,  had  improved  the  occasion  to  open  negotiations  for 
peace.  After  ten  days  of  fruitless  delay,  hostilities  had  recommenced. 
The  bloody  battle  of  Molino  del  Rey  and  the  storming  of  Chepultepec 
had  followed.  Worth  and  Quitman  had  reached  the  city  by  the  San 
Cosine  aqueduct  and  the  Belen  gate.  After  a  desultory  but  sanguin¬ 
ary  struggle  in  the  streets,  with  the  enemy  in  the  windows  and  on  the 
housetops,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  had  been  planted  in  the  Grand  Plaza, 
and  the  American  troops  were  garrisoning  the  “  Halls  of  the  Monte- 
zumas,” 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1847. 

Caucuses,  Conventions  and  Candidates.  The  Vice-Presidency.  Clay’s  Lexington  Speech. 
“  The  Diversions  of  Purley.”  Winthrop.  Walker.  War  Taxes.  Generals  and  States¬ 
men.  Reform  in  Europe.*  Pius  IX.  “  The  Proviso.” 

September  brought  its  usual  caucuses,  conventions,  and  public 
meetings.  When  the  Whig  State  Convention  met  it  nominated  Mil¬ 
lard  Fillmore  for  Comptroller,  Christopher  Morgan  for  Secretary  of 
State,  Alvah  Hunt  for  Treasurer,  Ambrose  L.  Jordan  for  Attorney- 
General,  and  Charles  Cook  for  Canal  Commissioner.  Lieutenant-Gov¬ 
ernor  Gardiner  having  been  elected  a  Judge  of  the  new  Court  of  Appeals 
m  June,  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  in  September,  authorizing  the 


1847.] 


DEMOCRATIC  DIVISIONS. 


55 


election  of  a  Lieutenant-Governor  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  Whigs 
had,  accordingly,  again  nominated  Hamilton  Fish,  their  candidate  of 
the  previous  year. 

When  the  Democratic  State  Convention  met  at  Syracuse,  there  was 
found  to  be  a  large  number  of  contestants  for  seats.  A  temporary  organ¬ 
ization  only  led  to  fresh  disputes.  Preston  King,  James  S.  Wadsworth, 
and  other  leaders  of  the  “  Barn-Burner  ”  faction  refused  to  act  as  offi¬ 
cers  ;  and  the  “  Hunkers  ”  took  control  of  the  Convention.  The  break 
in  the  party  was  inevitable.  The  issue  was  at  hand  in  the  “  Wilmot 
Proviso.”  This  was  embodied  in  a  resolution  by  James  R.  Doolittle 
and  offered  by  David  Dudley  Field.  Of  course,  the  “  Hunker”  ma¬ 
jority  voted  it  down  ;  and  amid  a  burst  of  excitement  the  “  Barn- 
Burners  ”  withdrew.  The  “  Hunkers,”  left  in  possession  of  the  hall, 
nominated  a  state  ticket,  pledged  their  fidelity  to  the  national  admin¬ 
istration,  and  to  the  Compromises  of  the  Constitution.”  The  Rad¬ 
ical  faction  retired  to  Herkimer,  organized  a  fresh  Convention,  of 
which  Churchill  C.  Cambreling  was  President ;  John  Van  Buren  was 
appointed  to  draft  the  address  to  the  people.  Uncompromising  hos¬ 
tility  to  the  extension  of  slavery  was  proclaimed ;  but  it  was  deemed 
wise  not  to  nominate  a  ticket. 

The  “  Barn-Burners  ”  had  struck  the  key-note  of  popular  sentiment, 
in  avowing  themselves  for  “  Free  Soil.”  But  would  they  adhere  to  it? 
This  was  the  universal  query  ;  and  one  that  few  were  prepared  to 
answer.  * 

From  Albany,  Seward  wrote  home  : 

Eagle  Tavern,  Saturday  Morning. 

Weed  came  last  evening  and  gave  me  a  full  account  of  the  Convention  at  Syra¬ 
cuse,  which  seems  to  have  proceeded  exactly  as  he  wished,  in  all  material  respects. 
The  “  Barn-Burners  ”  are  bent  on  defeating  the  Democratic  ticket;  and  John 
Van  Buren  had  a  meeting  at  the  Capitol  last  night,  in  which  the  position  of 
the  “  Barn-Burners  ”  was  eloquently  set  forth.  The  Whigs  may  expect  to 
carry  their  ticket  by  some  30,000  majority. 

This  morning  I  met  two  Democratic  Irishmen,  long  leaders  of  the  party 
here,  now  divided,  and  criminating  each  other  on  the  subject  of  John  Van 
Buren.  It  was  quite  entertaining  to  hear  a  description  of  his  principles,  when 
the  principles  were  identical  with  those  for  which  the  party,  less  than  a  year 
ago,  denounced  me. 

Albany,  October  14,  1847. 

I  spent  last  evening  at  Weed’s,  with  him  and  Benedict.  Weed’s  star  is 
again  in  the  ascendant,  and  he  is  as  busy  in  political  affairs  now  as  he  was  in 
the  days  of  his  “Dictatorship.”  The  sum  of  his  speculations  at  the  present 
moment  is,  that  the  Whig  party  are  to  succeed  in  the  State  this  fall;  that  mat¬ 
ters  shape  decidedly  toward  Mr.  Clay’s  nomination  next  year,  with  that  of  a 
friend  of  yours  for  V.  P.,  but  that  success  would  be  doubtful. 


56 


AT  THE  STATE  CAPITAL. 


[1847. 


October  15. 

To-day  I  have  ventured  to  the  Capitol  for  the  first  time.  Every  year  the 
magnitude  of  things  here  grows  less  and  less  in  my  view.  I  looked  in  on  Sen¬ 
ate  and  Assembly  to-day,  and  wondered  that  I  should  ever  have  bated  my 
breath  in  awe  of  them.  Their  debates,  full  of  importance  in  their  own  esti¬ 
mation,  seemed  to  me  flat,  stale,  and  unprofitable.”  The  old  apple-woman  in 
the  rotunda  would  fain  have  made  me  believe  that  the  times  have  deterio¬ 
rated.  She  complained  that  she  sat  there  without  selling  the  worth  of  twenty- 
five  cents  a  day,  which  was  a  pitiful  contrast  to  her  magnificent  profits  under 
the  old  regime.  I  found  myself  merely  an  historical  personage.  My  bust  that 
graces  the  Library  was  regarded  with  something  of  the  deference  people  pay 
to  mere  antiquity. 

Albany,  Saturday  Night. 

There  is  a  bright  moon  in  the  sky,  and  it  shames  the  light  upon  my  table. 

It  seems  to  reproach  me  for  not  having  gone  to  spend  to-morrow  with  you, 
since  the  journey  would  have  cost  only  two  days.  I  am  quite  ignorant  of 
what  you  are  doing  and  what  you  are  thinking.  I  fear  you  are  thinking  too 
steadily  of  your  boy  far  away  in  Mexico.  You  have  not  learned  to  remember 
that  he  is  a  man.  The  passions  and  pursuits  of  manhood  vary  much  from 
what  a  mother  would  hope  for  her  child. 

Labor  here  is  something  like  this  —  from  breakfast  to  dinner  I  spend,  with 
little  interruption,  in  study  either  in  my  room  or  at  the  State  Library.  As 
soon  as  I  reach  my  room  after  dinner  visitors  come  in;  some  on  business,  some 
on  politics,  some  to  make  friendly  calls;  and  my  work  and  I  make  acquaint¬ 
ance  again  at  nine,  at  ten,  at  eleven,  just  as  the  mercy  of  my  friends  has  been 
manifested.  I  am  weary,  weary  to  death  of  this  eternal  pressure  of  occupa¬ 
tion  which  leaves  me  no  leisure  for  the  society  of  my  family  and  for  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  books.  I  look  upon  my  life,  busy  as  it  is,  as  a  waste.  All  that  I 
know  of  my  family  is  learned  in  occasional  visits.  All  the  knowledge  I  acquire 
is  stolen  from  tiresome  occupation.  I  know  not  that  there  is  ever  to  be  a 
change;  yet  I  feel  that  I  deserve  one.  I  have  not  even  time  nor  opportunity 
to  do  good.  I  live  in  a  world  that  needs  my  sympathies,  but  the  pressure 
obliges  me  to  labor  continually  for  the  lucre  that  is  due  to  others. 

0 

Monday ,  October  19. 

The  political  horoscope  is  dark.  Things  now  indicate  a  design  to  nominate 
C.,  with  the  person  we  spoke  of  under  him.  That  person  has  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  will  not  consent  to  this. 

I  am  glad  you  have  saved  so  many  grapes,  and  saved  so  many  more  by  giv¬ 
ing  them  away. 

The  Whig  party  in  New  York  had,  for  years,  contained  many  op¬ 
ponents  of  slavery  ;  although  the  party,  as  a  whole,  had  only,  by  suc¬ 
cessive  steps,  come  to  consider  it  a  proper  subject  for  political  action. 
In  1846,  the  “Wilmot  Proviso  ”  had  their  hearty  approval.  A  portion  • 
took  what  they  considered  more  conservative  ground,  and  opposed 


1847.] 


clay's  gkeat  speech. 


57 


whatever  would  tend  to  alienate  the  Southern  Whigs.  But  this  portion 
as  yet  were  passive,  rather  than  active,  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the 
party.  Their  opposition  to  “  Weed  and  Seward  "  was  stated  to  be 
largely  based  on  their  apprehensions  that,  if  those  leaders  were  allowed 
to  have  their  way,  they  would  make  the  Whig  an  “Abolition  Party" 
and  imperil  the  Union.  The  Whig  State  Convention  this  year  had 
unequivocally  indorsed  the  “  Proviso,"  and  declared  for  “  no  more 
slave  territory." 

The  2d  of  November  was  election  day.  The  Whigs  went  to  the 
polls  with  enthusiasm;  the  Democrats,  “Hunkers"  and  “Barn- 
Burners,"  with  stronger  hostility  to  each  other  than  to  their  Whig 
enemy.  As  soon  as  the  polls  had  closed,  and  returns  began  to  come 
in,  it  was  evident  that  the  demoralized  and  divided  party  was  de¬ 
feated.  The  Whigs  had  elected  the  Executive  officers  and  had  car¬ 
ried  the  Legislature.  Three  days  later  the  Evening  Journal  contained 
the  “big  eagle,"  bearing  in  its  beak  and  claws  mottoes  exulting  in  a 
victory  against  “  Slavery  extension,"  and  declaring  that  in  the  new 
territories  “Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude"  should  be 
permitted  to  exist. 

Mr.  Morgan,  having  been  elected  Secretary  of  State,  was  preparing 
to  go  to  Albany  to  reside.  The  loss  of  a  partner  would  render  it  nec¬ 
essary  for  Seward  to  remain  more  constantly  at  Auburn,  and  the  pro¬ 
ject  of  a  law-office  at  Albany,  almost  abandoned  before,  was  now 
definitely  ended. 

As  the  official  canvass  was  completed,  it  revealed  that  the  “  Liberty 
Party  "  vote  was  greatly  reduced.  Even  its  most  obstinate  adherents 
were  beginning  to  perceive  that,  with  two  great  and  powerful  parties 
in  the  field,  opposed  to  slavery  extension,  there  would  be  no  longer 
need  of  a  little  and  powerless  one.  The  mission  of  the  “  Liberty 
Party  "  was  ended,  though  some  of  its  leaders  did  not  realize  the  fact. 
It  had  done  its  part  in  aiding  to  make  the  slavery  question  an  issue 
between  the  great  political  organizations,  by  whom  it  was  henceforth 
to  be  fought  out  to  the  end. 

Once  more  attending  court  at  Albany,  he  resumed  his  correspond¬ 
ence  with  home.  The  engrossing  topic  among  politicians  at  the  capi¬ 
tal  was  Mr.  Clay’s  great  speech  at  Lexington,  and  the  probabilities  of 
his  nomination  in  1848: 

Albany,  Thursday  Evening. 

You  have  read  Mr.  Clay’s  speech  before  this  time.  It  is  surpassingly  beau¬ 
tiful  and  will  affect  many  minds.  But  it  is  too  late.  This  is  just  such  a 
speech  as  Mr.  Clay  ought  to  have  made  four  years  ago.  Then  it  would  have 
prevented  the  annexation  of  Texas,  or  at  least  the  war. 


58 


SLAVERY  IN  THE  NEW  TERRITORIES. 


[1847. 


The  movement  for  Mr.  Clay  serves  the  purpose  of  confirming  his  friends  and 
liis  adversaries  equally  in  their  friendship  and  opposition,  without  changing 
the  attitude  of  a  man. 

Friday  Morning. 

Weed  sees  the  movement  at  Lexington  just  as  it  seemed  to  me  at  home.  I 
suppose  in  due  time  we  shall  have  his  views  in  the  Journal. 

Mr.  Clay’s  notices  of  slavery  and  of  the  extension  of  slavery  will  not  satisfy 
the  North.  But  on  this  subject  I  do  not  speak  here.  His  friends  are  quite 
willing  to  think  better  of  me  now  than  formerly,  having  generally  come  to 
the  conclusion,  it  is  said,  that  they  will  practice  the  magnanimity  of  placing 
me  in  the  same  bark  with  Caesar.  I  cannot,  therefore,  speak  with  freedom.  If 
I  speak  what  I  think  it  seems  ungracious,  and  some  would  think  discontented. 
Yet  it  mortifies  me  to  see  that  I  am  so  little  understood,  as  to  be  regarded  as 
willing  to  sacrifice  principle  for  the  hope  of  even  a  prosperous  voyage  under  a 
chief  who  rejects  so  much  that  I  think  is  in  his  power  to  carry  in  the  vessel. 

Albany,  November  28. 

I  dropped  into  Little’s  last  evening  and  brought  away  Horne  Tooke’s 
“  Diversions  of  Purley.’’  Rising  this  morning,  weary  and  sick,  I  found  the 
book  full  of  instruction  and  amusement.' 

I  find  myself  too  unwell  to  sit  longer,  so  will  resume  my  place  on  the  sofa, 
and  continue  the  interesting  research  into  the  history  of  conjunctions,  prepo¬ 
sitions  and  adverbs.  It  is  a  very  curious  study,  that  which  is  the  theme  of 
Horne  Tooke’s  book.  I  hope  you  may  find  time  to  look  at  it.  I  shall  take 
the  book  home  with  me.  Fred  must  read  it  earlier  in  life  than  I,  as  he  must 
correct  my  errors  in  education. 

From  Washington  now  came  news  of  the  meeting  of  the  Thirtieth 
Congress,  and  the  election  of  Robert  C.  Winthrop  as  Speaker.  Caleb 
B.  Smith,  an  Indiana  Whig,  was  assigned  to  the  chair  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Territories.  Early  in  the  session,  Harvey  Putnam,  the  rep¬ 
resentative  from  the  Erie  district  of  New  York,  introduced  a  resolu¬ 
tion  “  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  territories  acquired  from  Mexico. ” 
This  issue,  it  was  evident,  would  not  be  permitted  to  sleep.  Another 
question  requiring  immediate  attention  was  that  of  paying  the  kt  price 
of  glory.”  The  expenses  of  the  war  were  to  be  met,  new  regiments  to 
be  raised,  and  Scott’s  army  to  be  reinforced.  Robert  J.  Walker,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  an  elaborate  report,  pointed  out  the 
various  methods  of  meeting  the  national  liabilities.  A  tea  and  coffee 
tax  was  proposed,  and  became  at  once  a  subject  of  discussion.  Seward 
wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,  December  14,  1847. 

The  organization  of  the  Whig  House  has  been  effected  very  well,  I  think. 
In  an  emergency  so  critical  as  the  present  I  admire  the  firmness  and  fidelity 
which  so  great  a  number  have  exhibited.  Have  you  read  Mr.  Walker’s  report 
on  the  treasury  and  revenue  system?  Although  somewhat  florid  in  parts,  it  is 


1847.] 


THE  WHIGS  AT  ALBANY. 


59 


a  very  able  paper,  and  notwithstanding  its  theories,  will  be  well  received. 
Shall  not  our  friends  wisely  second  the  President’s  demand  for  taxing  tea  and 
coffee?  I  judge,  perhaps  erroneously,  that  the  country  is  to  be  held  for  a 
while  to  look  upon  demonstrations  of  the  respective  strength  of  the  great 
Warrior  and  the  great  Pacificator  in  the  South.  Can  it  be  doubtful  which 
will  win  in  the  South?  The  Warrior  bids  fair  to  carry  both  or  all  parties 
there.  The  Pacificator,  a  part  only  of  one. 

Battles  and  victories  were  past,  and  now  came  the  period  of  criti¬ 
cism.  The  reports  of  commanders  were  scrutinized.  As  usual,  there 
was  no  general  without  friends  to  claim  that  he  had  been  neglected 
or  ill-treated  by  superior  authority;  none  without  detractors  to  claim 
that  his  exploits  had  been  unduly  magnified.  However,  the  public, 
as  between  military  men  and  civilians,  was  inclined  to  side  with  the 
former.  Secretary  Marcy’s  sagacious  management  of  armies  and 
commanders  received  occasional  and  passing  commendation,  but  no 
such  eulogies  as  were  bestowed  upon  the  heroes  of  the  field.  Scott 
was  claimed  to  have  outdone  Cortez  in  his  conquest  of  Mexico.  Tay¬ 
lor  was  declared  to  be  not  inferior  to  the  “  Old  Hero  of  New  Orleans.” 
Doniphan  was  said  to  differ  from  Xenophon  only  by  a  syllable,  and 
not  at  all  in  the  merits  of  his  successful  march.  In  the  various 
courts-martial  now  going  on,  instituted  by  the  government  against 
commanders,  and  by  commanders  against  each  other,  Fremont,  Worth 
and  Scott  were  deemed  victims  of  persecution,  while  Shields,  Quitman 
and  Pillow  each  had  their  partisans. 

European  journals  this  winter  brought  news  of  a  money  panic  in 
England  with  disastrous  effects.  Ireland  was  sending  off  emigrants 
by  thousands.  Denmark  was  abolishing  slavery  in  her  West  India 
Islands.  Civil  war  had  broken  out  in  the  Swiss  Republic,  which  was 
claimed  as  fresh  proof  that  republics  were  impossible  in  Europe. 
Yet  Republican  theorists  and  revolutionists  were  active  and  confident 
there.  Reforms  in  Italy,  entered  upon  by  the  new  Pope,  Pius  IX,  had 
startled  Europe,  and  were  greeted  by  enthusiastic  public  demonstra¬ 
tions  in  the  United  States.  It  began  to  look  as  if,  while  Republican 
America  was  extending  slavery,  monarchical  Europe  had  suddenly 
become  an  admirer  of  freedom. 

At  Albany  attending  court,  Seward  found  the  busy  scene  which 
always  accompanies  the  opening  of  the  session.  The  Legislature  had 
organized  ;  the  Governor’s  message  had  been  sent  in  ;  the  Comptrol¬ 
ler's  report  submitted  ;  the  new  Court  of  Appeals  had  opened,  and 
active  discussions  were  going  on  in  both  Houses,  aud  their  lobbies, 
over  “  Free  Soil  ”  resolutions,  and  proposed  votes  of  thanks  to  Gene¬ 
rals  Scott  and  Taylor. 


60 


CLAY  AND  TAYLOR. 


[1848. 


Before  departing  from  Albany,  Seward  had  urged  such  members  of 
the  Legislature  as  sought  his  counsel,  to  pass  resolutions  instructing 
the  New  York  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  to  vote  for 
the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  territories  to  be  acquired  from  Mex¬ 
ico.  He  was  soon  to  see  at  the  national  capital  how  far  any  such  in¬ 
structions  from  the  North  would  prevail. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1848. 

War  News  at  Washington.  Polk,  Scott,  and  Fremont.  Presidential  Aspirants.  Clay, 
McLean,  and  Corwin.  Balls  and  Dinners.  The  White  House.  The  Treaty  of  Peace. 
Death  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  “  The  Corner-Stone.”  Revolutionary  Movements  in 
Europe.  Oration  on  Adams  Before  the  Legislature. 

Washington,  January  19,  1848. 

Here  I  am,  after  a  long  and  lonesome  journey.  I  was  at  the  Capitol  from 
twelve  until  three,  dined  at  four,  received  visits  till  seven  or  eight,  and  closed 
the  evening  by  a  visit  to  Mr.  Adams. 

Every  thing  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  war  is  involved  in  confusion,  more 
difficult  to  read  here  than  at  the  distance  you  are  removed.  It  begins  to  be 
thought  that  the  Administration  contemplates  the  conquest  and  consolidation 
of  all  Mexico.  Its  organs  deny  this.  The  Whigs  are  becoming  generally  very 
apprehensive  of  such  gigantic  schemes,  which  they  regard  as  certain  to  pro¬ 
duce  a  subversion  of  the  Government  and  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Under  these  circumstances  the  opposition  to  supplies  of  men  and  money  for 
the  war  is  assuming  formidable  character.  Many  think  that  the  supplies  will 
be  withheld,  but  I  do  not  concur  in  that  opinion. 

The  Southern  States  are  falling  off  from  Mr.  Clay  and  are  arraying  themselves 
on  the  side  of  General  Taylor.  It  seems  to  be  true  that  even  Kentucky  has, 
in  her  Legislature,  avowed  preference  for  General  Taylor.  All  this  produces 
no  effect  on  the  great  Western  statesman.  He  is  surrounded  here  by  admirers 
who  consist  of  two  classes  —  impracticable  politicians  and  unreasoning  personal 
devotees,  who  adhere  to  him  from  habit  and  affection.  I  was  invited  by  Mr. 
Dixon  of  Connecticut  to  meet  Mr.  Clay  at  dinner,  but  was  prevented  by  my 
previous  engagement.  While  sitting  in  the  Senate  yesterday,  Mr.  Clay  came 
in  and  took  a  seat  beside  me.  He  was  looking  vigorous  and  fresh  as  ever.  He 
immediately  asked  me  if  it  was  true,  as  reported,  that!  was  the  author  of  Gov¬ 
ernor  Young’s  “message  on  the  war.”  I  was  happily  able  to  excuse  myself 
from  any  such  responsibility.  Mr.  Clay  reasoned  with  me  to  show  that  the 
Whig  party  ought  to  take  the  ground  he  had  assumed  at  Lexington,  although 
he  did  not  allude  to  his  speech  and  resolutions  directly. 


1848.] 


IiOJECTS  AND  CANDIDATES. 


01 


January  21. 

I  feel  as  if  I  were  wasting  time  here  in  worse  than  useless  indolence.  For¬ 
tunately  I  can  console  myself  with  the  reflection  that  of  all  the  hundreds  of 
loungers  about  this  Democratic  court  my  occupation  is  the  least  disreputable. 
The  debates  in  the  Senate  were  spirited  yesterday.  I  dined  with  Mr.  Adams 
en  famille.  The  circle  was  made  up  by  the  venerable  patriarch,  Mrs.  Adams, 
the  daughter-in-law,  Mrs.  John  Adams,  a  niece,  Miss  Adams,  Miss  Johnson, 
of  Utica,  and  three  nephews.  The  result  of  my  falling  among  so  many  young 
people  was,  an  engagement  to  attend  Mrs.  John  Adams  to  the  assembly. 

Mr.  Clay,  with  much  difficulty,  shut  out  all  visitors  at  half-past  seven,  and 
engaged  me  in  a  discussion  of  his  position,  duties,  and  prospects.  His  manner 
was  conciliatory,  kind,  and  modest.  I  reviewed  with  him  the  events  of  many 
years,  and  explained  what  had  appeared  to  be  perverseness.  He  thinks  that 
he  does  not  personally  desire  to  be  a  candidate,  and  thinks  that  he  is  ready  and 
willing  to  withdraw  from  the  canvass,  but  he  does  not  fully  understand  the 
workings  of  his  own  mind. 

January  22. 

On  Thursday  evening  I  attended  Mrs.  John  Adams  and  other  ladies  to  the 
assembly.  It  was  a  gay  and  brilliant  scene,  in  which  one  could  see  whatever 
there  is  of  wealth  and  rank  in  Washington.  The  party  was  called  select.  A 
lady  from  New  York  was  voted  the  belle  of  the  evening.  Mrs.  Gaines,  who 
has  just  received  an  estate  estimated  at  ten  millions  of  dollars,  was,  of  course, 
a  very  attractive  person,  and  I  was  gratified  in  seeing  that  her  modesty  was 
increased  by  this  striking  reverse  of  fortune.  Balls  are  wearisome  to  me  at 
all  times.  I  left  at  half-past  twelve.  The  company  remained  until  four  or 
five. 

Yesterday,  I  dined  with  Commander  De  Kay,  and  in  the  evening  T  presented 
myself  to  the  President  and  Mrs.  Polk  at  the  White  House.  It  was  a  comfort¬ 
less  crowd,  and,  I  have  no  doubt,  as  irksome  to  them  as  it  was  to  me.  Both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Polk  looked  worn  and  haggard.  She  had  faded  much  since  I  had 
last  seen  her.  The  White  House  is  a  cheerless,  unfurnished  palace  that  wears 
no  air  of  domestic  peace  or  quiet. 

Coming  home  last  evening  I  found  two  young  Mexicans,  sons  of  the  late  Em¬ 
peror  Iturbide,  who  had  been  educated  in  this  country,  after  the  execution  of 
their  father  for  his  fatal  ambition.  The  older  has  traveled  much  in  Europe; 
the  other,  a  gay  and  joyous  young  man,  had  returned  to  Mexico,  taken  a  com¬ 
mission  in  the  army,  had  been  captured,  and  is  now  a  prisoner  of  war  on  parole. 
My  heart  went  forth  to  him  for  his  goodness,  because  he  said  to  me  that  he 
hoped  my  son  would  come  home  safely  from  his  perilous  adventures. 

Yesterday  I  had  a  long  interview  with  Thomas  Corwin,  who  is  a  candidate 
for  President;  and  to-day  I  missed  a  similar  one  by  the  absence  of  Judge  Mc¬ 
Lean  from  his  lodgings.  I  dined  to-day  with  the  Speaker,  Mr.  Winthrop; 
to-morrow  at  home  with  some  friends;  on  Monday  with  Judge  Wayne  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  on  Tuesday  morning  I  trust  to  turn  my  back  upon  the 
capital. 


62 


POLK,  SCOTT  AND  FREMONT. 


[1848. 


Washington,  January  23. 

Here  is  another  of  a  long  succession  of  sunny  days,  the  like  of  which  I  have 
never  seen  in  winter.  Mr.  Iturbide  tells  me  that  this  is  quite  like  the  winters 
in  Mexico,  that  is,  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  It  is  warm  in  the  sunshine,  and 
cool  in  the  shade. 

Nothing  worth  recording,  perhaps,  has  happened  to  or  near  me  since  yester¬ 
day.  I  tell  a  tale  only  of  eating  and  drinking,  with  persons  who  are  strangers 
to  you,  and  whom  you  are,  perhaps  wisely,  determined  shall  always  remain  so. 
It  has  become  irksome  to  me.  After  writing  you  yesterday,  I  had  another 
long  conversation  with  Mr.  Corwin,  whom  they  call  “Tom  Corwin  ”  or  the 
“Wagon  Boy.”  He  is  a  truly  kind,  benevolent,  and  gifted  man.  He  seems 
to  forego  all  hope  of  the  Presidency,  just  now  at  least.  I  dined  with  the 
Speaker.  The  chief  members  of  the  party  were  Judge  McLean,  Mr.  Rives, 
Colonel  Taylor,  brother  of  “  Rough  and  Ready,”  and  Harding,  the  artist.  It 
was  amusing  to  mark  the  respect  shown  to  Colonel  Taylor.  It  was  ominous 
to  Judge  McLean.  The  Judge  broke  away  from  the  party  when  I  did,  and 
attended  me  to  my  lodgings. 

Monday  Night. 

It  is  amazing  how  busy  an  idler  can  be.  The  most  regular  plans  are  broken 
in  upon  by  the  most  unexpected  diversions.  I  fell  yesterday  into  the  military 
circle,  and  learned  that  Colonel  Belknap  is  to  take  command  of  the  Fifth  Regi¬ 
ment  of  Infantry,  to  which  Augustus  is  attached,  and  that  the  Colonel  would 
leave  town  to-morrow  morning.  I,  therefore,  called  on  him  this  evening,  and 
gave  him  a  letter  to  our  boy.  The  Colonel  is  a  bluff,  frank,  kindhearted,  truth¬ 
ful  man. 

To-day  I  have  attended  for  an  hour  or  two  the  court  martial  ordered  for  the 
trial  of  Colonel  Fremont,  and  have  listened  with  delight  to  his  beautiful  de¬ 
fense,  which  he  read  with  great  precision  and  good  taste. 

Washington,  January  29,  1848. 

You  will  have  seen  that  the  President  has  recalled  General  Scott,  and  has 
instituted  a  court  of  inquiry.  This  is,  very  naturally,  made  a  subject  of  com¬ 
plaint  by  the  Whigs  in  Congress,  though  some  hint  that  both  proceedings  are 
in  compliance  with  requests  made  by  the  General  himself.  It  will  be,  at  all 
events,  a  great  calamity  to  the  Administration.  The  brilliant  exploits  of  the 
war  have  made  it  endurable  thus  far,  but  all  its  interest  and  attraction  will 
have  ceased  when  Scott  as  well  as  Taylor  shall  have  left  the  field,  and  the  war 
shall  have  come  to  be  a  mere  provincial  charge,  like  the  war  with  the  Semi- 
noles  in  Florida. 

The  presidential  canvass  loses  none  of  its  heat.  It  seems  now  to  be  con¬ 
fined  to  Clay  and  Taylor.  The  former  the  strongest,  but  supposed  to  be 
growing  weaker;  and  the  latter  expected  to  be  very  formidable,  but  somehow 
finding  it  difficult  to  obtain  position.  Mr.  Greeley  has  gone  home,  confident 
of  defeating  Taylor  at  all  events,  but  shaken  in  regard  to  the  success  of  Mr. 
Clay.  That  gentleman  is  bland  and  persuasive  as  ever,  and  one  set  of  ad¬ 
mirers  only  give  place  to  another.  Matrons  save  the  gloves  he  has  pressed  for 
relics,  and  young  ladies  insist  on  kissing  him  in  public  assemblies.  Did  ever 


1S43.J 


JOHN-  QUINCY  ADAMS. 


63 


the  fashionable  or  elect  of  American  society  obtain  such  a  triumph  as  they 
would  have  in  his  election? 

I  dined  yesterday  with  Butler  King  of  Georgia.  In  the  evening  I  visited 
Mrs.  McLean  and  Mrs.  Marcy.  To-day,  as  yesterday,  I  have  kept  my  house, 
being  engaged  in  study.  I  may  go  to  the  ldvee  at  the  White  House. 

Astou  House,  New  York,  January  30,  1848. 

Judge  Nelson  gave  me  his  decision  on  Thursday  night,  at  ten  o’clock,  and 
on  Friday  night  at  the  same  hour  I  was  here  fully  intent  on  going  through  to 
Auburn.  But  here  was  Julius  J.  Wood  of  Ohio,  formerly  of  Syracuse,  with  a 
question  about  a  patent  case.  He  had  waited  here  for  me  four  days.  lie  had 
need  of  me.  I  found  it  impossible  to  do  an  ungrateful  act  to  one  who  had 
served  me  so  faithfully  so  long.  Therefore  I  remained  to  assist  him  yesterday. 

I  have  met  Greeley  here,  who  is  waging  a  Quixotic  war  against  heroes.  I 
fell  in  with  Colonel  Garland  on  my  way  here.  He  has  served  in  Mexico,  and 
been  indeed  in  every  engagement;  was  wounded  in  the  capture  of  the  city , 
and  is  on  leave  of  absence.  He  gives  me  a  very  minute  account  of  Mexico. 
He  passed  General  Patterson’s  train  on  its  way.  Colonel  Garland  describes 
Tacubaya  as  a  pleasant  suburb,  two  or  three  miles  from  Mexico,  filled  chiefly 
with  country  seats  and  villas.  He  says  the  Fifth  Regiment  is  ordered  there 
to  recruit  after  its  severe  disasters.  He  described  Colonel  Belknap  as  an  ex¬ 
cellent  man,  worthy  of  all  confidence;  entertains  no  doubt  that  we  shall  have 
a  speedy  peace,  an  opinion  in  which  I  concur  for  more  reasons  than  I  have 
now  time  to  state. 

In  February,  the  papers  were  filled  with  conflicting  reports.  First, 
that  Trist  had  made  a  treaty;  then,  that  he  was  to  be  tried  for  not 
having  made  one;  that  Taylor  was  to  be  President  because  Scott  had 
persecuted  him;  that  Scott  was  to  be  President  because  Polk  had  per¬ 
secuted  him;  that  neither  were  to  be  President  because  both  were  for 
Clay;  that  the  “Hunkers* **  and  “Barn-Burners*”  quarrel  was  to  be 
composed  by  the  nomination  of  Cass;  and  then  a  few  days  later,  that 
it  was  raging  more  bitterly  than  ever,  and  would  end  in  a  “split** 
and  two  conventions. 

The  call  for  the  Whig  National  Convention  appeared  in  the  papers 
this  month.  Almost  simultaneously  came  the  official  announcement 
from  Washington  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  at  last  been  negotiated, 
had  reached  Washington,  and  had  been  submitted  to  the  Senate  for 
ratification.  But  with  the  rejoicings  inspired  by  this  event,  came  sad 
intelligence  of  a  national  loss,  of  which  the  past  year  had  given  warn¬ 
ing.  John  Quincy  Adams,  faithful  to  public  duty  until  the  last,  had 
been  struck  with  paralysis  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives.  The  House 
had  adjourned  in  alarm  and  confusion.  Carried  to  the  Speakers 
room,  surrounded  by  physicians  and  family,  he  had  lingered  through 
two  days,  almost  entirely  unconscious;  Congress  assembling  in  re- 


64 


THE  TREATY  OF  GUADALUPE  HIDALGO. 


[1848. 


spectful  silence,  and  immediately  adjourning  from  day  to  day.  The 
bustling  Capitol  was  suddenly  pervaded  with  the  quiet  of  a  sick  room. 

On  the  evening  of  the  23d  he  had  died.  The  whole  country  seemed 
to  share  in  the  feeling  at  the  capital.  Throughout  all  the  Northern 
cities,  as  news  came  of  the  death  of  the  venerable  ex-President,  pub¬ 
lic  bodies  suspended  their  labors,  to  attest  their  respect  and  sorrow. 
When  the  news  reached  Albany,  Seward  was  engaged  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery.  He  moved  to  adjourn,  prefacing  the  motion  with  a  brief 
but  feeling  eulogy. 

The  treaty  was  discussed  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  newspapers.  It 
was  popularly  understood  that  the  American  Commissioner  had  ex¬ 
ceeded  his  instructions,  if  not  contravened  them.  Yet  it  was  a  wel¬ 
come  relief  from  the  apprehensions  that  there  would  be  a  long,  costly 
and  inglorious  occupancy  of  the  Mexican  capital  without  tangible 
results.  The  Administration  and  the  country  were  but  too  glad  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  treaty.  There  was  a  little  cavil  about  “  paying 
$15,000,000  for  land  that  we  had  already  conquered,”  but  no  serious 
opposition  on  that  score,  as  it  was  felt  to  be  after  all  but  a  small  price 
for  so  rich  a  possession.  Santa  Anna  was  in  retirement.  The  court 
of  inquiry  was  still  in  progress.  The  debate  on  the  treaty  closed  on 
the  10th  of  March,  and  its  ratification  was  formally  announced. 
Maps  of  the  new  boundary  line  and  the  extended  territory  were  pub¬ 
lished  and  eagerly  scanned. 

At  Albany,  the  most  interesting  debates  were  those  upon  national 
questions.  The  Atlas,  an  organ  of  the  “  Barn-Burners,”  had  set  up 
its  motto  (in  allusion  to  the  rejection  of  the  “  Proviso”  by  the  Dem¬ 
ocratic  Convention),  “The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  has 
become  the  head  of  the  corner.”  This  gained  for  the  “  Barn-Burn¬ 
ers  ”  the  new  nickname  of  “  Corner-stone  men.”  But  the  appellation 
most  acceptable  to  them,  and  rapidly  growing  in  public  favor,  was 
that  of  “Free  Soilers.” 

Among  the  obituary  honors  paid  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Adams  by 
the  Legislature,  was  a  resolution  for  an  oration  upon  his  life  and  char¬ 
acter,  to  be  delivered  before  the  two  Houses.  It  was  decided  that  this 
duty  would  be  most  suitably  performed  by  Seward.  He  received  the 
invitation  early  in  March.  While  at  Lyons,  awaiting  the  call  of  his 
causes  and  during  the  intervals  of  their  trial,  he  commenced  his  study 
of  the  subject  and  his  draft  of  the  oration. 

Meanwhile  the  daily  journals  were  bringing  news  of  outbreaks  in 
Europe.  The  Republicans  had  apparently  shaken  off  their  lethargy, 
and  from  Germany,  Italy,'  France,  and  Austria,  came  signs  of  im¬ 
pending  revolutions.  The  first  blow  was  struck,  of  course,  in  Paris. 


1848.] 


ORATION  ON  ADAMS. 


65 


There  had  been  a  revolt,  mob,  barricades,  fusillades.  The  “  Citizen 
King  ”  had  fled.  A  Republican  Provisional  Government,  in  peaceable 
possession  of  the  Tuilleries,  was  receiving  congratulations  and  en¬ 
couragement  from  men  of  kindred  sentiment  in  Brussels,  Rome, 
Vienna,  London,  Berlin,  Dresden,  and  Madrid. 

On  the  3d  of  April  the  Legislature  and  the  State  officers  assembled  in 
the  North  Dutch  Church  in  Albany,  with  as  large  a  gathering  as  the 
church,  its  aisles  and  vestibules  would  hold.  There  was  perfect  silence 
in  the  auditory,  when  Seward  rose  at  the  desk,  commenced  his  address 
by  referring  to  the  stirring  events  of  the  times,  and  then  added  : 

An  old  man,  whose  tongue  once  indeed  was  eloquent,  but  now,  through  age, 
had  well-nigh  lost  its  cunning,  has  fallen  into  the  swoon  of  death.  He  had 
not  been  an  actor  in  the  drama  of  conquest  —  nor  had  his  feeble  voice  yet 
mingled  in  the  lofty  argument  — 

“  A  gray-haired  sire,  whose  eye  intent, 

Was  on  the  visioned  future  bent.” 

And  now,  he  has  dreamed  out  at  last  the  troubled  dream  of  life.  Sighs  of 
unavailing  grief  ascend  to  Heaven.  Panegyric,  fluent  in  long-stifled  praise, 
performs  its  office.  The  army  and  the  navy  pay  conventional  honors  with  the 
pomp  of  national  woe,  and  then  the  hearse  moves  onward.  It  rests  appropri¬ 
ately  on  its  way  in  the  hall  where  Independence  wxas  proclaimed,  and  again 
under  the  dome  where  Freedom  was  born.  At  length  the  tomb  of  John 
Adams  opens  to  receive  a  son,  who,  also,  born  the  subject  of  a  king,  had 
stood  as  a  representative  of  his  emancipated  country,  before  the  principalities 
and  powers,  and  had  won  by  merit  and  worn  without  reproach  the  honors  of 
the  Republic. 

Then  sketching  Mr.  Adams’  career,  he  dwelt  especially  on  his  efforts 
to  counteract  the  growing  influence  of  slavery  in  the  national  councils, 
summing  up  his  character  in  these  words  : 

He  served  his  country,  not  alone,  or  chiefly,  because  that  country  was  his 
own,  but  because  he  knew  her  duties  and  her  destiny;  and  knew  her  cause  was 
the  cause  of  human  nature.  Such  men  are  of  no  country,  they  belong  to  man¬ 
kind. 

He  described  the  scene  at  his  death-bed: 

Nature  rallied  the  wasting  powers  on  the  verge  of  the  grave  for  a  brief  pe¬ 
riod.  But  it  was  long  enough  for  him.  The  rekindled  eye  showed  the  re-col¬ 
lected  mind  was  clear.  His  weeping  family  and  sorrowing  compeers  were 
there.  He  surveyed  the  scene  and  knew  at  once  its  fatal  import.  He  had  left 
no  duty  unperformed ;  he  had  no  wish  unsatisfied;  no  ambition  unattained; 
no  regret,  no  sorrow,  no  fear,  no  remorse.  He  could  not  shake  off  the  dews 
of  death  that  had  gathered  on  his  brow.  He  could  not  pierce  the  thick  shades 
that  rose  up  before  him.  But  he  knew  that  eternity  lay  close  by  the  shores  of 
time.  He  knew  that  his  Redeemer  lived.  Eloquence,  even  in  that  hour,  in- 
5 


66 


ADAMS  AND  NAPOLEON. 


[1848. 


spired  him  with  his  ancient  sublimity  of  utterance.  “This,”  said  the  dying 
man,  “  this  is  the  last  of  earth.”  He  paused  for  a  moment,  and  then  added, 
“  I  am  content.” 

The  oration  closed  with  a  parallel  between  Adams  and  Napoleon. 
After  recounting,  in  rapid  narration,  the  Emperor's  brilliant  career, 
it  described  the  scene  at  his  death -bed  : 

He  was  stretched  on  his  bed  within  the  fort  which  constituted  his  prison. 
A  few  fast  and  faithful  friends  stood  around  with  the  guards  who  rejoiced 
that  the  hour  of  relief  from  long  and  wearisome  watching  was  at  hand.  As 
his  strength  wasted  away,  delirium  stirred  up  the  brain  from  its  long  and  in¬ 
glorious  inactivity.  The  pageant  of  ambition  returned.  He  was  again  a 
Lieutenant,  a  General,  a  Consul,  an  Emperor  of  France.  He  filled  again  the 
throne  of  Charlemagne.  His  kindred  pressed  around  him,  again  reinvested 
with  the  pompous  pageantry  of  royalty.  The  daughter  of  the  long  line  of 
kings  again  stood  proudly  by  his  side,  and  the  sunny  face  of  his  child  shone 
out  from  beneath  the  diadem  that  encircled  its  flowing  locks.  The  Marshals 
of  the  Empire  awaited  his  command.  The  legions  of  the  Old  Guard  were  in  the 
field,  their  scarred  faces  rejuvenated,  and  their  ranks,  thinned  in  so  many  bat¬ 
tles,  replenished.  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  Denmark,  and  England,  gathered 
their  mighty  hosts  to  give  him  battle.  Once  more  he  mounted  his  impatient 
charger,  and  rushed  forth  to  conquest.  He  waved  his  sword  aloft,  and  cried 
“  Tete  d'Armee!  ”  The  feverish  vision  broke  —  the  mockery  was  ended.  The 
silver  cord  was  loosed,  and  the  warrior  fell  back  upon  his  bed  a  lifeless  corpse. 
This  was  the  last  of  earth.  The  Corsican  was  not  content. 

Statesmen  and  citizens,  the  contrast  suggests  its  own  impressive  moral. 

The  Legislature  passed  a  vote  of  thanks,  and  the  press  spread  the 
eulogy  before  their  readers.  It  was,  as  a  whole,  cordially  received 
and  approved.  But  critics  were  not  lacking  to  find  fault ;  especially 
with  the  passages  in  regard  to  Slavery  and  Freedom.  “  It  was  in  bad 
taste,"  those  fault-finders  said,  and  “  worse  politics,"  to  thrust  “abo¬ 
lition  talk  "  into  a  funeral  speech.  For  this  the  orator  was  condemned 
and  the  oration  pronounced  to  be  one,  which,  though  not  without 
literary  merit,  was  marred  by  its  “abolitionism."  However,  the 
same  commentators  sagely  remarked,  “  it  was  an  ephemeral  produc¬ 
tion,  that  would  soon  be  forgotten,  with  the  short-lived  fanaticism  of 
which  it  was  one  of  the  products." 


r 


1848. J 


FLOWERS  AND  GARDEN  ORNAMENTS. 


67 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1848. 

New  York  in  April.  President-Making.  Dogs  and  Flowers,  Gods  and  Goddesses.  Dr. 
Chapin.  End  of  the  Mexican  War.  National  Conventions.  Cass  and  Butler.  Taylor 
and  Fillmore.  Henry  Wilson.  “The  Year  of  Revolutions.”  Louis  Philippe  in 
Exile.  Case  of  the  “Pearl.”  The  Mob  at  Washington.  Horace  Mann.  Laurel  Hill. 
Ex-President  Tyler. 


At  the  Astor  House  in  April,  he  wrote  : 

April  11. 

It  is  a  rainy  day  in  New  York;  and  New  York  is,  therefore,  more  unat¬ 
tractive  than  usual.  I  have  navigated  across  the  street  to  the  Tribune  office 
and  back  again  to  the  Astor,  and  this  is  the  extent  of  my  wanderings.  Greeley 
despairs  not  only  of  procuring  the  nomination  of  Clay,  but  even  of  defeating 
that  of  Taylor.  He  is,  of  course,  unhappy.  I  know  not  what  may  happen  at 
the  Whig  Convention  in  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Clay’s  friends  were  eager  for  his  nomination.  The  friends  of 
General  Scott  urged  his  claim  for  the  candidacy  as  the  “  Conqueror 
of  Mexico.”  Taylor’s  strength  as  a  candidate  was  conceded,  but  his 
position  on  the  Slavery  question  was  a  subject  of  doubt.  Many  of  Sew¬ 
ard’s  friends  were  urgent  that  he  should  be  named  for  the  Vice-Pres¬ 
idency.  It  was  tolerably  certain  that  the  Presidential  candidate  would 
be  a  Southern  man,  and  consequently  the  candidate  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  would  be  a  Northern  one.  He,  himself,  preferred  the  in¬ 
dependent  position  he  already  had  ;  where  he  could  advise  alike  Gov¬ 
ernment  and  people,  with  reasonable  hope  that  both  would  give 
some  heed  to  his  counsels.  The  Evening  Journal,  which  was  wont  to 
speak  for  him  on  such  occasions,  stated  that  he  was  not  a  candidate. 
He  used  laughingly  to  say,  that  often  he  never  knew  that  he  had 
been  proposed  for  an  office,  until  he  read  in  the  Evening  Journal  a 
paragraph  formally  notifying  both  him  and  the  public  that  he  had 
declined.  In  fact  the  Journal’s  editor  had  so  clear  an  understanding 
of  his  position,  that  conference  was  unnecessary. 

Astor  House,. May  14. 

I  think  I  can  put  your  protege,  the  washerwoman,  wife  of  the  Mexican  sol¬ 
dier,  in  the  way  of  communication  witli  her  husband,  when  I  shall  have 
reached  home. 

Twelve  select  verbenas  in  pots  will  be  on  their  way  to  Auburn  by  the  express 
on  Tuesday,  attended,  I  suppose,  by  the  dog  that  goes  to  gladden  the  hearts 
of  Willie  and  Fanny.  Mr.  Thorburn  tempted  me  with  some  dahlias.  I  had 
set  my  heart  on  getting  some  ornaments  for  the  gate-posts;  but  I  find  dead 
dogs  cost  more  than  live  ones;  and  iron  or  bronze  lions  are  more  costly  than 
human  ones;  while  sphynxes  and  griffins  cost  more  than  Solomon  paid  for 


68 


NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS. 


[1848. 


Cherubini  and  Seraphim.  I  have  been  at  church  to-day  with  the  Doanes,  and 
heard  Mr.  Chapin,  a  Universalist,  a  man  of  prodigious  power.  I  was  con¬ 
templating  the  boldness  of  his  sentiments,  and  the  originality  of  his  manner, 
when  Greeley  came  along,  and  in  reply  to  my  speculations,  said  that  Chapin 
was  not  radical  enough,  but  preached  as  well  as  any  man  could,  who  was  paid 
$3,000  a  year. 

Toward  the  close  of  May,  Democratic  delegates  from  the  various 
States  were  wending  their  way  to  Baltimore.  Their  National  Con¬ 
vention  met  on  the  22d.  There  were  two  contesting  delegations  from 
New  York,  each  claiming  to  be  '‘Regular.”  It  was  evident  that,  so 
far  as  concerned  slavery,  the  ‘'Free  Soilers”  would' have  no  chance, 
as  the  Convention  was  strongly  permeated  with  the  Southern  doctrines 
about  Texas  and  the  “Proviso.”  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  mani¬ 
festly  unwise  to  reject  the  support  of  so  strong  an  element  in  New 
York  as  the  “  Free  Soilers,”  whose  vote  might  save  the  State  for  the 
Democratic  nominee,  and  would  most  certainly  lose  it  if  cast  against 
him.  The  Convention,  after  an  excited  debate,  sought  to  take  a  mid¬ 
dle  course,  admitting  both  sets  of  delegates  to  the  floor.  This  satis¬ 
fied  neither.  The  “  Free  Soilers  ”  withdrew  to  form  a  new  organiza¬ 
tion,  and  the  “  Hunkers  ”  declined  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings 
unless  they  could  be  definitely  recognized  as  the  regular  representa¬ 
tives  of  the  party.  No  small  merriment  was  excited  by  the  acceptance 
of  General  Commander  of  South  Carolina,  as  a  representative  of  that 
State,  with  power  to  cast  her  whole  nine  votes.  He  was  facetiously 
styled  “  the  Palmetto  cat  o'  nine  tails.”  Under  the  “  two-thirds  rule,” 
General  Cass  was  nominated  for  President,  and  William  0.  Butler  of 
Kentucky  for  Vice-President.  The  platform  of  the  Convention  con¬ 
tained  a  “plank”  rendering  it  impossible  for  the  “Free  Soilers”  to 
support  it.  This  resolution  declared  that  “all  efforts  of  the  Aboli¬ 
tionists  or  others  to  induce  Congress  to  interfere  with  questions  of 
slavery,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most  alarming  and  dangerous 
consequences.” 

As  the  Democratic  delegates  were  returning  from  Baltimore  to  their 
homes,  the  Whigs  were  beginning  to  gather  at  Philadelphia  for  their 
Convention  on  the  7th  of  June.  Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,  May  27,  1848. 

The  electric  wires  vibrate  with  frequent  and  confused  reports.  And  the 
hurried  debates  along  the  streets  and  by  the  roadside  complete  the  presages  of 
the  periodical  return  of  the  election  of  the  “First  Consul’’  for  “the  Great 
Republic.”  In  spite  of  rheumatics  and  of  extravasated  arteries,  you  are  in 
motion,  and  no  one  knows  that  you  can  be  found  in  any  one  place  until  after 
the  order  of  battle  is  settled,  and  the  chiefs  are  all  called  to  their  posts. 


1848.J 


taylor’s  nomination-. 


69 


Yet  I  have  a  few  words  I  would  say  now,  although  I  know  that  in  the  un¬ 
certainty  of  all  movements  of  the  Whig  party  they  may  be  of  no  value. 

I  see  that  delegates  are  personal  partisans,  committed  if  not  pledged  to  can¬ 
didates,  irrespective  of  the  success  of  the  party.  In  this  State,  the  delegates 
who  might  otherwise  be  able  to  bring  the  Convention  to  a  practicable  and 
safe  ground  are  divided  into  factions.  And  now  for  ourselves,  and  for  my¬ 
self.  I  see  no  danger  to  come  from  leaving  me  where  I  am.*  Either  success 
or  defeat  of  the  party  will  find  me  in  that  case  in  safe  position  for  future  duty, 
upon  the  only  platform  upon  which  I  could  stand. 

On  the  7th  of  June,  the  Convention  met  at  the  Chinese  Museum  in 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Webster,  and  General  Scott  each  had 
enthusiastic  advocates,  but  none  could  command  a  majority.  As  Weed 
had  predicted,  General  Taylor  was  the  candidate  upon  whom  the 
Whigs  could  best  unite,  and  the  only  one,  perhaps,  whom  they  could 
elect  if  nominated.  He  had,  therefore,  given  his  aid  in  behalf  of  the 
General's  nomination.  Informal  discussions  between  delegates  showed 
Taylor’s  strength  to  be  increasing.  To  the  objections  that  Taylor  was 
a  “no  party  man,”  it  was  answered  that  he' would  be  so  much  the 
stronger  at  the  polls.  To  the  apprehensions  that,  as  a  Southern  man 
and  a  slave-holder,  he  could  not  be  trusted  on  the  slavery  question,  the 
reply  was  that  the  General  was  known  to  be  honest  and  patriotic,  and 
though,  like  most  army  officers,  he  had  kept  out  of  politics,  he  was 
nevertheless  a  Whig,  and  no  believer  in  the  slavery-extension  theories 
of  Mr.  Calhoun,  to  which  the  Democratic  party  had  committed  itself. 
The  nomination  was  made  by  a  majority  of  sixty,  and  acquiesced  in 
by  the  Convention,  though  not  without  chagrin  on  the  part  of  many 
of  the  friends  of  Clay  and  Webster,  and  strong  dissent  on  the  part  of 
many  anti-slavery  Whigs.  The  nomination  of  a  Northern  Whig  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  would  so  manifestly  lend  strength  to  the  ticket, 
that  the  names  of  Millard  Fillmore  and  Abbott  Lawrence  were  readily 
accepted  as  the  leading  candidates.  Mr.  Fillmore  received  a  plurality 
of  six  votes  over  Mr.  Lawrence,  and  was  nominated. 

The  nomination  of  Taylor,  and  the  refusal  of  the  Convention  to 
declare  in  favor  of  the  “  Wilmot  Proviso,”  led  some  of  the  anti-slavery 
delegates  to  believe  that  the  Whig  party  would  prove  faithless  on  the 
great  question.  Without  formally  seceding  from  the  Convention,  they 
held  an  evening  meeting  for  consultation.  Among  the  fifteen  who 
participated  in  it  were  Henry  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  John  C.  Ham¬ 
ilton  of  New  York,  Lewis  D.  Campbell  and  Samuel  Galloway  of  Ohio. 
On  Wilson’s  motion,  it  was  agreed  to  propose  a  National  Convention 
of  all  persons  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  to  meet  at  Buffalo 
early  in  August. 

General  Taylor  had  written  a  letter  in  April  to  Captain  J.  L.  Alii- 


70 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  CANVASS. 


[1848. 


son,  declaring  that  he  was  a  Whig,  but  not  an  ultra-Whig,  and  that 
if  elected  he  should  endeavor  to  act  independently  of  party  domina¬ 
tion.  This  letter,  and  the  fact  that  he  bad  accepted  nominations  for 
the  Presidency  without  hesitation  when  tendered  by  independent  or¬ 
ganizations,  and  even  by  Democratic  ones,  added  to  the  distrust  felt 
by  many  Whigs.  The  nominations  were  at  first  received  coldly  and 
without  enthusiasm.  Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,  June  10. 

I  know,  of  course,  that  this  result  was  inevitable,  or  if  not,  it  was  the  best 
left  within  our  power  to  attain.  If  the  “  Barn-Burners  ”  continue  their  con¬ 
flict,  as  I  suppose  they  must,  they  will  be  able  to  save  this  State  for  us.  But 
if  the  temper  around  us  is  at  all  like  that  of  New  England,  Ohio,  and  Indiana, 
what  is  to  save  us  in  those  regions? 

Every  ticket  is  at  first  obnoxious,  because  it  offends  the  masses  of  friends 
and  admirers  of  disappointed  candidates.  But  the  nominees  usually  have 
elements  of  popularity  which  secure  a  speedy  reaction  in  their  favor,  and  an 
ultimate  combination  of  party  strength.  A  Whig  said  to  me  to-day:  Well,. 
I  shall  vote  the  ticket,  I  suppose,  but  I  suppose  so  only  because  I  expect  to 
make  myself  a  cheat.  But  Weed  must  stop  now  publishing  “  Wilmot  Proviso  ” 
articles  and  letters  about  negro-driving,  and  Greeley  must  stop  too!” 

Being  yet  without  any  particular  information  about  the  Vice-Presidency,  I 
am  left  to  infer,  from  all  I  see,  that  our  Whig  brethren  throughout  the  Union, 
like  some  of  them  in  this  State,  are  quite  willing  to  gather  the  harvest  we  so 
diligently  sowed,  but  would  rather  hazard  even  that  than  suffer  us  to  par¬ 
ticipate  in  the  productions  of  our  labor.  If  this  ticket  shall  be  elected,  it  seems 
to  me  that  for  the  next  four  or  even  eight  years  we  shall  be  in  the  unpleasant 
category  of  a  faction,  apparently  opposed  to  the  New  York  leader  in  the  gen¬ 
eral  council  of  the  Whigs  of  the  Union.  This  is  for  them,  as  well  as  for  us, 
an  unfortunate  position  of  affairs.  For  my  own  part  I  do  not  care  much,  for 
I  can  always  fall  back  on  the  reflection  that  we  have  done  our  duty,  and  the 
public  will  be  the  better  for  it. 

The  Clay  and  Webster  men  were  greatly  disappointed.  It  was  re¬ 
ported  that  Mr.  Webster  had  said,  “It  was  a  nomination  not  fit  to  be 
made/’  Some  Northern  Whigs,  however,  found  encouragement  in 
the  nomination  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  believing  that  he  would  be  inflexible 
upon  the  slavery  question,  however  it  might  be  with  his  chief.  Grad¬ 
ually,  as  Seward  predicted,  the  nominations  began  to  grow  in  popular 
favor.  Ratification  meetings  were  held,  and  the  Whigs  began  to  feel 
renewed  hope.  “Old  Zack”  became  again  the  theme  of  admiration, 
as  in  the  enthusiastic  period  after  his  victories.  “'Lives  of  Taylor” 
were  published,  with  wood-cuts  illustrating  his  battles.  The  news¬ 
papers  again  began  to  print  anecdotes  of  “  Rough  and  Ready,”  and  of 
his  horse  “Old  Whitey” — some  apocryphal  and  some  founded  on 
fact. 


1848  ] 


END  OF  TIIE  MEXICAN  WAR. 


71 


The  “  Barn-Burners,”  or  as  they  were  now  called,  the  “  Free  Soil” 
party,  held  a  State  Convention  at  Utica,  and  signalized  their  complete 
severance  from  the  regular  Democrats  by  nominating  ex-President 
Van  Buren  for  President,  and  Henry  Dodge  of  Wisconsin  for  Vice- 
President,  again  reiterating  their  adherence  to  the  “  Wilmot  Proviso.” 
They  could  hope  to  achieve  no  victory  themselves,  but  they  had  the 
power  to  defeat  their  former  associates  by  dividing  the  party  vote. 
The  fact  that  they  could  accomplish  so  much,  encouraged  them  to 
seek  to  accomplish  more,  and  they  found  willing  listeners  among  the 
“  Conscience  Whigs  ”  and  “  Proviso  Democrats,”  and  members  of  the 
“  Liberty  Party.”  The  combinations  thus  made  led  to  general  agree¬ 
ment  in  the  project  of  a  National  Convention  to  formally  put  “Free 
Soil  ”  candidates  in  the  field.  Remarking  upon  the  incidents  of  the 
canvass,  Seward  said: 

Auburn,  June  24. 

Well,  Mr.  Van  Buren  lias  committed  the  “Barn-Burners”  to  a  demonstra¬ 
tion  that  must  hasten  the  great  issue,  while  it  is  of  such  a  character  as  to  em¬ 
barrass  the  Whig  party  very  little. 

I  am  thankful,  as  you  can  be,  that  I  am  not  involved  in  the  surrender  that 
has  been  necessarily  made  for  a  time,  of  principles,  the  value  of  which  are 
beginning  to  be  so  justly  appreciated  now  that  they  have  been  so  foolishly 
betrayed.  As  things  are  going,  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  take  thought  of 
ourselves  for  to-morrow.  And  this  is  the  contents  of  my  budget. 

July  12. 

The  Whigs  at  Rochester  and  Batavia  are  alarmed  by  the  indications  of  de¬ 
feat  in  the  West.  Some  fifty  Whigs  in  this  town  are  fraternizing  with  the 
i:  Barn-Burners,”  I  learn.  I  left  Hawley  at  Batavia,  and  Greeley  on  his  way 
to  Lake  Superior.  I  shall  need  your  advice  about  my  decision  in  Greeley’s 
unfortunate  libel  case,  Redfield  and  Pringle.  His  sympathies  with  “  Fourier¬ 
ism  ”  have  led  him  into  an  error,  in  which  he  has  deeply  injured  men  worthy 
of  all  respect  and  confidence,  and  even  generous  men. 

It  is  fortunate  for  us  that  the  Democratic  party  is  divided.  Anti-slavery  is 
at  length  a  respectable  element  in  politics. 

Meanwhile  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  duly  ratified  at  Queretaro, 
and  the  Mexican  war  was  ended.  General  Taylor  had  returned  to 
his  home  at  Baton  Rouge.  General  Scott,  received  with  civic  and 
military  demonstrations  at  New  York,  had  gone  to  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 
The  American  troops  were  embarking  for  home  as  rapidly  as  trans¬ 
ports  could  be  found  to  take  them.  The  Mexican  army  was  practically 
disbanded  already,  and  its  chief,  Santa  Anna,  was  again  in  exile  in 
Jamaica. 

European  news  continued  full  of  exciting  interest.  Revolutionary 
feeling  was  spreading.  It  was  already  declared  to  be  a  “year  of 


72 


[1848. 


“THE  YEAR  OF  REVOLUTIONS.” 

revolutions.”  From  Germany,  Italy,  Austria,  Poland,  and  Ireland 
came  intelligence  of  popular  demonstrations,  peaceable  or  armed,  that 
betokened  overthrow  of  monarchies.  The  French  tri-color  floated  in 
the  breeze  from  many  buildings  in  New  York,  and  it  was  now  sup¬ 
plemented  by  the  red,  white,  and  green  of  Italy  and  of  Hungary, 
Louis  Philippe  was  in  retirement  at  Claremont.  Other  sovereigns,  it 
was  believed,  would  speedily  follow  his  example.  In  Ireland,  the 
revolutionists  had  received  a  check,  and  some  of  the  leading  “  patriots  ” 
had  been  banished.  The  French  Republic  was  recognized  by  the 
United  States.  One  of  its  first  acts  was  the  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  French  colonial  possessions.  More  young  republics  seemed 
to  be  hatching.  The  monarchs  who  strove  to  resist  them  were  en¬ 
countering,  every  hour,  fresh  difficulties  and  dangers. 

Now  came  a  summons  to  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  to  attend 
to  cases  of  clients,  and  a  still  more  urgent  summons  to  Washing¬ 
ton  to  defend  Drayton  and  Sayers,  the  master  and  mate  of  the 
schooner  Pearl,  upon  which,  a  few  months  before,  seventy-seven  ne¬ 
groes  had  sought  to  escape  down  the  Potomac,  but  were  re-captured 
by  an  armed  steamer  before  reaching  the  open  sea.  The  attempted 
escape  was  followed  bv  a  riot  at  Washington,  when  the  mob  declared 
they  would  lynch  the  “slave-stealers,”  and  threatened  to  destroy  the 
office  of  the  National  Era.  But  the  tact  and  address  of  Dr.  Bailey, 
its  editor,  prevented  that  outrage.  Congress  was  debating  various 
propositions  for  the  punishment  of  aiders  and  abettors  of  fugitive 
slaves.  Seward  wrote  home : 

Eagle  Tavern,  July  21,  1848. 

I  spent  two  or  three  hours  at  Mr.  Winslow’s  beautiful  place,  and  arrived 
here  at  half-past  ten.  I  go  down  the  river  to-night,  and  Fred  goes  with  me. 
I  need  him  for  a  clerk,  and  Mr.  Many  desires  his  help.  Besides  it  will  be  in¬ 
structive  to  him  in  a  professional  way,  and  I  hope  will  serve  to  a  habit  of  co¬ 
operating  with  me  in  labors  which  are  oppressive  for  me,  and  which  have 
hitherto  been  performed  without  sympathy  from  any  one. 

On  Saturday  I  wrote  to  Washington  to  know  whether  the  slave-dealers’ 
court  could  wait  for  me  one  day,  but  no  answer  has  been  received.  I  still  hope 
to  be  in  time  to  lend  a  voice  where  few  would  be  willing  to  be  heard. 

Washington,  July  25,  1848. 

The  slave  trials  are  definitely  set  down  for  Thursday,  the  day  after  to-mor¬ 
row.  Each  of  the  three  defendants  is  charged,  in  a  distinct  indictment,  for 
stealing  a  slave;  penalty  —  death  without  benefit  of  clergy;  and  there  is 
against  each  defendant  such  a  distinct  indictment  for  each  one  of  forty- 
one  slaves  charged  to  have  been  stolen.  Then  there  are  a  like  number  of  in¬ 
dictments  against  each  defendant  for  enticing  away  the  same  slaves;  penalty 
—  fine  and  imprisonment. 


1848.] 


COUNSEL  AND  CLIENTS. 


73 


x  Washington,  July  25. 

After  writing  you  this  morning  I  saw  Horace  Mann  and  the  Boston  Commit¬ 
tee  men.  There  is  fear  of  Clayton’s  bill  in  the  House  if  it  reach  there.  I  have 
seen  Mangum,  Bell,  and  Reverdy  Johnson,  and  they  are  right.  X  think  the  bill 
cannot  pass  both  Houses  with  their  opposition. 

Three  days  later  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward  : 

Philadelphia,  July  28,  1848. 

On  Tuesday  morning  at  Washington,  I  went  out  to  call  on  the  counsel  of 
the  prisoners  whose  peril  had  called  me  there.  I  found  them  quite  confused 
by  my  unexpected  arrival.  Having  received  my  letter  saying  that  I  could  not 
reach  there  until  the  27th,  and  the  trial  being  expected  to  come  on  the  24th, 
Mr.  Carlisle  had  been  engaged  as  junior  counsel  to  assist  Mr.  Horace  Mann, 
who  was  glad  to  take  my  post  as  senior.  They  had  written  me  to  this  effect 
at  Auburn.  Mr.  Mann  dwelt  on  the  laborious  preparations  he  had  made,  and 
then  said:  “I  will  step  out  of  the  case  and  you  may  take  my  place.”  I,  of 
course,  declined  this.  Mr.  Carlisle  was  ill.  I  did  not  see  him.  I  was,  there¬ 
fore,  left  no  alternative  but  one  of  these:  either  to  assume  Mr.  Mann’s  place, 
which  he  tendered,  or  to  sit  a  silent  counsel,  leaving  the  defense  to  associates, 
or  to  retire  altogether.  I  thought  it  worthy  of  deliberation,  and  I  remained  at 
Washington  on  Thursday  as  well  togive  a  chance  for  any  change  of  circumstances 
as  to  show  no  impatience  on  my  part.  Then  I  left  the  capital,  glad  enough  to  be 
free  of  the  responsibility  which  I  had  not  courted  nor  shunned.  My  time 
was  well  enough  occupied  there.  I  saw  some  friends,  and  did  what  I  could  to 
promote  the  political  cause  in  which  it  is  always  a  pleasure  to  labor. 

To-day  I  have  visited  Laurel  Hill  with  Wilson’s  family.  I  could  not  find  the 
tomb  of  Willis  Gaylord  Clark  and  of  her  whom  he  loved  so  devotedly.  It  is 
a  sweet,  beautiful  spot,  but  all  the  cemeteries  in  this  country  lack  one  charm 
that  belongs  to  “  Pere  la  Chaise."  It  would  seem  that  the  poor  never  die. 
“The  storied  urn  and  animated  bust  ”  seem  to  say  for  the  aristocratic  dust  to 
the  plebeian  ashes,  “  Brocul,  procul,  este  profani." 

Then  I  have  seen  another  sight  to  be  told  of.  I  had  scarcely  written  my 
name  here  in  the  register  yesterday,  before  a  tall,  well-looking  personage,  of 
erect  form  and  bland  aspect,  approached  it,  and  wrote  with  marked  firmness 
and  ease,  “ex-President  Tyler  and  Family.”  The  family  did  not  appear  at 
dinner.  I  looked  at  the  President  and  he  looked  at  everybody,  but  no  one 
spoke.  This  morning  he  sat  opposite  me  at  breakfast,  and  by  his  side  sparkled 
his  young  and  beautiful  bride.  I  hardly  know  what  feeling  predominated, 
when  I  saluted  him  and  introduced  myself.  But  I  am  sure  such  unlooked-for 
civility,  from  one  of  the  ungrateful  ones  of  the  twenty  millions  whom  he  had 
ruled,  impressed  him  with  a  belief  that  I  was  a  clever  fellow. 

Astor  House,  July  31. 

I  am  fixed  on  a  tread-mill  here.  I  have  been,  all  the  morning,  all  about  the 
city,  and  now,  at  four  p.  m.,  I  am  going  to  New  Rochelle  on  business. 

Rap!  Rap!  John  Gibson  telegraphs.  So  no  more  at  present,  as  the  old  form 
has  it,  ‘‘ from  your  loving  husband  till  death.”  The  old  form  ends  it  thus, 
not  I.  • 


74 


[1848-. 


DEBATES  OVER  THE  “  PROVISO. ” 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1848. 

The  Presidential  Canvass.  “The  Proviso."  Corwin.  The  “  Free  Soil"  Convention  at 
Buffalo.  Yan  Buren  and  Adains.  The  French  Republic.  Horses.  Seward  “  On  the 
Stump.”  Speeches  in  New  England.  First  Meeting  with  Abraham  Lincoln.  Penn- 
sylvania  Meetings  and  Speeches.  Yalley  of  the  Schuylkill.  The  Cartmen’s  Meeting 
at  Yauxhall.  The  Virginia  Story.  Wilmington.  The  Ohio  Tour.  The  Cleveland 
Speech.  Taylor  Elected. 

At  Washington,  hot  debates  were  echoing  through  the  heated  halls 
and  corridors  of  the  Capitol.  The  “Proviso”  had  protracted  the 
long  session.  At  first  the  discussion  had  been  declared  to  be  “pre¬ 
mature.”  But  long  before  the  debate  was  ended,  the  peace  with 
Mexico  proved  that  the  time  had  come  to  settle  the  question  of  sla¬ 
very  in  California  and  New  Mexico.  Some  of  the  Southerners  now 
took  advanced  ground.  Mr.  Calhoun  claimed  that  the  National  flag 
carried  slavery  wherever  it  w’ent;  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  pre¬ 
vent  a  slave-holder  from  emigrating  with  his  “property”  to  any  terri¬ 
tory,  and  holding  it  there.  The  territorial  laws  framed  by  the  settlers 
in  Oregon,  excluding  slavery,  he  pronounced  unconstitutional  and 
void.  Jefferson  Davis,  as  one  of  the  Senators  from  Mississippi,  de¬ 
clared  that  the  North  was  seeking  its  own  political  aggrandizement  as 
against  the  South,  and  asserted  that  the  spirit  of  compromise  had 
departed;  the  days  of  the  confederation  were  numbered,  and  that  it 
was  better  to  separate  peaceably  than  to  “stain  the  battle-fields  of  the 
Revolution  with  the  blood  of  civil  war.” 

Colonel  Benton,  though  representing  a  slave  State,  was  understood 
to  favor  freedom,  in  at  least  the  northern  portion  of  the  territory. 
Mr.  Clay’s  views,  in  opposition  to  those  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  were  pro¬ 
nounced  satisfactory  to  Northern  feeling.  Webster  and  Davis  of  Mas¬ 
sachusetts,  Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  Baldwin  of  Connecticut,  Phelps 
of  Maine,  and  Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  all  took  ground  in  favor  of  the 
exclusion  of  slavery.  The  speech  of  General  Dix,  as  a  Democrat  and 
a  Senator  from  New  York,  excited  marked  attention.  It  was  an 
elaborate  argument  against  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  Southern 
Whigs,  for  the  most  part,  favored  a  compromise,  but  were  divided  as 
to  the  nature  of  it.  The  debate  closed  with  the  appointment  of  a 
special  committee,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Clayton  of  Delaware,  to  report 
some  measure  that  would  “settle  the  question.”  There  were  four 
Northern  and  four  Southern  men  on  it,  but  six  of  the  eight  were  for 
compromise.  They  reported  a  bill  organizing  territorial  governments 
for  Oregon,  California,  and  New  Mexico,  and  leaving  the  question  of 


1848.] 


FI1EE  SOIL  CONVENTION. 


75 


slavery  to  be  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court.  It  was  the  debate  on 
this  bill  that  Seward  found  in  progress  when  he  now  visited  Washing¬ 
ton  Corwin’s  speech  disturbed  the  equanimity  of  the  committee,  for 
it  was  keenly  sarcastic  on  “that  infallible  divinity,  the  Supreme 
Court.”  “Sir,”  said  he,  “this  bill  seems  to  me  a  rich  and  rare  legis¬ 
lative  curiosity.  It  does  not  enact  a  laic ,  which  I  had  supposed  the 
usual  function  of  legislation.  No,  sir;  it  enacts  only  a  lawsuit /” 

The  Senate  passed  the  bill  and  sent  it  to  the  House.  But  there  it 
was  laid  on  the  table,  on  the  motion  of  Alexander  II.  Stephens. 
Meanwhile  the  House  had  also  been  discussing  the  question.  Caleb 
B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  as  Chairman  of  the  Territorial  Committee,  had 
reported  a  bill  for  Oregon,  sanctioning  the  prohibition  of  slavery,  and 
after  tedious  debate  the  House  passed  it  by  a  majority  of  58.  Neither 
House  was  ready  to  concur  in  the  action  of  the  other. 

The  next  step  was  an  attempt  to  apply  the  Missouri  compromise 
line  to  the  new  territories.  Mr.  Douglas,  from  the  Territorial  Com¬ 
mittee  in  the  Senate,  introduced  a  bill  prohibiting  slavery  in  Oregon, 
for  the  reason  that  it  was  north  of  36°  30',  the  Missouri  compromise 
line.  This  form  of  stating  the  prohibition  was  excepted  to  by 
Northern  Whigs,  as  implying  that  in  all  territory  south  of  that  line 
slavery  was  to  be  permitted.  That  very  reason,  however,  commended 
it  to  Southern  men,  who  had  no  hope  or  expectation  that  slavery 
would  ever  go  into  Oregon.  But  the  slavery  question  was  not  to  be 
monopolized  by  Congress. 

When  on  the  9th  of  August  the  “Free  Soil”  Convention  assembled 
at  Buffalo,  men  of  political  skill  and  experience,  who  had  hitherto 
been  antagonistic  to  each  other,  found  themselves  in  accord.  Their 
proceedings  were  marked  by  energy  and  enthusiasm.  Among  the 
Democratic  delegates  were  Preston  King,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  James 
W.  Nye,  Martin  Grover,  Henry  B.  Stanton,  and  David  Dudley  Field. 
From  the  Whig  party  had  come  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Governor 
Slade,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  and  Charles  B.  Sedgwick;  and  from  the 
“  Liberty  ”  party,  Salmon  P.  Chase  and  others  of  prominence.  Mr. 
Chase  presided  over  the  Convention,  and  Mr.  Adams  over  the  mass¬ 
meeting.  The  nominee  of  the  “Barn-Burners,”  ex-President  Van 
Buren,  was  adopted  as  the  nominee  of  the  “Free  Soil”  party.  His 
letter,  commenting  upon  General  Cass’  “Nicholson  letter,”  was  ac¬ 
cepted  as  proving  his  anti-slavery  sentiments.  With  him  the  Conven¬ 
tion  nominated,  as  its  candidate  for  Vice-President,  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  whose  name  was  associated  with  the  growth  of  anti-slavery 
opinions  among  New  England  Whigs.  Finally  a  platform  was  adopted, 
direct,  clear,  and  comprehensive,  closing  with  a  phrase  that  rang 


76 


WHIGS  AND  DEMOCRATS. 


[1848. 


through  the  land  like  a  blast  from  a  trumpet:  “Free  Soil!  Free 
Speech!  Free  Labor!  and  Free  Men!” 

Congress  had  adjourned  after  votes  upon  the  Territorial  Bills,  which 
practically  postponed  the  questions  until  another  session.  The  cam¬ 
paign  began.  Chief  among  the  orators  of  the  “Free  Soil”  party  was 
John  Van  Buren,  whose  eloquence  was  winning  him  golden  opinions, 
and  who  was  already  accepted  as  a  leader. 

The  Whigs  found  General  Cass’  “'Nicholson  letter”  one  of  their 
most  effective  weapons.  The  Cass  men  retorted  with  Taylor’s  “Alli¬ 
son  letter.” 

The  Whig  papers  charged  that  two  lives  of  Cass  had  been  printed; 
one  for  circulation  at  the  South  and  one  for  circulation  at  the  North. 
In  one  lie  appeared  as  a  slavery-extensionist,  and  in  the  other  as  a 
“Wilmot  Provisoist;”  each  proving  its  case  by  quotations  from  his 
speeches. 

The  Democrats  retorted  that  this  was  not  more  inconsistent  than 
the  position  of  the  whole  Whig  party,  who  had  opposed  annexation  at 
the  North,  favored  it  at  the  South,  denounced  the  war,  and  then 
taken  its  General  for  a  candidate,  and  were  now  claiming  to  be  in 
favor  of  the  “  Proviso,”  though  at  Philadelphia  they  had  voted  it 
down  and  nominated  a  slave-holder,  who,  further  more,  was  not  a  Whig. 

Public  attention  was  now  engrossed  by  the  canvass  at  home,  or  the 
news  from  abroad  would  have  been  found  of  absorbing  interest.  The 
French  Republic  was  exhibiting  some  startling  contrasts.  Bloodshed 
and  barricades  in  Paris  were  mingled  with  merriment  and  the 
“Marseillaise.”  An  archbishop  shot  down  in  the  streets;  a  poet 
called  to  the  head  of  affairs;  the  family  of  the  “  Citizen  King”  driven 
out  of  the  republic  with  contumely,  while  the  heir  and  nephew  of 
the  Emperor  Napoleon  was  welcomed  to  a  seat  in  the  legislative 
chamber. 

In  Ireland,  Mitchell,  Meagher,  and  other  patriots  had  been  arrested, 
but  had  been  released  by  riot. 

Seward  wrote: 

Waterloo,  Thursday  Morning . 

Last  night  the  court  discharged  me  late  from  my  labors.  Tins  morning  you 
have  not  yet  returned  the  salutation  of  the  birds,  if  any  remain  in  the  old 
locust  tree  at  the  corner  of  the  new  tower.  My  labors  yesterday  were  about 
cheating  in  the  sale  of  horses  and  stealing  horses.  The  passion  for  horses 
seems  to  be  the  fountain  of  all  the  vices  and  crimes  of  society  in  this  region. 
In  the  earlier  ages  of  nations  less  refined,  the  same  passion  infused  sentiments 
of  honor  if  not  of  virtue.  The  Roman  knight  borrowed  his  title  from  the 
horse  he  rode  in  battle.  Chivalry  in  the  age  of  feudalism  possessed  the  same 
association  of  name  and  sentiment. 


1848.] 


THREE  PARTIES. 


77 


From  home  lie  wrote  to  Weed: 

August  2G. 

I  send  you  a  letter  which  betrays  alarm  for  Yates  county.  I  have  written 
that  there  is  no  ground  for  fears,  as  in  truth  I  see  none  in  this  State.  But  I 
perceive  a  feeling  of  distrust  about  Taylor’s  success  in  other  States,  which 
must  be  corrected.  Whigs  in  this  State  have  lost  one  of  their  strongest 
motives  to  action.  You  will  see  my  letter  to  the  Whigs  of  Orleans  county. 

August  31,  1848. 

What  am  I  to  do  with  these  importunities  to  attend  Whig  meetings?  They 
come  by  twos  and  threes,  and  will  come  by  dozens.  At  home  on  Monday  only, 
I  cannot  even  acknowledge  them. 

Thus  urged  to  “take  the  stump/’  he  consented,  though  saying  that 
if  he  did  so  he  must  speak  his  opinions  freely  upon  the  slavery  ques¬ 
tion.  In  his  letter  to  Orleans  county  he  said: 

Every  Whig  vote  cast  for  the  third  party  is  only  a  negative  protest  against 
the  slavery  party.  Real  friends  of  emancipation  must  not  be  content  with 
protests.  They  must  act  wisely  and  efficiently.  For  myself,  I  shall  cast  my 
suffrage  for  General  Taylor  and  for  Millard  Fillmore,  freely  and  conscienti¬ 
ously,  on  precisely  the  same  grounds  on  which  I  have  hitherto  voted. 

The  demand  upon  him  for  speeches  was  especially  urgent  from 
localities  where  it  was  apprehended  that  the  new  “Free  Soil  ”  party 
would  draw  off  Whig  votes,  and  so  defeat  the  very  measure  it  claimed 
to  have  at  heart.  Seward  was  called  upon  to  retain  anti-slavery  Whigs 
in  line,  by  his  assurances  that  their  most  effective  way  to  oppose 
slavery  extension  was  to  vote  for  Taylor. 

The  Presidential  contest  in  New  York,  as  well  as  in  New  England, 
and  some  of  the  Western  States,  presented  the  novel  feature  of  three 
powerful  contending  factions,  instead  of  the  usual  pitched  battle  be¬ 
tween  two.  The  flags,  banners,  and  transparencies  that  decorated  the 
streets  were  proportionately  increased  in  number,  and  their  inscrip¬ 
tions  were  complex  and  bewildering.  The  meetings  were  numerous, 
each  of  the  parties  striving  not  to  be  outdone  by  the  others;  and  in 
every  considerable  town  the  sound  of  the  drum  or  the  voice  of  the 
orator  was  daily  heard  in  behalf  of  Cass,  Taylor,  or  Van  Buren.  The 
Hutchinsons  were  drawing  large  audiences  by  their  songs,  always  on 
the  side  of  “  Free  Soil,”  and  so  acceptable  to  at  least  two  of  the  three 
political  parties. 

Each  of  the  State  Conventions  of  New  York  were  held  in  Septem¬ 
ber.  The  Whigs  nominated  Lieutenant-Governor  Fish  for  Governor, 
with  George  W.  Patterson  for  Lieutenant-Governor.  The  “  t  ree 
Soil  ”  men  nominated  John  A.  Dix  and  Seth  M.  Gates  for  the  same 


78 


THE  TRIBUNE  AND  TAYLOR. 


[1848. 


positions,  while  the  regular  Democrats  nominated  Chancellor  Wal¬ 
worth  and  Charles  O’ Conor. 

A  few  of  the  ardent  followers  of  Mr.  Clay  held  meetings  to  urge  the 
electors  to  vote  for  Clay  for  President  and  Fillmore  for  Vice-President, 
but  the  movement  was  local  and  ineffective. 

One  after  another  of  the  recognized  Whig  leaders  at  Washington 
took  ground  in  favor  of  the  election  of  Taylor.  It  was  announced 
that  he  would  have  the  support  of  Webster,  Clay,  McLean,  Mangum, 
Berrien,  Stanley,  Winthrop,  and  Corwin.  The  Tribune  held  out  long 
and  refused  to  acquiesce  either  in  the  wisdom  pf  General  Taylor’s 
nomination  or  the  propriety  of  supporting  it.  Its  adherence  was  not 
given  until  late  in  September,  when  it  advised  its  readers  that,  as 
there  was  only  a  choice  of  evils,  they  should  vote  the  Whig  ticket,  to 
prevent  the  election  of  Cass  and  Butler.  From  then  till  election  it 
gave  effective  support  to  the  Whig  nominees.  At  the  South,  of  course, 
the  “Free  Soil”  element  had  no  place,  and  the  contest  was  between 
the  two  old  parties,  Whig  and  Democratic.  The  very  fact  that  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  to  have  no  Southern  votes  helped  to  increase  his 
strength  in  the  North.  Seward  addressed  meetings  at  Auburn,  Water- 
town,  Palmyra,  Waterloo,  Sackett’s  Harbor,  and  various  other  places 
in  the  State.  Before  the  close  of  September  he  was  urged  to  come  to 
New  England.  He  started  on  this  journey,  embarrassed  somewhat 
by  engagements  in  court,  but  contrived  by  rapid  traveling  and  hard 
work  to  satisfy  both  demands  upon  his  time.  He  wrote  home: 

.  Albany,  September  18. 

At  Weed’s  I  had  much  to  learn  of  what  had  transpired  politically  during  the 
last  month,  and  what  was  hoped  to  be  accomplished  during  the  next  six 
months. 

General  Taylor’s  letter  is  the  fruit  of  the  indignation  meeting  here,  and  is 
highly  commended  in  all  quarters.  Mr.  Clay’s  letter  to  Brooks,  which  you 
will  see,  perhaps,  before  you  see  this,  will  be  accepted  as  magnanimous. 

Boston,  September  20,  1848. 

Here  we  are  with  the  bright  September  sun  shining  over  us  after  a  ride  of 
eleven  hours  over  the  Berkshire  Hills.  Jack  Frost  had  passed  the  same  way 
just  before  us,  and  had  touched  the  forests  with  his  magic  pencil.  They  were 
just  in  the  stage  at  which  Cole  copied  the  woods,  in  the  gorgeous  picture  we 
have  of  the  Falls  of  the  Genesee  at  Portage.  Iv^unged  and  gazed  upon  this 
brilliant  scene  through  the  whole  ride. 

Harding  is  staying  in  town.  We  met  at  breakfast.  I  have  engaged  him  to 
paint  me  a  good  picture  of  John  Quincy  Adams  for  our  parlor. 

The  Whigs  express  some  doubts  of  carrying  the  electoral  ticket  in  this  State 
by  the  popular  vote.  In  case  of  defeat  at  the  election,  the  choice  of  electors 
will  devolve  upon  the  Legislature. 


1848.] 


FIRST  MEETING  WITH  LINCOLN. 


70 


Lebanon,  N.  II.,  September  21,  1848. 

We  leave  this  place  and  return  to  Boston  to-morrow.  I  am  to  address  the 
Whigs  of  that  city  in  the  open  air  to-morrow  evening,  and  the  Whigs  of 
Springfield  on  Saturday  night.  We  proceed  from  the  latter  place  to  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  etc.,  etc.  * 

Sunday,  September  24,  1848. 

I  am  at  rest  for  the  day.  I  returned  from  New  Hampshire  to  Boston  on 
Friday.  A  committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  met  me,  and 
conveyed  me  at  once  to  their  festival  at  Faneuil  Hall.  It  was  a  beautiful  and 
tasteful  scene.  The  vast  hall  was  filled  with  tables,  spread  witli  fair  linen, 
with  a  collection  of  fruits  and  flowers,  the  choicest  and  highest  products  of 
the  gardens  of  the  State.  The  chief  men  of  the  city  and  Commonwealth  were 
there,  and  all  the  members  of  the  society  with  their  wives  and  daughters. 
My  engagement  to  the  Whigs  for  the  evening  obliged  me  to  leave  early,  after 
I  had  perpetrated  a  speech,  not  altogether  unworthy,  yet  quite  unsatisfactory 
to  myself,  in  return  for  the  compliment  paid  me. 

The  night  brought  other  and  more  severe  labors.  I  met  at  the  Tremont 
Temple  three  thousand  Whigs;  a  most  intelligent  and  respectable  body  of 
men.  I  spoke  to  them  an  hour,  in  an  argument  severe  and  dry.  It  was  kindly 
received.  The  next  morning  I  found  a  barren  report  of  it  in  the  newspapers, 
which  spoiled  it  for  future  use,  and  yet  stripped  it  of  its  logical  method,  and 
of  nearly  all  that  could  commend  it  to  perusal.  Such  is  the  fortune  of  political 
lecturers. 

An  incident  of  this  meeting  at  the  Tremont  Temple,  unimportant 
as  it  seemed  at  the  time,  was  one  which  the  events  of  later  years  in¬ 
vested  with  interest.  He  found  on  the  platform  the  other  gentlemen 
who  were  to  address  the  meeting  on  the  same  evening.  Whig  speeches 
and  resolutions,  there  as  elsewhere  throughout  the  country,  were 
largely  devoted  to  questions  of  the  tariff,  rivers  and  harbors,  and  pub¬ 
lic  lands,  the  war,  and  Democratic  maladministration.  One  of  the 
speakers  was  a  Whig  member  of  Congress  from  Illinois,  a  tall,  gaunt 
man,  whose  speech,  if  plain  in  manner  and  diction,  was  forcible  and 
logical,  and  had  several  telling  hits  at  the  inconsistencies  of  the  Cass 
men.  Seward,  when  His  turn  came,  devoted,  as  was  his  custom,  the 
chief  part  of  his  speech  to  what  seemed  to  him  the  question  of  para¬ 
mount  importance.  He  remarked: 

On  the  slavery  question,  to  this  extent  all  Whigs  agree:  that  slavery  shall 
not  be  extended  into  any  territory  now  free,  and  they  are  doubtless  willing  to 
go  one  step  further  —  that  it  shall  be  abolished  where  it  now  exists  under  the 
immediate  protection  of  the  general  government.  To  these  principles  the 
Whigs  are  already  pledged;  and  I  trust  that  they  may  be  regarded  only  as 
incipient  measures,  and  that  the  time  will  soon  arrive  when  further  demon¬ 
strations  will  be  made  against  the  institution  of  slavery. 


80 


IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


[1848. 


Soon  after  this  speech,  the  Illinois  member  of  Congress  and  he 
found  themselves  lodgers  in  the  same  hotel.  During  their  conversa¬ 
tion  the  former,  with  a  thoughtful  air,  said: 

Governor  Seward,  I  have  been  thinking  about  what  you  said  in  your  speech. 
I  reckon  you  are  right.  We  have  got  to  deal  with  this  slavery  question,  and 
got  to  give  much  more  attention  to  it  hereafter  than  we  have  been  doing. 

This  was  his  first  meeting  with  Abraham  Lincoln  — one  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  recalled  when  they  met  again  in  1860,  remarking  that  it 
“had  probably  made  a  stronger  impression  on  his  memory  than  it 
had  on  Governor  Seward’s.” 

In  a  letter  to  Weed  he  said: 

Springfield,  September  23,  1848. 

I  am  thus  far  on  my  way  out  of  Massachusetts.  The  Whigs  who  manage  at 
Boston  wanted  my  help,  because  I  was  less  obnoxious  than  themselves  to  the 
people.  They  say  Webster’s  speech  did  no  good  in  Massachusetts.  They  are 
willing  to  profit  by  my  heresy,  though  they  can  hardly  consent  to  pardon  it. 
I  have  had  a  very  large  meeting,  and  my  speech  was  sound  and  safe;  but  it 
lacked  enthusiasm,  for  I  tamed  it  in  deference  to  the  supposed  taste  of  the 
audience.  It  was  vilely  reported,  and  thus  spoiled.  My  speech  here  last 
night  was  apparently  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  people,  and  was  much  more 
so  to  myself.  I  want  to  report  it  for  you,  but  I  have  no  time.  I  shall  have  a 
chance  to  speak  and  write  out  one  at  Philadelphia,  and  have  it  in  the  Inquirer 
or  in  McMichael’s  paper.  There  are  invitations  crowding  on  me  to  speak  in 
many  places  in  New  England,  both  in  and  out  of  this  State. 

His  letters  home  continued: 

Philadelphia,  September  27. 

My  business  here,  as  in  Massachusetts,  is  singularly  embarrassed  by  conflict¬ 
ing  claims  on  me  for  political  service.  It  was  thought  so  unsuitable  a  thing 
to  come  through  New  York  without  stopping  to  address  the  Whigs,  that  I 
was  obliged  to  promise  to  take  the  field  there.  To-morrow  I  am  to  speak  at 
Whitehall,  ten  miles  from  this  city. 

I  saw  Greeley  in  New  York.  It  was  said  that  he  was  to  “come  out”  for 
Taylor  last  night,  and  so  I  inferred  from  what  he  told  me. 

Philadelphia,  October  1. 

On  Friday  I  dined  with  a  lawyer,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  a  man  of 
wealth.  We  sat  upon  damask  sofas,  surveyed  ourselves  in  costly  mirrors,  ate 
from  massive  silver  dishes,  and  drank  rich  wine  from  cut  glass  goblets.  Need 
I  say  that  the  entertainment  concluded  with  an  arraignment  of  myself  for 
heretic  sympathies  in  favor  of  the  exile  and  the  slave?  There  was  manifest 
compassion  for  my  errors,  and  satisfaction  that  my  censors  were  wise  enough 
to  be  content  with  the  reflection  that  they  were  guiltless  of  the  oppression 
they  admitted  but  did  not  condemn.  How  blind  is  selfishness!  These  same 
gentlemen  had  sent  me,  only  one  day  before,  to  win  the  Quakers  of  Mont- 


1S48.] 


PENNSYLVANIA  SPEECHES. 


81 


gomery  and  Chester  county  back  to  the  Whig  fold  by  preaching  emancipation, 
and  the  object  of  this  entertainment  was  to  persuade  me  to  go  to  the  mines  on 
the  Schuylkill,  to  convert  the  Irish  coalmen  to  the  Whig  party,  through  the 
favor  it  was  assumed  they  bore  toward  me. 

On  Saturday  morning  we  set  off  for  Lancaster.  I  took  the  cars  for  a  visit 
to  the  coal-fields.  It  was  a  wonderful  ride.  It  took  me  through  the  valley  of 
the  Schuylkill,  from  Fairmount  to  its  attenuated  brook  among  the  mountains. 
The  distance  was  seventy  miles.  The  country  below  was  luxuriant  and  highly 
cultivated. 

After  passing  a  short  distance  we  entered  a  landscape  where  the  valley  be¬ 
came  a  ravine,  mountains  crowded  the  very  banks  and  overhung  the  river. 
We  dashed  through  three  of  these,  which  had  been  tunneled,  arrived  at  Read¬ 
ing  at  twelve  o’clock.  Reading,  on  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill,  is  an  old 
German  town,  now  improved  and  rendered  modern  and  flourishing  by  being 
the  center  of  the  railroad.  Here  I  addressed  the  Whigs  from  two  to  half-past 
three  o’clock.  They  received  me  with  kindness,  and  took  leave  of  me  with 
gratefulness  for  having  visited  so  small  a  body  of  Whigs,  located  in  the  center 
of  a  county  that  gives  five  thousand  Democratic  majority. 

I  took  the  cars  at  five  o’clock,  and  arrived  at  Pottsville  at  seven.  This  is  a 
mining  town  in  the  valley  of  the  Schuylkill,  surrounded  by  towering  moun¬ 
tains  which  are  filled  with  anthracite  coal  and  iron  ore.  Scarcely  less  than 
twenty  thousand  tons  of  coal  are  sent  from  this  town  by  canal  and  railroad 
every  day.  You  may  imagine  the  population  whose  labor  brings  this  rich 
treasure  up  from  its  caverns.  It  was  a  wild  yet  delightful  scene.  The  people 
escorted  me  with  banners  and  music  and  torchlights.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if 
Vulcan  had  wrought  for  me  a  chariot  and  iron  steed,  and  had  transported  me 
through  the  valley  and  beneath  the  mountains  to  the  cave  where  Plutus  dis¬ 
pensed  wealth  and  riches  to  the  world.  I  addressed  the  hardy  miners  an  hour 
and  a  half,  from  a  balcony  in  the  street,  and  availed  myself  of  a  shower  of  rain 
to  dismiss  them;  but  they  obliged  me  to  proceed  pntil  my  lungs  would  no 

longer  endure  the  trial.  A  supper  of  venison,  from  the  first  deer  of  the  season, 
% 

kept  me  until  past  twelve. 

I  rose  at  five,  breakfasted,  and  by  means  of  an  extra  locomotive  reached 
this  place  at  two  o’clock  to-day.  After  dining  and  courting -sleep  in  vain,  I 
have  written  this  letter.  I  must  also  send  one  to  Weed,  and  then  lie  down 
and  wait  the  midnight  hour,  when  I  take  my  way  by  railroad  to  Lancaster. 

Steamboat  on  the  Raritan,  Thursday ,  October  5,  1848. 

I  left  Philadelphia  on  Sunday,  midnight,  and  arrived  at  Lancaster  in  the 
morning.  We  were  constantly  and  laboriously  employed  there  until  Tuesday 
evening,  when  I  harangued  the  people  of  that  ancient  city  on  the  subject  of 
politics. 

We  returned  yesterday  to  Philadelphia;  were  detained  until  near  night  by 
obstructions.  Visited  Josiah  Randall,  ate  supper,  and  went  to  bed  weary. 
Rose  this  morning  and  found  it  possible,  with  constant  industry,  to  leave  for 
New  York  at  noon.  I  shall  probably  speak  at  Vauxhall,  New  York,  to-night, 
having  been  summoned  by  telegraph  for  that  purpose. 

6 


82 


THE  CARTMEN  AT  VAUXHALL. 


[1843. 


I  liave  found  in  the  commander  of  this  boat  the  captain  of  the  Sully,  in 
which  I  sailed  from  France  fifteen  years  ago. 

Astor  House,  October  6,  1848. 

I  came  into  New  York  last  night,  and  was  immediately  hurried  to  an  im¬ 
mense  meeting  at  Vauxhall.  I  spoke  twenty  minutes,  and  I  believe  avoided 
any  palpable  error,  for  which  Heaven  be  praised. 

The  cartmen  of  the  city  of  New  York  held  this  meeting  at  Vauxhall 
Garden.  It  was  an  enthusiastic  gathering,  with  noisy  demonstrations 
of  approval.  His  speech  was  brief  with  pointed  interrogatories.  The 
cartmen’s  shouts  in  response  at  every  salient  point  made  it  dramatic. 
When  he  pronounced  the  name  of  General  Taylor,  “  three  cheers  for 
Taylor,”  was  the  instant  cry,  and  they  were  given  with  a  will.  When 
he  alluded  to  Scott,  “three  cheers  for  Scott!”  When  he  alluded  to 
other  names,  it  was  “  three  cheers  for  Clay,”  “three  cheers  for  Web¬ 
ster,”  “  three  cheers  for  Fillmore.”  Parts  of  the  speech  went  on  almost 
like  a  dialogue  between  him  and  the  multitude. 

“  The  next  Congress,”  said  he,  “will  extend  either  freedom  or  slav¬ 
ery  in  the  newly-acquired  territories  ;  shall  it  be  freedom  or  slavery?” 

“Freedom,”  was  the  response,  thundered  from  ten  thousand 
throats. 

“  Freedom,  of  course,  you  say  ;  and  you  say  well.  Is  the  Whig 
party  less  faithful  than  its  adversary  to  liberty  and  humanity?  You 
will  say  no.” 

And  they  did  say  “  no,”  with  a  roar  like  a  cannon. 

“  All  men  say,  no!  Heaven  and  earth  bear  witness,  ‘  no! 

It  was  in  this  speech  that  he  alluded  to  the  Whig  disappointment, 
nowhere  more  deeply  felt  than  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  regard  to 
Clay  and  Webster,  and  laid  down  the  rule  in  regard  to  such  disap¬ 
pointments  that  governed  his  own  thoughts  and  action. 

Clay  and  Webster  have  been  put  aside.  It  was  either  necessary  that  they 
should  have  been  left  out  or  it  was  not.  In  either  case  I  regret  it,  and  do  not 
stop  to  argue  where  the  truth  in  that  respect  lies.  It  is  a  question  that  comes 
up  now,  too  late.  Statesmen  and  patriots  must  be  content  to  do  what  is  prac¬ 
tical —  what  can  be  done.  Besides,  when  was  it  otherwise?  Was  Aristides, 
was  Cato,  was  Cicero,  more  fortunate?  Is.it  not  by  popular  injustice  that  great¬ 
ness  is  burnished?  What  is  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  compared  with 
the  fame  of  a  patriot-statesman,  who  triumphs  over  popular  injustice  and  es¬ 
tablishes  his  country  on  the  sure  foundations  of  freedom  and  empire? 

His  letters  continued  : 

After  the  meeting  and  after  greetings,  I  went  to  Dr.  Doane’s  at  midnight, 
slept  an  hour,  met  Mrs.  Doane,  her  mother,  sisters  and  children  at  breakfast, 
and  came  away  to  the  Astor  House.  Here  I  am,  enjoying  a  respite  of  two 


AT  TIIE  MINES. 


83 


IMS,] 

hours,  while  Weed,  Bowen,  Blatchford,  and  Greeley  are  abroad  attending  to 
arrangements  preparatory  to  the  elections. 

I  have  seen  the  slander  in  the  Union ,  noticed  in  Weed’s  paper.  It  is  peculiarly 
annoying,  because  I  can  well  enough  identify  the  scene  and  occasion  where  I  am 
alleged  to  have  made  the  offensive  remark.  There  was  a  connection  utterly 
conflicting  with  this,  but  which  lias  been  artfully  perverted  into  this  gross 
fabrication.  The  occasion  was  when  I  was  in  the  Executive  Chamber  in  Vir¬ 
ginia  three  years  ago,  in  a  jocose  conversation  which  I  have  before  related  to 
you  with  the  Governor  of  that  degenerate  Commonwealth.  Greeley  urges  me 
to  contradict;  Weed’s  opinion  agrees  with  my  own,  to  let  it  pass. 

I  am  beginning  to  be  very  weary  of  this  roving  life.  The  excitement  of  pro¬ 
fessional  labors  and  political  dissensions  would  be  unendurable,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  occasions,  few  and  short,  of  going  one  side,  and  resuming  occupations 
at  home,  and  resolving  that  I  will,  as  speedily  as  possible,  cast  my  reliance 
exclusively  upon  them.  Yet  this  is,  perhaps,  an  absurd  thought  for  me  at  the 
age  of  forty-seven,  and  at  the  very  time  when  I  am  clearest  and  strongest,  I 
suppose.  I  hope  you  will  not  fancy  that  you  find  any  thing  like  an  accurate 
report  of  me  in  the  speeches  set  down  in  .the  newspapers.  I  am  ashamed  of 
them  all,  and  throw  down  the  newspaper  in  disgust,  when  I  see  the  chain  of 
argument  broken,  and  my  most  elaborate  sentences  and  figures  put  into  pinch 
beck  cases. 

A  newspaper  is  established  at  Albany  to  annihilate  the  Evening  Journal. 
Faction  is  emboldened  there  just  when  passion  and  prejudice  among  the  peo¬ 
ple  agaiust  me  seem  to  be  giving  \yay  to  feelings  of  kindness  and  respect. 

Washington,  October  9,  1848. 

At  last  I  am  here  at  the  end,  or  at  least  at  one  end  of  my  wanderings,  and 
henceforth  shall  be  traveling  toward  you  or  resting  nearer  home. 

I  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  Friday  evening  and  found  a  committee  from  Phoe- 
nixville  waiting  for  me .  I  attended  them  on  Saturday  to  that  place;  distant 
thirty  miles  from  the  city,  and  lying  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Schuylkill. 

On-  my  wTay  in  a  lumbering  stage  wagon,  with  one  female  and  four  men  pas¬ 
sengers,  I  saw  before  me  a  youthful  woman,  with  one  daughter  about  nine 
vears  old  at  her  side, and  another,  about  eight  or  nine  months  old,  swung  on  her 
shoulder,  trudging  along  the  dusty  road.  I  obliged  the  driver  to  stop,  malgre 
the  opinions  of  the  passengers,  concurring  with  his  own,  that  she  was  not  go- 
iuo-  far  on  the  same  road,  and  that  she  did  not  want  to  ride,  because  she  did 
not  ask  to  do  so.  The  poor  creature  replied  to  my  invitation  that  “she  had 
no  money  to  pay.”  On  taking  her  seat  she  won  all  hearts  by  her  tidiness, 
modesty,  and  meekness.  Her  simple  story  was,  that  her  husband,  Patrick 
Duff,  was  at  work  in  the  mines,  and  had  sent  for  her  to  come  to  him.  We 
reached  the  mines,  but  Patrick  Duff  was  not  there,  and  nobody  knew  any  thing 
about  him,  and  here  I  was  obliged  to  leave  my  charge.  It  has  troubled  me 
ever  since. 

I  addressed  a  great  meeting  in  Penn  Square  in  Philadelphia  on  my  return 
to  the  city,  and  leaving  town  immediately  afterward,  arrived  in  Wilmington, 
where  I  spent  the  Sunday.  I  attended  church  in  the  morning,  and  heard  from 


84 


IN  DELAWARE. 


[1848. 


an  Episcopal  desk  a  sermon  that  was  calculated  to  inspire  charity,  and  fidelity 
to  truth. 

I  spent  the  afternoon  at  John  M.  Clayton’s,  surrounded  by  a  party  of  his 
friends.  I  promised  them  to  “  speak  a  speech  ”  at  Wilmington  on  my  way 
homeward. 

Wilmington,  Del.,  October  12,  1848. 

We  have  been  here  two  days.  The  political  duty  of  making  a  speech  to  the 
Whigs  is  to  be  performed  to-night,  and  then  I  am  free  until  I  reach  Al¬ 
bany.  Here  the  Whigs  are  quite  frantic  with  joy,  upon  the  auspicious  victories 
in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  They  are  expecting  a  great  meeting  to-night. 

I  hardly  know  how  I  shall  go  successfully  through  the  straits  assigned  me 
in  this  State,  where  freedom  and  slavery  are  yet  in  doubtful  conflict. 

Among  the  Whig  leaders  in  Delaware  there  were  many,  who,  not 
sharing  in  his  opinion  of  slavery,  could  not  forbear  from  deprecating 
the  “  agitation  ”  of  the  subject.  “  If  I  ever  had  any  doubts/’  said  he, 
“  that  the  ‘  agitation/  as  you  call  it,  was  not  artificial,  but  based  upon 
enduring  principles,  I  should  find  proof  enough  of  it  here.  Here  I  am 
summoned  to  Wilmington  to  endeavor  to  persuade  the  people  of  the 
slave-holding  State  of  Delaware,  not  to  throw  their  votes  away  on 
Martin  Van  Buren,  under  the  mistaken  impression  that  he  can  help 
them  get  rid  of  slavery  quicker  than  the  Whig  party  will.” 

Returning  from  Pennsylvania  and  pausing  at  New  York  long  enough 
to  address  a  meeting  there,  Seward  proceeded  to  Albany.  He  reached 
home  on  the  15th  of  October,  after  an  absence  of  four  weeks  ;  left 
there  on  the  ICth  for  Utica  and  Albany.  The  remainder  of  the  montli 
was  spent  in  traveling  to  make  speeches,  political  or  professional, 
and  the  demands  for  both  were  so  rapid  and  incessant  as  to  hardly  al¬ 
low  time  to  reach  the  designated  points,  with  little  opportunity  for 
reflection  or  study. 

Throughout  the  country  political  excitement  was  now  at  fever  heat. 
Local  meetings  and  conventions  were  frequent.  Webster’s  eloquence 
was  echoing  from  Faneuil  Hall.  John  Van  Buren’s  trenchant  and 
telling  speeches  were  resounding  from  so  many  points,  that  he  seemed 
endowed  with  ubiquity.  Processions  bearing  flags  and  banners  by  day, 
emulated  processions  bearing  torches  and  transparencies  by  night,  and 
in  every  important  town  mottoes  were  stretched  across  the  streets  in 
honor  of  “Taylor  and  Fillmore,”  “  Fish  and  Patterson,”  “Van  Buren 
and  Adams,”  “Dix  and  Gates,”  “  Cass  and  Butler,”  “  Walworth  and 
O’Conor,”  “ The  Constitution  and  the  Union,”  “No  More  Slave  Ter¬ 
ritory,”  “The  Tariff  of  ’42,”  “The  Public  Lands  for  Actual  Settlers,” 
“  The  Hero  of  Buena  Vista,”  “  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma,” 
“  Democracy  and  Union,”  “  The  Compromises  of  the  Constitution,” 


1848.| 


THE  CLEVELAND  SPEECH. 


85 


“  The  Tariff  for  Revenue/'  <f  Free  Labor,  Free  Speech,  Free  Soil/' 
etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

A  journey  to  Ohio  was  undertaken,  after  the  returns  of  the  October 
election  in  that  State  had  shown  how  close  the  contest  there  was  likely 
to  be,  upon  the  Presidential  issue.  Ohio  had  begun  to  show  evidences 
of  a  revulsion  of  feeling.  There  were  hopes  that  she  could  be  induced 
to  lend  her  aid  to  check  the  projected  extension  of  slavery.  The  sum¬ 
mons  to  Seward  to  take  part  in  the  Whig  meetings  now  going  on, 
through  the  Lake  counties  and  the  “  Western  Reserve,"  found  him 
willing  and  ready.  Doubtless  they  called  for  him  chiefly  because  they 
thought  he  might  retain  Whig  voters  in  the  party  who  otherwise  would 
cast  their  ballots  for  Van  Buren.  But  the  labor  for  him  had  another 
attraction.  For  once  there  were  none  of  his  party  friends  who  would 
deprecate  his  utterances,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  going  too  fast  or 
too  far.  In  Ohio  he  could  declare  his  views  without  restraint.  The 
25th  of  October  found  him  on  board  the  steamboat  from  Buffalo  to 
Cleveland. 

On  Lake  Erie,  'Wednesday. 

The  soft  southern  breeze,  which  was  so  welcome  to  me  as  I  sallied  forth 
yesterday  morning,  was  the  herald  of  a  dull  dreary  storm  that  broke  just  after 
we  reached  the  cars  and  continued  until  last  night. 

It  is  not  the  most  pleasant  thing  to  write  in  the  cabin  of  this  boat,  and  there 
is  no  other  place  where  one  can  write.  The  engine  shakes  the  timbers  and  the 
whole  fabric  is  tremulous  The  cabin  is  crowded  with  passengers.  All  man¬ 
ner  of  topics  are  discussed  around  me,  from  the  preparation  of  caudle  to 
Presidential  Electors  Two  ambitious  ladies  are  giving  a  concert  on  the  piano 
to  an  admiring  crowd,  who  receive  it  with  all  the  more  enthusiasm  because 
there  is  no  otlier  amusement  within  doors,  and  the  air  is  too  keen  to  permit 
them  to  remain  without. 

Sandusky,  October  27,  1848. 

Here  I  am,  inhaling  a  balmy  atmosphere  under  a  bright  sun,  with  the 
broad  and  beautiful  bay  of  Sandusky  stretching  far  away  before  me.  I  ar¬ 
rived  at  Cleveland  at  one  yesterday  with  A.  B.  Dickinson.  The  Whigs  gave 
notice  in  the  morning,  and  the  evening  brought  in  a  large  and  intelligent 
audience.  The  grave,  sober,  and  reflecting  men  of  all  professions,  sects,  and 
parties  were  there.  I  discoursed  to  them  seriously  and  solemnly  for  near  two 
hours.  Although  I  suppressed  no  heresies,  I  had  no  dissentients,  and  as  far 
as  I  know,  no  cavillers.  You  will  find  a  report,  rough  enough  I  fear,  in  the 
Cleveland  Herald,  of  to-day  or  to-morrow.  Five  thousand  copies  of  it  are  to 
be  distributed  on  the  Reserve . 

A.  B.  Dickinson  aroused  the  people  with  an  electrical  speech  after  the  close 
of  my  sermon. 

Of  all  his  speeches  in  Ohio  this  one  at  Cleveland  presented  the 
most  concise  epitome  of  his  views.  It  attracted  most  attention  and 


86 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT, 


[1348. 


excited  most  comment;  his  friends  pronouncing  it  the  most  “  bold  and 
terse,”  and  his  opponents  styling  it  the  44  most  perverse  and  dogmatic  ” 
that  he  had  made.  In  it  he  summed  up  the  issues: 

There  are  two  antagonistical  elements  of  society  in  America  —  freedom  and 
slavery.  Freedom  is  in  harmony  with  our  system  of  government  and  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  and  is,  therefore,  passive  and  quiescent.  Slavery  is  in  conflict 
with  that  system,  with  justice,  and  with  humanity,  and  is,  therefore,  organized, 
defensive,  active,  and  perpetually  aggressive.  Freedom  insists  on  the  eman¬ 
cipation  and  elevation  of  labor.  Slavery  demands  a  soil  moistened  with  tears 
and  blood .  These  elements  divide  and  classify  the  American  people  into  two 
parties.  Each  of  these  two  parties  has  its  court  and  its  sceptre.  The  throne  of 
the  one  is  amid  the  rocks  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains;  the  throne  of  the  other 
is  reared  on  the  sands  of  South  Carolina.  One  of  these  parties,  the  party  of 
slavery,  regards  disunion  as  among  the  means  of  defense  and  not  always  the 
last  to  be  employed.  The  other  maintains  the  Union  of  the  States,  one  and 
inseparable,  now  and  forever,  as  the  highest  duty  of  the  American  people  to 
themselves,  to  posterity,  to  mankind.  Slavery  was  once  the  sin,  not  of  some 
of  the  States  only,  but  of  them  all;  not  of  one  nation  only,  but  of  all  nations. 
No  American  State  has  yet  delivered  itself  entirely.  We,  in  New  York, 
are  guilty  of  slavery  still,  by  withholding  the  right  of  suffrage  from  the  race 
we  have  emancipated.  You  in  Ohio  are  guilty  in  the  same  way,  by  a  system 
of  “  black  laws  ”  still  more  aristocratic  and  odious.  It  is  written  in  the  Con¬ 
stitution  of  the  United  States  that  five  slaves  shall  count  equal  to  three  free 
men  as  a  basis  of  representation,  and  it  is  written  also,  in  violation  of  the 
Divine  Law,  that  we  shall  surrender  the  fugitive  slave,  who  takes  refuge  at  our 
fireside,  from  his  relentless  pursuers.  “  What, then,”  you  say,  “  can  nothing  be 
done  for  freedom,  because  the  public  conscience  is  inert  ?  ”  Yes,  much  can  be 
done  —  every  thing  can  be  done.  Slavery  can  be  limited  to  its  present  bounds ; 
it  can  be  ameliorated;  it  can  and  must  be  abolished,  and  you  and  I  can  and 
must  do  it. 

The  Ohio  trip  engrossed  all  the  remaining  days  of  October,  and 
four  or  five  in  November.  Turning  his  face  homeward,  lie  wrote  to 
Weed  from  Buffalo  : 

Buffalo,  November  6. 

In  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  the  election,  you  will  have  no  time  to  read  my 
report,  and  your  great  solicitude  for  general  results  will  swallow  up  all  interest 
in  the  details  1  might  give.  I  went  from  Cleveland  to  Sandusky,  from  that 
place  through  the  Reserve;  speaking  besides  those  cities  m  Norwalk,  Oberliti, 
Elyria,  Medina,  Akron,  Hudson,  Aurora,  Cliardon,  and  Unionville  to  large 
and  attentive  audiences.  Mr.  Granger  has  done  good  service,  and  our  Ohio 
friends  are  cheered,  roused,  hopeful,  and  grateful.  I  left  Cleveland  yesterday 
and  shall  leave  this  town  to-night. 

He  reached  home  on  Monday  night.  The  next  day  was  Election 
day.  That  night  as  returns  began  to  come  in,  the  Whigs  were^ubi- 


1848.] 


TAYLOR  ELECTED. 


87 


lant.  Taylor  had  secured  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York,  and  prob¬ 
ably  a  majority  of  those  in  the  Union.  Nor  were  the  “  Free  Soilers  ” 
discontented  with  the  result.  They  had  demonstrated  their  strength. 
If  they  had  not  triumphed  themselves,  they  had  routed  the  “.Hunk¬ 
ers”  in  State  and  Nation. 

A  letter  on  the  following  day  said: 

Auburn,  November  3,  1848. 

This  State  seems  to  have  fulfilled  our  expectations  and  promises  literally; 
and  at  this  moment  it  seems  as  if  the  Whig  candidates  were  triumphantly 
elected.  I  trust  it  may  be  so.  But  be  the  result  as  it  may,  we  have  done  our 
whole  duty. 

I  have  been  revising  my  Cleveland  speech.  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  result 
in  the  canvass  will  commend  it  to  consideration  with  respect  to  the  future. 

A  week  more  put  the  result  of  the  election  beyond  a  doubt.  The 
Whigs  had  secured  1G3  electoral  votes  for  Taylor  and  Fillmore,  while 
Cass  and  Butler  would  have* but  127.  In  the  State  of  New  York 
Taylor’s  vote  was  218,583,  that  for  Van  Buren  120,497,  for  Cass  114,- 
319.  When  the  popular  vote  of  the  whole  Union  was  at  last  ascer¬ 
tained  and  counted,  it  showed  that  Taylor  had  received  1,360,000 
votes  to  1,220,000  for  Cass,  291,000  for  Van  Buren.  The  Whigs  would 
have  control  of  the  new  Administration.  Upon  it  and  the  incoming 
Congress  would  rest  the  responsibility  of  “settling  the  slavery  ques¬ 
tion.” 


CHAPTER  X. 

1848. 

At  Baltimore.  Colonel  Taylor.  Reverdy  Johnson.  John  M.  Clayton.  At  Washington. 
Cabinet  Gossip.  Foreign  Missions.  Gold  Discoveries  in  California.  The  Senator- 
ship.  The  Forged  Letter.  Greeley  in  Congress.  Truman  Smith.  A  Philosophical 
Oration.  Habits  of  Thought. 


Baltimore,  Thursday ,  November  16,  1848. 

Fillmore  aud  Collier  came  down  the  river  in  the  boat  with  me  and  went  to 
the  Irving,  a  new  hotel,  which  is  in  busy  competition  with  the  Astor.  The 
versatile  people  of  New  York  were  full  of  demonstrations  of  affection  to  the 
Vice-President,  and  Mr.  Collier  divided  the  honors.  The  politicians  of  New 
York  are  engaged  in  plans  to  take  possession  of  General  Taylor  before  he 
comes  to  Washington.  Weed  is  to  be  supplanted,  and  that  not  for  his  own 
sake  but  for  mine.  Now  that  I  have  got  into  the  law  again  pretty  deep,  I  care 
nothing  for  these  intrigues.  Colonel  Taylor,  the  President’s  brother,  has  been 
with  me  much  lately,  aud  is  kind,  friendly  and  confiding. 


88 


AT  BALTIMORE. 


[1843. 


November  17. 

I  spent  an  hour  and  a  half  last  evening  in  the  ladies’  parlor  with  General 
and  Mrs.  Gaines,  and  found  it  quite  agreeable  to  forget  cares  and  labor.  This 
evening  I  am  going  to  take  tea  at  Colonel  Taylor’s,  and  go  with  the  ladies  to 
hear  Madame  Bishop  sing.  Mrs.  Taylor,  you  know,  is  a  daughter  of  Judge 
McLean.  I  have  fallen  in  love  since  I  came  here  with  a  beautiful  young  lady, 
live  years  old,  who  gave  me  her  opinion  of  what  I  ought  to  take  home  for  a 
gift  to  my  daughter. 

November  19,  1848. 

It  is  amazing  how  the  volume  of  time,  so  broad  in  our  youthful  days,  con¬ 
tracts  itself  and  hurries  forward  as  we  grow  older!  Let  us  see;  I  wrote  you 
on  Friday  night  when  I  was  going  to  the  play  with  Mrs.  Taylor.  There  was 
a  party  of  twelve,  only  a  few  of  whom  I  can  recall.  Mrs.  Taylor  is  of  your 
own  age,  has  a  fine  Grecian  face,  scarcely  marred  by  a  wrinkle,  or  furrow  worn 
by  disease.  She  has  a  son  in  the  army,  a  little  younger  than  ours,  and  a 
daughter  in  society,  besides  other  children.  She  is  sensible,  has  force,  spirit, 
and  frankness.  Dr.  Wood  is  a  surgeon  in  the  army,  whose  wife  is  a  daughter 
of  General  Taylor.  She  is  gentle,  sensible,  and  refined  in  sentiment  and  man¬ 
ner.  They  now  say  she  is  the  very  counterpart  of  her  father. 

November  20,  1848. 

None  of  those  nice,  beautiful  letters  which  you  have  written  to  me  have 
been  received.  I  am  here,  away  from  all  old,  familiar  faces,  and  the  gossip, 
moral  (if  the  term  can  be  predicated  of  gossip),  social,  and  political,  is  strange 
and  foreign  to  me.  We  are  in  the  last  scene  of  the  first  act  of  the  planing- 
machine  trial.  To-morrow  we  begin  the  second. 

Baltimore,  November  22,  1848. 

To-morrow  will  be  Thanksgiving  day,  and,  of  course,  a  day  of  rest.  I  write 
you,  less  for  any  information  or  pleasure  I  can  give  you,  than  because  it  is  a 
satisfaction  to  myself  to  imagine  that  I  am  conversing  with  you.  Our  family 
here  are  quite  changed  within  the  week,  as  the  society  of  a  watering-place  is 
ever  being  renewed.  Mrs.  Gaines  and  the  General  have  gone  to  Washington 
on  their  way  to  New  Orleans.  She  has  given  me  an  invitation  to  go  there, 
and  assist  her  in  bringing  her  great  lawsuit  to  a  close.  Wilson  offers  to  pay 
my  expenses  if  I  will  go  with  him !  But  I  am  not  tempted  at  all  by  these  offers, 
although  I  should  be  glad  to  escape  the  contention  at  Albany,  of  which  I 
perceive  I  am  becoming  the  subject.  Mrs.  Taylor,  to-day,  has  been  shopping 
with  me  for  some  presents  for  the  children,  which  I  will  take  with  me. 

Friday  Morning. 

I  kept  Thanksgiving  yesterday  in  consultation  with  my  associate  counsel 
about  our  cause,  and  studying  the  argument.  At  five  o’clock  1  dined  at  Mr. 
Mayer’s;  he  is  a  gentleman  of  the  bar,  of  high  standing.  The  party  was  one 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  given  to  my  old  friend  Brantz  Mayer  and  his  bride, 
on  occasion  of  their  wedding.  The  dinner  was  gracefully  served;  the  guests 
were  agreeable.  Mrs.  Mayer,  who  gave  the  dinner,  seemed  a  very  kind  per¬ 
son.  She  had  taken  up  the  idea  that  I  was  a  bachelor,  and  was  beginning  to 


1848.] 


CALIFORNIA  GOLD  DISCOVERIES. 


89 


pass  me  off  in  that  way;  but  it  was  too  late  in  life  for  me  to  indulge  any  one 
in  such  irreverence.  I  soon  established  my  title  to  be  patriarch  of  the  whole 
party. 

November  27,  1848. 

The  political  speculations  about  the  Cabinet  in  the  newspapers  are  amusing 
enough.  What  do  you  think  of  sending  me  to  Brazil?  I  shall  be  likely  to 
say,  as  the  refractory  neighbor  of  the  priest  did,  when  his  Reverence  prayed 
that  he  might  be  removed  by  death,  or  by  some  other  means.  I  certainly 
shall  not  go  anywhere;  and  least  of  all,  would  I  go  to  Brazil. 

And  to  Weed  he  wrote: 

Baltimore,  November  29,  1848. 


Reverdv  Johnson  says  Crittenden  will  recommend  Clayton  for  Secretary  of 
State,  and  will  take  nothing  himself.  He  thinks  Lawrence  can  have  the 
Treasury.  Colonel  Taylor  thinks  nobody  knows,  nor  can  know  any  thing 
about  it,  until  the  President  announces.  He  has  not  heard  from  him  since  the 
election.  The  Colonel  is  warm  and  affectionate  toward  you,  and  I  think  to¬ 
ward  me.  I  see  him  often,  but  I  avoid  all  communications  that  might  seem 
to  touch  on  the  delicacy  of  his  position.  I  go  to  Washington  on  Monday  to 
remain  about  two  weeks  in  the  Supreme  Court. 


Newspapers  and  quidnuncs  were  busily  engaged  in  apportioning 
the  fruits  of  victory.  They  announced  who  was  to  be  in  the  Cabinet, 
and  who  were  to  have  foreign  missions,  etc.,  as  positively  as  if  they 
knew  any  thing  about  it;  although,  as  the  President’s  blunt  and 
honest  brother  remarked,  “he  didn’t  see  how  anybody  was  to  know 
about  those  things  until  the  General  did  himself.”  The  speculations 
in  regard  to  Seward,  alluded  to  in  the  letters,  were  those  of  his  oppo¬ 
nents;  for  his  friends  well  knew  that  he  neither  desired  nor  would 
accept  any  office  at  the  hands  of  the  incoming  Administration. 

Another  topic  was  now  creating  an  excitement  hardly  inferior  to 
that  of  the  Presidential  contest.  During  the  summer  a  report  had 
come  that  Captain  Sutter,  owner  of  a  saw-mill  on  the  Sacramento 
river,  in  California,  had  discovered  grains  of  gold  among  the  sands 
brought  down  by  that  stream.  The  discovery  had  stimulated  search, 
specimens  had  been  found,  sent  on,  analyzed  and  reported  to  be  pure 
metal.  Then,  in  rapid  succession,  came  reports  of  fresh  discoveries 
of  similar  character,  proving  that  the  treasure,  though  scattered,  was 
abundant,  and  that  the  territory  bought  from  Mexico  contained  un¬ 
told  millions  of  wealth,  in  mines  rivaling  those  that  had  first  tempted 
the  Spanish  Conquerors.  The  public,  at  first  incredulous,  grew  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  details  of  “placers,”  “washings,”  “nuggets,”  “ounces,” 
“  dust,”  and  “  diggins.”  Next  rose  a  fever  to  go  there.  Experienced 
miners,  ambitious  youths,  men  seeking  to  retrieve  ruined  fortunes, 
adventurers  of  every  class,  swelled  the  throng  of  the  active,  the  hardy 


90 


SEEKING  “EL  DORADO.” 


HS48. 


and  the  enterprising,  who  started  by  sea  and  land  to  make  the  journey 
to  the  new  “El  Dorado.”  The  bolder  and  more  impatient  started  at 
once.  The  more  prudent  and  thrifty  formed  partnerships  and  organ¬ 
ized  companies  for  mutual  help  and  protection  in  the  hazardous  un¬ 
dertaking.  All  winter,  and  for  a  year  or  more  afterward,  it  was  an 
engrossing  theme  of  talk.  The  newspapers  teemed  with  advice;  how 
to  cross  the  plains  on  foot  and  on  horse-back;  how  to  cross  the  Isth¬ 
mus  of  Darien  with  boats  and  mules;  how  to  cross  the  sea  by  sail  or 
steam;  how  to  get  around  ;£  The  Horn;  ”  how  to  get  into  “  The  Golden 
Gate,”  and  how  to  get  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Sierra 
Nevada;  and  for  once  their  advice  was  all  followed.  No  plan  seemed 
too  hazardous,  no  risk  too  great,  no  craft  too  crowded  or  crazy  not  to 
be  tried  by  some  of  the  seekers  of  fortune.  It  was  a  journey  of 
months,  a  journey  of  enormous  cost,  and  full  of  risk  to  health  and 
life;  but  the  attraction  was  an  irresistible  one.  The  California  emi¬ 
grants  swarmed  toward  their  destination  from  every  quarter  of  the 
land,  through  toils,  hardships,  and  adventures,  sickness,  poverty,  and 
misfortune,  that  cost  many  their  lives,  and  disappointed  more  of  their 
hopes.  Yet  a  few  arrived,  succeeded,  and  throve;  the  survivors  of 
whom  still  love  to  recount  the  tales  of  those  stirring  times,  and  each, 
as  he  walks  the  streets  of  San  Francisco,  is  pointed  out  with  respectful 
deference  as  an  old  “pioneer,”  one  of  the  original  “ Forty-Niners.” 

European  news  continued  interesting.  The  French  were  having  a 
Presidential  election;  Louis  Napoleon  and  General  Cavaignac  were 
announced  as  candidates.  There  was  a  revolution  in  Rome,  and  the 
Pope  wras  rumored  to  be  about  to  fly  from  his  capital.  From  Vienna 
came  intelligence  of  outbreaks,  a  Republican  Directory,  and  hopes  of 
complete  and  successful  revolution. 

To  Weed  Seward  wrote: 

Baltimore,  December  3,  1848 

Tt  was  always  my  purpose  to  tell  you  of  a  singular  suggestion  that  John  M. 
Clayton  made  during  my  visit  at  his  house  in  October,  to  sink  the  name  of 
“Whig  Party”  in  that  of  the  “Taylor  Republican  Party  ”  after  the  election. 
You  have  since  seen  it  announced  by  himself  in  a  speech,  and  have  still  later 
seen  a  demonstration  toward  carrying  it  into  effect  in  Philadelphia.  I  mention 
the  circumstance  that  you  may  understand  it  is  no  new  thought. 

At  Albany  the  incoming  Legislature  was  to  choose  a  Senator  in 
place  of  General  Dix,  whose  term  would  expire  on  the  4th  -of  March. 
As  the  Legislature  was  “  Whig,”  Seward’s  name  was  the  prominent 
one  for  the  Senatorship.  But  there  was  opposition  to  him,  which 
seemed  to  be  uniting  on  John  A.  Collier.  One  day  thq  papers  con¬ 
tained  a  forged  letter,  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  Seward  in 

✓ 


1S48.] 


THE  PRETENDED  LETTER. 


91 


regard  to  his  candidacy  for  the  Senate,  containing  suggestions  in  ref¬ 
erence  to  some  members  of  the  Legislature  and  innuendoes  in  regard 
to  others.  It  was  a  letter  whose  language  and  thoughts  were  the  re¬ 
verse  of  his  own.  He  had  studiously  kept  aloof  from  the  discussion 
of  the  subject,  and  confining  himself  to  professional  business,  had  left 
to  his  friends  at  Albany,  even  the  question  whether  he  should  be  a 
candidate.  Those  intimately  acquainted  with  him  would  suspect  it 
to  be  a  forgery.  Yet  it  was  so  adroitly  written  with  reference  to  well- 
known  facts,  in  the  tone  which  an  aspiring  politician  might  well  use, 
that  the  general  public  would  be  misled  by  it  and  deem  it  genuine. 
After  a  few  moments’  consideration,  as  to  whether  so  impudent  and 
mischievous  a  fraud  did  not  require  him  to  make  an  exception  to  his 
rule  in  regard  to  personal  attacks,  he  sat  down  and  wrote  to  the  Edi¬ 
tor  of  the  Evening  Journal : 

Baltimore,  December  4,  1848. 

I  beg  leave  to  direct  your  attention  to  the  letter  which  is  inclosed,  and  which 
I  have  extracted  from  the  New  York  Herald ,  of  December  1. 

I  have  written  no  such  letter  as  is  therein  described.  I  have  written  no  letter 
whatever  to  any  person  concerning  the  subject,  or  the  persons  mentioned  by 
this  Albany  correspondent. 

I  leave  you  to  decide  whether  this  singular  fabrication  is  of  sufficient  ini' 
portance  to  be  noticed,  or  whether  it  should  be  suffered  to  pass  uncontra¬ 
dicted  among  the  other  thousand  inventions  with  which  the  public  is  amused 
at  the  expense  of  individual  character. 

A  more  explicit  and  complete  denial  could  hardly  be  penned.  Nev¬ 
ertheless  some  of  the  journals  that  opposed  him  professed  to  doubt  it, 
or  sought  to  explain  it  away  as  a  prevarication.  He  remarked  laugh¬ 
ingly  in  conversation:  “I  always  knew  it  was  unwise  to  notice  a 
newspaper  slander,  but  this  was  so  utterly  false,  and  could  be  met 
with  so  absolute  a  denial,  that  I  departed  from  my  custom  and  wrote 
a  contradiction.  The  result  showed  that  my  rule  was  a  correct  one, 
for  instead  of  accepting  the  denial  as  conclusive,  the  opposition  papers 
next  day,  befogged  it  with  a  column  of  absurdities,  and  then  put  over 
it  the  heading  in  great  black  capitals,  6  Another  Letter  from  William 
H.  Seward  !  !  ’  ‘  Further  Developments  !  !  ’  ” 

The  gentleman  to  whom  the  forgery  was  addressed,  was  emphatic 
in  denouncing  it,  and  after  a  few  weeks  of  angry  discussion  it  was 
forgotten.  But  it  had  served  its  turn.  It  had  deceived  many  for  a 
time. 

Meanwhile  the  Electoral  Colleges  met  at  the  several  State  capitals 
and  formally  elected  the  new  President  and  Vice-President.  Congress 
received  President  Polk’s  last  message,  and  proceeded  to  business. 


92 


GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS. 


1 1343. 


The  session,  though  short,  was  a  busy  and  excited  one.  The  pro-slav¬ 
ery  men  were  desirous  to  secure  the  new  territorial  governments  before 
the  incoming  of  the  new  Administration,  which  they  could  not  hope 
to  find  as  favorable  to  their  projects  as  the  existing  one. 

Mr.  Greeley  had  been  elected  to  Congress  from  a  New  York  dis¬ 
trict  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term.  It  was  impossible  that  he  could 
be  a  member  of  that  body,  without  attracting  marked  attention  by  the 
originality  of  his  views,  and  his  independent  methods  of  action.  He 
never  rose  in  his  place  that  all  eyes  were  not  turned  toward  him,  and 
all  ears  expectant  of  some  innovation.  Usually  they  were  not  disap¬ 
pointed.  Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

Washington,  December  4,  1848. 

I  am  here  in  the  city  of  the  politicians.  The  atmosphere  is  as  balmy  and 
bright  as  summer.  It  is  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  Congress,  and  there  is 
a  smile  on  every  face.  I  am  locked  in  my  room  among  briefs. 

You  will  have  received  from  Baltimore  my  denial  of  the  Herald  forgery ;  I 
excuse  you  for  thinking  it  might  be  genuine.  The  story  was  so  plausibly 
told  that  I  had  some  doubts  whether  I  had  not  written  it  in  my  sleep. 

December  7,  1848. 

I  am  living  close  in  my  rooms  in  study,  and  willingly  avoid  fashion  and 
political  circles. 

Greeley  is  doing  himself  most  ungracious  service  by  trying  to  reform  Con¬ 
gress  all  at  once.  He  wont  let  them  adjourn  until  three  o’clock,  and  martyrizes 
himself  five  or  six  times  a  day,  by  voting  against  the  whole  House.  I  am 
sorry,  but  who  can  reason  with  him? 

December  10,  1848. 

All  the  excitement  of  this  world  clusters  now  on  points  remote  from  Wash¬ 
ington.  The  Presidential  election  in  France  and  the  gold  rivers  in  California 
surpass  in  interest  even  Greeley’s  reform  in  Congress,  or  the  cabinet  work  of 
the  reporters  in  Washington.  Truman  Smith  is  much  with  us.  He  inclines 
to  the  belief  that  the  popular  opinion  will  prevail  on  the  Chief  to  call  one  or 
both  of  the  C’s  to  the  Cabinet,  and  that  neither  would  refuse;  he  says  “that 
he  shall  speak  his  mind  freely  to  the  Chief,  if  he  gets  a  chance,  and  that  he 
shall  write  to  Kentucky  advising  C.  to  remain  where  he  is.”  Yesterday  I  rode 
to  Georgetown  with  Mr.  Hilliard.  I  have  not  seen  Butler  King  except  on  the 
streets. 

December  12,  1848. 

I  heartily  wish  I  was  away  from  this  place,  and  yet  I  suppose  any  place  in 
New  York  would  be  hotter  for  me.  There  is  a  shamelessness  that  ambition 
wears  here,  that  is  disgusting.  Every  man  you  meet  of  either  party  accosts 
you  about  your  own  supposed  interests  and  invites  communication,  I  suppose  with 
the  same  boldness  that  he  is  accustomed  to  advocate  his  own  claims,  to  places 
that  should  be  conferred,  not  sought.  One  cannot  keep  out  of  consultation 
about  the  Cabinet,  and  if  he  feels  as  I  do,  that  he  knows  something  of  the 


1848.] 


CABINET  GOSSIP. 


93 


principle  upon  which  such  things  ought  to  be  done,  he  is  pretty  certain  to 
learn  that  agencies  are  at  work  which  may  mislead,  but  of  which  it  seems  use¬ 
less  to  speak. 

I  spent  last  night  in  a  free  conversation  with  Corwin  of  Ohio,  a  man,  as  you 
had  taught  me,  to  be  loved  and  cherished. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  lie  wrote: 

Washington,  December  10,  1848. 

After  preparing  my  brief  for  the  motion  I  hope  to  reach  on  Friday,  I  be¬ 
stowed  myself  for  three  days  upon  a  review  of  the  President’s  message.  When 
the  first  of  my  essays  was  ready  for  the  National  Intelligencer ,  I  began  to  doubt ; 
and  by  the  time  the  second  was  half  finished  I  became  satisfied  that  it  was  not 
wise  or  becoming  for  me,  at  this  juncture,  and  at  my  present  time  of  life,  to 
seek  the  pleasures  or  fame  of  Junius.  I  threw  the  result  of  my  labors  aside,  and 
have  since  applied  myself  to  prepare  a  speech  to  the  Education  Society  of 
Baltimore,  in  harmony  with  my  customary  studies  and.  mode  of  action. 

Yesterday  I  went  out  with  Mr.  Davis  of  Portland  to  make  calls.  We  called 
at  Mr.  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll’s;  at  Judge  Mayer’s;  at  Mr.  Bodisco’s;  at  Mr. 
Duer’s.  On  our  return  from  Georgetown  we  left  cards  for  Mrs.  Madison  and 
paid  our  respects  to  Mrs.  Polk  at  the  White  House,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reverdy 
Johnson,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Justice  McLean,  to  the  family  of  Judge  Crunch, 
and  to  Mrs.  Hamilton  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Holley. 

Thus  ended  my  round  of  visits  number  one.  I  know  not  when  I  shall  re¬ 
new  it;  but  I  wish  you  could  be  here  to  assist  me  in  performing  a  duty  so  little 
to  my  taste. 

My  long  absence  has  banished  from  my  mind  all  continuity  of  events  at  home. 
You  must  not,  however,  fall  into  any  fears  of  my  going  off  to  California,  al¬ 
though  I  certainly  do  begin  to  think  that  this  new  wind  from  there  must  bring 
some  reviving  influence  upon  all  decayed  fortunes. 

All  is  conjecture  here,  as  yet,  concerning  General  Taylor’s  action  when  he 
comes. 

Sunday  Morning. 

Here  is  a  midsummer  sun  pouring  down  rays  that  almost  scorch.  Surely 
the  world  is  growing  more  congenial!  A  Whig  party  dominant,  El  Dorado 
discovered  at  last,  and  perpetual  summer!  I  have  finished  the  second  revision 
of  the  speech  I  have  to  make  at  Baltimore.  The  labor  upon  that  task  has  made 
me  a  prisoner,  for  this  is  the  worst  of  all  places  for  study.  I  snatch  from  so¬ 
ciety,  that  courts  the  idle,  even  the  time  to  write  to  you. 

4  o'clock,  P.  M. 

The  end  of  this  dying  Administration  is  very  “  stale,  flat  and  unprofitable.” 
Hope  likes  upon  the  advent  of  General  Taylor.  One  of  our  friends  has  gone 
home  satisfied  that  he  has  made  General  Taylor's  Cabinet,  settled  the  slavery 
(piestion  forever,  and  secured  his  own  appointment  as  foreign  minister.  He 
has  probably  to  make  the  discovery,  two  or  three  months  hence,  that  he  has 
accomplished  neither  the  one  or  the  other. 

Of  news  from  Albany  I  have  nothing  in  detail.  Accounts  voluntarily  sent 
me  from  various  persons  concur  with  what  is  said  by  those  who  ought  to  know, 


[1848. 


U4  “THE  TRUE  GREATNESS  OF  OUR  COUNTRY.” 

that  the  pitiful  allegations,  that  I  was  personally  active,  and  my  friends  busy, 
have  reacted,  and  that  all  will  go,  as  those  who  are  perhaps  too  partial  to  me, 
desire.  Obliged  to  remain  here  all  this  time,  and  occupied  very  differently 
from  what  was  represented  by  the  '“agitators,”  I  have  gone  into  the  labor  of 
preparing  a  speech  to  be  delivered  at  Baltimore,  which  I  hope  will  serve  that 
purpose.  I  have  written  T.  W.  that  generosity  forbids  that  I  should  be  con¬ 
tent  with  leaving  the  V.  P.  to  fall  into  the  snare  that  was  laid  for  his  feet  by 
his  pretended  friends;  I  would  save  him  if  I  could. 

December  21,  1848. 

Mr.  Webster  has  returned  to  his  former  tone  of  kindness,  and  more;  Judge 
McLean  comes  back  to  me  with  his  wonted  benignity;  and  I  see  all  around  me 
evidences  of  much  more  respect  and  kindness  than  I  met  here  before.  The 
revolution  of  the  political  wheel  has  brought  the  state  of  things  which  I  have 
been  preparing  for;  and  it  is  now  seen  and  acknowledged  that  my  crime  was 
foreseeing ,  not  making  it. 

I  take  along  some  things  for  the  children,  which  will  serve  for  New  Year’s 
gifts,  although  I  thought  to  have  St.  Nicholas  be  the  distributor  of  them. 

A  note  to  Weed  said: 

» 

Our  friend,  Mr.  Gott,  has  thrown  the  House  into  a  commotion  on  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  to-day.  The  Whigs  have  not  yet  had  a 
caucus;  I  shall  endeavor  to  influence  some  gentlemen  to  look  to  this  matter. 

This  was  a  resolution  of  Mr.  Gott  of  Onondaga  county,  New  York, 
directing  the  proper  committee  to  introduce  a  bill  abolishing  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District.  Seward  did  what  he  could  to  strengthen  the 
hands  of  the  Whig  members,  but  the  measure  was  defeated. 

The  oration  before  the  Society  of  young  men,  in  Baltimore,  was 
delivered  on  the  evening  of  the  22d,  to  a  large  audience.  Its  subject 
was  the  “True  Greatness  of  Our  Country.”  As  the  title  imported,  it 
was  a  philosophical  essay  on  the  resources,  capacities,  character  and 
destiny  of  the  United  States  as  a  nation.  Based  upon  the  same  line 
of  thought  as  his  oration  on  the  “  Elements  of  Empire,”  at  Union  and 
Amherst  in  1844,  it  elaborated  the  subject,  with  illustrations  drawn 
from  later  experience. 

“That  address  has  cost  some  study,  Governor,”  said  one  of  his 
friends. 

“Yes,  and  perhaps  the  people  who  think  I  am  spending  my  time  in 
miserable  intrigues  for  my  own  advancement  will  see  that  I  have 
enough  else  to  occupy  it.” 

“  Not  they,”  was  the  reply,  “  they  believe  you  can  do  that,  and  this 
too,  and  have  plenty  of  time  left  for  other  mischief  besides.” 

A  genial  letter  came  from  his  old  friend  Buggies,  congratulating  him 
on  it,  and  saying  : 


184S.] 


IIIS  DOMINANT  IDEA. 


95 


Tlie  sage  and  solemn  Dr.  Johnson  somewhere  says  “that  of  every  man’s 
-work  one  is  best  and  one  is  worst”  I  may  not  have  seen  the  icorst  of  yours,  but, 
in  my  honest  judgment,  the  recent  discourse  in  Baltimore  has  not  been,  and 
cannot  be,  surpassed  even  by  its  author.  Every  living  friend  of  the  American 
Union  owes  you  an  eternal  obligation  for  the  impressive  moral  picture  of  Se¬ 
cession  brooding  in  its  “pent-up  Utica, ” lonely  and  lost  amid  decay  and  deso¬ 
lation,  while  the  great  encompassing  American  World,  the  whole  boundless 
continent  is  ours.  It  deserves  to  be  printed  in  letters  of  fire,  and  hung  on  every 
hill-top  south  of  the  Potomac. 

Seward  had  always  a  fondness  for  philosophic  reflection.  The  habit 
of  generalization  grew  upon  him,  and  he  loved  to  deduce  abstract 
truths  in  regard  to  classes,  rather  than  to  study  peculiarities  of  indi¬ 
viduals.  Perhaps  this  trait  led  him  to  say  “that  he  loved  the  theory 
of  the  law,  but  detested  its  practice.”  But  political  studies,  in  their 
enlarged  sense,  were  his  favorite  ones.  The  comparison  of  the  experi¬ 
ences  of  States,  parties,  and  communities;  the  general  principles  which 
govern  their  action;  the  indications  which  they  give  of  a  general  law 
of  progress  during  extended  periods,  and  the  opportunities  they  offer 
for  ameliorating  the  .condition  of  mankind,  were  themes  he  especially 
liked. 

Though  many  of  his  speeches  were  extemporaneous,  he  preferred, 
when  time  allowed,  to  write  out  the  substance  of  any  discourse  he  was 
to  deliver.  This  he  would  re-write  and  amend  up  to  the  hour  of 
speaking,  but  having  written  it,  he  took  no  pains  to  commit  it  to 
memory.  Indeed  it  had  become  difficult  for  him  to  learn  any  thing 
by  rote,  even  a  quotation.  The  process  of  writing  would  fix  the  lead¬ 
ing  ideas  of  the  speech  in  his  mind.  Then  leaving  the  manuscript  at 
home,  he  would  take  with  him  only  brief  notes  of  heads.  When  he 
rose  to  speak  he  would  proceed  with  the  chain  of  reasoning  in  the  or¬ 
der  that  he  had  written  it,  but  often  in  quite  different  language,  add¬ 
ing  fresh  arguments  or  illustrations.  As  he  used  to  describe  it  him¬ 
self,  he  “  wrote  one  speech  and  then  delivered  another  and  better  one.” 
Doubtless  this  habit  of  oratory  grew  up  during  his  practice  at  the  bar, 
where  the  brief  of  legal  points  or  notes  of  the  testimony  served  as  heads 
for  the  argument.  Addresses,  however,  such  as  this  discourse  on  the 
“  True  Greatness  of  Our  Country,”  and  his  orations  on  Adams  and 
O’Connell,  were  prepared  in  extenso  for  the  press  before  delivery. 

The  key-note — the  leading  idea  paramount  to  all  others  in  his  politi¬ 
cal  philosophy — was,  that  the  American  Union  was  an  agency,  destined 
first  to  elevate  the  condition  of  its  own  citizens,  and  then,  by  its  moral 
influence,  to  remodel  the  governments  of  the  world. 


[1849. 


96 


THE  “MACOMBER  LETTER.” 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1849. 

At  Auburn.  News  from  Albany.  The  “  Macomber  Letter.”  Washington  iu  the  Inter¬ 
regnum.  The  Legislative  Caucus.  Election  to  the  United  States  Senate.  His 
Acceptance.  Chase  a  Senator.  Ur.  Nott’s  Counsel. 

At  the  State  Capitol  in  Albany,  Governor  Fish  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Patterson  took  the  oath  of  office,  and  Amos  K.  Hadley  was 
elected  Speaker  of  the  Assembly.  In  the  lobbies  and  at  the  hotels  the 
chief  subject  of  discussion  was  the  coming  election  of  a  United  States 
Senator.  Tbe  “  Macomber  Letter,”  as  it  was  called,  was  a  fruitful 
topic,  both  for  those  who  denounced  it  as  a  forgery,  and  those  who 
affected  to  believe  it  genuine.  Writing  to  Weed,  Seward  said: 

Auburn,  January  2,  1849. 

New  Year’s  and  the  snow-storms  have  suffered  nothing  to  make  its  way  so 
far  into  the  interior,  less  important  than  the  election  of  Napoleon,  the  abdica¬ 
tion  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  or  the  first  message  of  Governor  Fish.  I  have 
read  that  document  with  great  satisfaction.  The  spirit  and  the  tone  remind 
me  of  better  days  than  these.  I  predict  for  Hamilton  Fish  a  successful  and 
honorable  administration.  Of  news,  I  have  no  supply.  It  is  not  generated 
here.  We  have  no  account  of  the  organization,  but  I  infer  that  nothing  was 
done  to  check  the  disposition  of  the  Whig  members  to  settle  down  into  mutual 
confidence. 

I  am  engaged  in  studying  briefs  that  accumulated  during  my  long  absence, 
and  have  little  time  to  examine  Mr.  Collier’s  manifesto,  if  he  shall  honor  me 
with  its  perusal.  I  cannot  conjecture  of  what  stuff  the  dream  was  made  that 
drove  him  wild. 

January  4. 

I  received  last  night  Mr.  Collier’s  letter.  Mr.  Macomber’s  story  is  that  about 
the  1st  of  December  last,  in  the  business  office  of  the  Express,  at  Buffalo,  S.  C., 
Hawley  came  in  with  a  letter  in  his  hand.  After  talking  about  the  Cattarau¬ 
gus  members,  Hawley  handed  the  letter  to  Macomber,  saying  it  was  from 
Governor  Seward.  It  was  addressed  to  Hawley  and  Clapp,  but  inclosed  in  an 
envelope  addressed  to  Hawley.  Macomber  read  and  copied  these  words:  “  Col¬ 
lier  must  be  defeated,  or  our  influence  with  the  Administration  will  be  curtailed. 
You  must  look  to  your  members,  and  see  the  members  from  Chautauqua  and 
Cattaraugus,  if  possible.  I  think  Patterson  will  take  care  of  Chautauqua.” 
Mr.  Macomber  certifies  the  extract  on  honor,  and  will  make  affidavit  if  neces¬ 
sary. 

I  find  it  only  difficult  to  answer  in  the  right  temper.  I  think  I  have  done  so. 
I  will  send  you  the  whole  correspondence  to-morrow,  foi*  your  use.  As  a 
matter  of  curiosity,  I  should  like  to  know  what  Hawley  says  to  this  strange 
story;  what  is  it  made  out  of,  if  out  of  any  thing  ? 


1849.] 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  CAUCUS. 


97 


Jan.  7. 

I  have  a  note  from  Mr.  Hawley.  He  had  no  letter  at  all  from  me  since 
August.  These  circumstances  of  date,  etc.,  fix  the  fact  of  the  error.  For 
myself,  I  thought  it  unbecoming  to  do  more  than  simply  to  deny,  without 
going  into  any  form  of  argument. 

At  Washington  speculation  was  rife  a3  to  the  probable  policy  of  the 
new  Administration,  and  Congress.  Meanwhile  the  “extenders  of 
the  area  of  slavery”  were  at  work  to  accomplish  what  they  could, 
while  they  had  the  power.  The  debates  were  sharp  and  prolonged. 
The  air  was  full  of  rumors  about  the  new  Cabinet,  and  the  streets 
and  hotels  were  full  of  office-seekers,  prepared  to  “  take  Time  by  the 
forelock,”  whenever  he  should  present  that  appendage.  Seward,  on 
his  arrival,  wrote: 

Washington,  Jan.  24,  1819. 

Washington,  which,  when  I  began  to  frequent  it  three  years  ago,  presented 
novelties  and  attractions,  has  become  dull  enough ;  and  while  I  am  waiting 
for  a  hearing  in  the  court,  time  hangs  heavily  on  my  hands.  I  forbear  to 
write  about  what  is  going  on  at  Albany.  There  are  some  chances  that  letters 
might  miscarry,  and  private  letters,  even  to  you,  would  not  protect  them¬ 
selves.  Besides,  you  probably  get  news  from  Albany  as  direct  at  least,  and 
perhaps  as  minute,  as  I  can  give.  This  one  thing  I  can  say,  that  for  myself, 
I  am  indifferent,  I  would  not  complain  one  word  if  injustice  were  to  flourish 
over  me.  My  responsibilities  would  be  less;  my  capacity  for  usefulness  un¬ 
diminished,  and  my  ultimate  strength  increased.  I  am  interrupted  so  con¬ 
tinually,  that  I  will  not  attempt  to  continue  this  letter  further. 

To  Weed,  he  wrote: 

Jan.  26,  1849. 

You  are  not  to  suppose  me  solicitous  on  the  subject  that  drags  me  so  un¬ 
pleasantly  before  the  public.  I  have  looked  at  it  in  all  its  relations;  and  cannot 
satisfy  myself  that  it  would  be  any  better  for  me  to  succeed  than  to  be  beaten. 

It  has  risks  that  I  am  not  rash  enough  to  provoke.  There  would  be  no  risk, 
as  I  view  it,  in  letting  the  faction  achieve  just  the  triumph  over  me  that  it 
seeks.  I  abide  the  result  with  no  painful  anxiety,  and  shall  meet  it  with 
equanimity.  I  judge  that  Washington  is  full  of  missives  from  Albany.  Mr. 
Hunt  says  “  he  has  received  three  or  four  this  morning,  urging  him  to  accept 
a  nomination,”  etc.  Do  not  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that  this  affair 

alarms  or  disturbs  me. 

\ 

Summoned  again  to  Orange  county,  he  passed  a  day  in  New  York. 
In  the  evening,  dispatches  came  from  Albany,  announcing  the  opening 
proceedings  of  the  legislative  caucus;  and  before  retiring,  he  wrote  to 
Weed: 

Astok  House,  Thursday  Evening. 

I  shall  be  at  Albany  on  Wednesday  night,  unless  Judge  Conkling  tells  me 
by  telegraph  from  Washington,  that  he  wants  me  there.  If  he  should  do  so, 
7 


98 


ELECTED  TO  THE  SENATE. 


[1S49. 


I  shall  hold  the  obligation  to  a  neighbor  and  friend  paramount  to  all  others. 
We  have  had  only  the  informal  ballot,  but  that  is  sufficient.  Grinnell,  Draper, 
Hall,  Blatchford  and  Webb  have  been  with  me  all  the  evening.  Good  night, 
with  congratulations,  it  would  be  trifling,  to  say  thauks. 

The  news  swiftly  followed  him  that  the  Whig  legislative  caucus 
had  nominated  him  for  Senator.  The  opposition  had  concentrated  on 
Mr.  Collier,  only  to  be  defeated.  A  pamphlet  had  been  laid  on  the 
desk  of  each  member,  in  which  old  accusations  against  Seward  were 
raked  up,  and  new'  ones  added,  to  prove  him  to  be  an  unfit  candi¬ 
date.  It  evinced  ingenuity,  but  its  effect  was  blunted  by  bad  taste 
and  temper.  Instead  of  working  him  injury,  it  rather  strengthened 
him;  and  certainly  added  stimulus  to  the  efforts  of  his  friends.  Three 
days  later,  the  two  Houses  made  the  formal  election.  He  wrote  home: 

Washington,  Feb.  9,  1849. 

Driven  by  adverse  winds,  quite  back  to  this  point,  from  which  I  started. 
The  newspapers  have  given  me  so  bad  a  character,  that  I  am  regarded  with 
alarm  and  apprehension.  This  general  impression  only  amuses  me;  for  I  think 
that  I  shall  prove  as  gentle  a  lion  as  he  who  played  that  part  before  the  Duke, 
in  the  “Midsummer  Night’s  Dream.”  It  is  something,  however,  to  have 
won  the  respect  of  the  country  even  in  this  strange  way.  The  Herald  only  is 
read  south  of  Mason’s  and  Dixon’s  line.  I  am,  of  course,  regarded  with  actual 
fear,  but  yet  not  with  disrespect,  by  the  congregated  people  here.  The  tre¬ 
mendous  power  that  sends  me  here  wins  the  respect  of  those  who  wish  me  far 
hence.  I  am  not  endeavoring  to  overcome  their  prejudices.  But  I  tremble 
when  I  think  of  the  difficulty  of  realizing  the  expectations  which  this  canvass 
has  awakened  in  regard  to  my  abilities. 

But  I  will  venture  to  hope  that  I  may  not  prove  altogether  unworthy  of  the 
confidence  and  friendship  which  has  called  me  into  this  responsible  place. 

One  more  hurried  visit  to  Auburn  was  made  to  set  bis  affairs  in 
order,  before  returning  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  office. 
From  there  he  wrote  his  acceptance,  addressed  to  the  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly: 

Auburn,  Feb.  19,  1849. 

I  accept  the  office  of  Senator  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  with 
sincere  devotion  to  the 'public  service,  and  with  profound  gratitude  for  the 
confidence  reposed  in  me  by  the  Legislature. 

Three  weeks  later  came  the  intelligence  that  the  Ohio  Legislature 
had  also  chosen  a  new  Senator  —  one  who  held  opinions  in  regard  to 
slavery  in  accord  with  Seward.  This  was  his  former  associate  m  the 
Van  Zandt  trial,  Salmon  P.  Chase. 

Among  the  many  letters  of  congratulation  on  his  election,  none  re¬ 
tain,  at  the  present  day,  such  interest  and  significance  as  that  from 
the  old  preceptor,  Dr.  Nott. 


1849.  J 


AS  SENATOR  ELECT. 


99 


Union  College,  February  14,  1849. 

No  one  congratulates  you  with  more  cordiality  than  your  old  instructor,  on 
your  election  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  this  not  merely  on  your  own 
account,  but  on  account  of  the  American  public,  and  the  interests  of  humanity 
the  world  over. 

To  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  you  are  bound  to  submit  —  to  give 
even  the  “ pound  of  flesh,”  if  “expressed  in  the  bond.”  But  beyond  this  no 
one  is  bound ;  and  beyond  this  you  can  never  conveniently  go.  Here,  for 
humanity’s  sake,  for  consistency’s  sake,  you  must  take  your  position,  and  stand 
or  fall;  abide  the  issue.  It  is  by  the  defense  of  free  principles,  of  the  poor 
man’s  rights,  that  you  have  become  what  you  are.  Your  future  rise  or  fall 
must  depend  on  your  adherence  to  your  principles,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of 
those  principles.  You  can  never  win  the  confidence  of  the  ultra-Conservatives. 
They  will  desert  yon,  or  put  you  down,  whenever  it  shall  be  in  their  power. 
Your  growth  depends  on  the  growth  of  the  principles  you  have  advocated, 
and  with  which  your  interests  are  identified.  Will  these  principles  abide  and 
increase?  Many  wise  men  think  not.  I  am  not  of  the  number.  Whether  for 
better  or  for  worse,  Freedom  will  onward  —  at  least  I  think  so.  But  whether 
it  will  or  not,  you  have  no  way  but  to  continue  its  calm,  courteous,  but  unflinch¬ 
ing  advocate.  Wfith  you  the  die  is  cast  —  you  have  crossed  the  Rubicon  — 
and  there  is  no  recrossing  it.  Whether  you  will  be  able  to  bring  the  party 
with  which  you  have  acted  (up  or  down,  shall  I  call  it?)  to  the  standpoint  you 
have  taken,  I  know  not;  but  some  party  will  be  brought  there,  and  it  will 
become  the  predominant  party;  and  with  such  a  party  only  can  you  be  in 
harmony.  Yours  truly, 

E.  NOTT. 


CHAPTER  All. 

1849. 

Going  to  Washington  as  Senator-Elect.  Albany  Greetings.  Governor  Fish.  Vice-Presi¬ 
dent  Fillmore.  The  Tide  of  Office-Seekers.  Meetiug  with  President  Taylor  and  his 
Family.  Cabinet-Making.  The  Home  Department.  The  Walker  Amendment.  A 
Night  Session  of  the  Senate.  The  Fourth  of  March.  The  Inauguration. 

Toward  the  close  of  'February,  Seward  was  on  his  way  to  Washing¬ 
ton,  as  Senator-elect.  His  letters  describe  the  opening  of  that  new 
and  eventful  series  of  years  passed  in  official  life  at  the  Capitol.  Paus¬ 
ing  a  day  at  Albany,  he  wrote: 

Albany,  February  25,  1849. 

I  have  had  a  busy  season.  I  was  met  immediately  on  my  arrival  by  greet¬ 
ings,  intermingled  with  solicitations  for  favor,  which  gave  me  no  time  even 
to  change  my  toilet  for  the  evening,  after  a  loug  day’s  ride.  I  broke  from  the 
throng  at  nine  o’clock.  When  released,  I  fell  into  Weed’s  hospitable  mansion, 


100 


MEETING  GENERAL  TAYLOR. 


[1849. 


where  such  old  friends  as  Whittlesey,  Benedict,  and  others  received  me  at  a 
supper  of  oysters  and  prairie  chickens.  I  slept  from  one  until  seven  yesterday 
morning.  Clients  had  each  an  audieuce  on  business,  and  then  I  spent  the 
remaining  morning  hours  in  the  Assembly  and  Senate  chambers,  receiving  the 
kind  congratulations  of  the  members,  and  expressing  to  them,  as  well  as  I 
could,  the  acknowledgments  due  them.  The  Governor  had  very  kindly  made 
a  dinner  for  me,  at  which  he  gathered  some  personal  friends.  To-morrow  I 
go  to  New  York.  Mr.  Fillmore  has  gone  before  me.  General  Taylor  has 
already  arrived.  I  shall  fall  into  the  flood  or  upon  it  at  its  highest  tide. 

Astor  House,  Tuesday  Morning. 

Thus  far  on  my  way  to  Washington,  I  find  myself  floating  on  a  strongly- 
increasing  tide  of  people,  who  hinder,  annoy,  and  embarrass  each  other.  The 
world  seems  almost  divided  into  two  classes,  both  of  which  are  moving  in  the 
same  direction;  those  who  are  going  to  California  in  search  of  gold,  and  those 
going  to  Washington  in  quest  of  office. 

How  many  adventurers  are  preparing  themselves  for  disappointment,  re¬ 
venge,  and  misanthropy!  Happily,  however,  these  are  not  the  whole  or  the 
mass  of  society.  The  great  whole  of  society  is  quiet,  content,  and  happy  in 
the  mediocrity  -which  is  safety. 

Washington,  February  27,  1849. 

At  last  I  am  here,  after  a  journey  of  two  days  and  nights  from  Albany. 
All  the  world  is  in  Washington,  and  the  rest  are  coming.  There  is  every  thing 
to  be  done,  nothing  can  be  done,  and  there  is  no  time  to  do  any  thing.  I 
have  seen  the  lions — General  Taylor,  his  daughter  Betty,  and  the  Secretary  of 
State  that  is  to  be.  If  you  had  ever  seen  Colonel  Taylor,  I  could  make  you 
understand  his  elder  brother,  the  President.  He  is  the  most  gentle-looking 
and  amiable  of  men.  Every  word  and  look  indicate  sincerity  of  heart,  even 
to  guilelessness.  He  was  kind  to  me,  recognized  me,  and  inquired  without 
art  about  my  son  Augustus.  His  daughter  is  pretty,  unaffected,  and  sensible. 
Between  you  and  myself,  exclusively,  the  Cabinet  was  virtually  made  before  I 
arrived  here,  and  I  think  before  General  Taylor  reached  the  Ohio.  Nothing 
is  wanted  of  me  but  acquiescence.  Advice  would  be  uncomfortable  when  it 
is  too  late;  therefore,  it  will  not  be  given.  But  I  shall  find  seasonable  occa¬ 
sion  to  explain  wherein  I  think  it  unwise.  If  I  tell  you,  you  will  know  more 
than  the  world  will  know  here,  perhaps,  when  you  read  this  letter.  Therefore, 
the  necessity  of  confidence.  Clayton,  Secretary  of  State;  Meredith  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Abbott  Lawrence,  of  the  Navy;  Crawford 
of  Georgia,  War,  and  Ewing  of  Ohio,  Postmaster-General.  Mr.  Fillmore  and 
I  have  begun  to  agree.  I  hope  we  may  continue.  We  go  to  Mrs.  Polk’s  last 
levee  to-night. 

Writing  to  Weed  on  the  same  day,  after  informing  him  of  the  prob¬ 
able  composition  of  the  Cabinet,  he  added: 

Washington,  February  27,  1849. 

Mr.  Fillmore  and  I  went  together  to  discuss,  and  both  together  learned  that 
it  was  too  late.  Of  course  Mr.  Crittenden  advised  all  this,  and  of  course  his 


1S49.J 


CLOSE  OF. POLK'S  ADMINISTRATION. 


101 


advice  was  at  once  honest,  misconceived,  and  erroneous.  General  Taylor  re¬ 
lied  upon  it  implicitly.  Judge  for  yourself  about  the  Administration.  There 
is  a  fund  of  good  nature,  patriotism,  and  integrity  in  the  President;  that  is 
our  hope.  General  Taylor  receives  company  from  six  in  the  morning,  and 
goes  everywhere,  and  will  disoblige  nobody.  The  Inaugural  has  not  yet  been 
seen,  but  it  may  be  to-morrow. 

Washington,  March  1,  1849. 

I  have  talked  alone  with  General  Taylor  half  an  hour  to-day.  He  was  frank 
and  confiding.  All  was  not  only  settled,  but  he  was  committed  before  I  came. 
At  the  instance  of  Mr.  Fillmore  and  myself,  he  has  agreed  (private)  that  if  the 
“Home  Department”  Bill  passes,  Truman  Smith  shall  have  it,  and  if  he  de¬ 
clines,  shall  nominate  the  Minister.  This  is  much.  Truman  Smith  will  not 
accept  it;  nevertheless,  the  compliment  will  quiet  much  dissatisfaction,  and 
he  will  nominate  Caleb  B.  Smith.  I  cannot  now  doubt  that  if  I  had  been 
here  earlier  I  would  have  prevented  the  waste  that  has  been  made;  but  com¬ 
mittals  had  been  given.  There  is  some  soreness  here,  but  it  is  being  assuaged. 
While  I  am  writing,  we  are  endeavoring  to  procure  a  temporary  continuance 
of  California  laws  in  California.  Mr.  Clayton  and  Mr.  Ewing  are  also  frank, 
open,  and  confiding  toward  me.  You  will  see  what  strength  persons  opposed 
to  our  views  will  probably  derive  from  any  favor  that  the  Vice-President  may 
entertain  for  them.  Thus  far  we  go  together  consistently,  but  we  discuss  only 
distant  or  negative  questions.  I  have  stipulated  for  time  and  inaction  concern¬ 
ing  Marshals,  Postmasters,  District  Attorneys,  and  there  I  leave  these  matters. 

The  Inaugural  is  negative  and  general.  I  shall  see  it  to-night. 

And  to  Mrs.  Seward  he  wrote: 

Washington,  March  1,  1849. 

They  have  left  me  just  no  time  to-day  to  write  to  you.  I  have  been  busy  in 
smoothing  some  difficulties  about  the  Cabinet  which  ought  not  to  have  occurred. 
General  Taylor  gave  me  a  long  interview  and  talked  with  me  confidentially  and 
frankly.  lie  is  a  sensible  and  sagacious  man,  but  uninformed  about  men ,  and 
will  fail  to  obtain  a  Cabinet  politically  strong.  It  remains  to  be  seen  how  far 
honesty  and  the  very  purest  and  most  exalted  patriotism  will  cover  the  defect 
of  political  sagacity.  He  has  far  higher  intellectual  merit  and  acquirements 
than  we  have  supposed. 

Mrs.  Polk’s  last  levee,  last  night,  was  crowded  to  suffocation ;  I  spared  my¬ 
self  the  pleasure  of  being  in  it.  I  have  more  than  a  hundred  letters  lying 
around  me;  and  the  applicants  for  office  take  me  from  nine  until  I  leave  the 
house  at  eleven.  Thus  far  Mr.  Fillmore  and  1  go  along  together. 

March  2,  1849. 

As  the  session  and  administration  draw  to  a  close  the  anxieties  about  the 
next  begin.  The  jealousies  incident  to  the  formation  of  a  new  Cabinet  have 
disclosed  themselves,  and  gentlemen  who  a  week  ago  thought  themselves  above 
fear  or  care,  are  now  willing  to  receive  aid  and  even  sympathy.  I  have  be¬ 
come  already  quite  well  acquainted  with  General  Taylor;  and  the  more  I  see 
of  him  the  more  I  admire  his  purity  and  excellence  of  motive,  and  the  more  I 
respect  his  discretion.  I  went  this  morning  to  see  John  M.  Clayton. 


102 


THE  WALK  EE  AMENDMENT. 


[1849. 


(( 


>) 


March  3,  1849. 

The  crowd  increases.  They  ask  even  ten  or  fifteen  dollars  a  day  for  rooms, 
from  those  whose  misfortune  it  is  to  be  homeless.  The  telegraph  will  convey 
the  Inaugural  to  you  before  you  will  receive  this.  It  is  brief  and  general. 

General  Taylor  is  going  to  be  Whig  enough,  and  has  not  the  least  idea  that 
he  has  ever  done  or  said  any  thing  to  justify  his  being  classed  among  the 
doubtful.  Mr.  Webster  has  called  to  see  the  General,  and  the  visit  flattered 
the  hero  much.  He  seems  very  frank.  On  Monday  night  the  jewels  of  the 
metropolis  will  be  in  full  blaze. 

To  Weed  lie  wrote: 

Washington,  March  3,  1849. 

This  is  the  dying  day  of  the  Polk  Administration  —  the  Administration  of  war 
and  conquest  and  glory.  Will  the  people  be  content  with  the  duller  monotony 
of  peace,  and  with  an  Administration  that  wakes  up  no  popular  enthusiasm, 
and  pursues  only  a  career  of  civil  improvement?  I  think  they  will  have  a 
chance  to  try  this  experiment. 

I  read  the  Inaugural  last  night.  It  is  well  enough.  The  people  want  short 
speeches  and  generalities.  The  Cabinet  are  all  here  to-day. 

In  these  closing  days  of  the  session  one  of  the  appropriation  bills 
was  going  back  and  forth,  like  a  shuttle-cock,  between  the  two 
Houses;  because  the  Senate  had  appended  to  it  a  “rider/’  known  as 
the  “Walker  Amendment,”  of  which  the  effect  would  be  to  abrogate 
the  Mexican  laws  against  slavery  in  California  and  New  Mexico.  It 
was  necessary  that  the  Appropriation  Bill  should  pass,  but  highly 
desirable  to  disembarrass  it  of  its  obnoxious  burden.  Seward  at  once 
exerted  himself  to  aid  those  who  were  trying  to  accomplish  this  result, 
and  at  last  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  House,  by  a  slender  ma¬ 
jority  of  seven,  adopt  a  substitute,  proposed  by  R.  W.  Thompson  of 
Indiana,  which  provided  that  the  existing  laws  should  be  maintained 
and  preserved. 

March  4,  1849. 

I  remained  last  night  at  the  Capitol,  to  witness  the  expiring  scene  of  a  Con¬ 
gress  of  the  United  States.  The  slavery  question,  or  rather  the  question  of 
extending  slavery  to  California  and  New  Mexico,  had  been  raised,  by  amend¬ 
ment  to  an  Appropriation  Bill  in  the  Senate.  The  Senate,  true  to  the  South, 
had  insisted.  The  House  of  Representatives,  adhering  to  the  principles  of  the 
“  Wilmot  Proviso,”  refused  to  concur.  The  committee  of  conference  reported 
that  they  could  not  agree.  The  House  maintained  its  stand  resolutely,  and  the 
question  of  the  night  was  whether  the  Senate  should  yield.  The  Southern 
party,  finding  the  Senate  likely  to  yield,  determined  to  prevent  concession  by 
factious  and  violent  opposition.  The  grave  men  of  the  Senate  looked  on  with 
sorrow  and  shame  upon  a  scene  of  vulgarity,  not  even  excluding  personal  ren¬ 
counter.  At  last,  at  five  o’clock,  generous  counsels  prevailed;  the  Senate  re¬ 
ceded,  and  the  contest  was  at  an  end. 


1849.] 


TAYLOR  INAUGURATED. 


103 


It  was  near  broad  daylight  when  I  left  the  Capitol,  and  I  gathered,  in  the 
stormy  debate,  no  poppies  to  spread  upon  my  pillow.  While  these  things  were 
going  on  at  the  Capitol,  I  was  for  a  time  in  discussion  with  the  President  and 
Secretary  of  State,  for  the  true  political  interest  of  the  North,  in  the  appoint¬ 
ment  for  a  Minister  of  the  Home  Department,  to  be  bestowed  on  New  England. 
It  brought  me  into  a  long  account  of  the  Mexican  war,  from  the  President, 
which  revealed  him  to  be  a  man  of  strong  feelings  and  lasting  sense  of  injuries. 

I  was  determined  not  to  begin  my  new  course  of  life  with  neglect  of  public 
worship;  so  I  roused  myself  to  the  effort  and  went  to  Dr.  Butler’s  church, 
where  I  heard  a  sermon  from  him.  Washington  is  full  to  overflowing.  It  is 
impossible  to  get  quietly  through  the  streets  or  the  passages  of  the  hotels. 
There  is  music  and  the  noise  of  the  stormy  waves  of  the  multitude  all  around 
me,  and  the  city  resembles  a  vast  camp.  It  is  painful  to  think  that  near  all 
the  throng  assembled  are  attracted  by  hopes  of  office,  which,  of  course,  must 
be  disappointed.  It  is  thought  the  Senate  will  not  sit  longer  than  a  week. 
I  shall  stay  here  some  days  later.  You  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  I  am 
going  in  April  or  May  to  Charleston  to  argue  a  cause.  I  desire  to  see  the 
Southern  capital,  and  the  “chivalry  ”  at  home. 

To  Mr.  Weed  lie  added: 

March  4,  1849. 

Clayton  is  becoming  confidential  with  me,  and  General  Taylor  improves  in 
favor;  I  brought  him,  Truman  Smith,  and  Corwin  together,  and  him  and 
Reverdy  Johnson  together. 

I  witnessed,  with  shame  and  sorrow,  the  turbulent  and  factious  scenes  in 
the  Senate,  which  the  newspapers  will  describe.  The  House  of  Representatives 
has  saved  General  Taylor’s  administration  from  the  Senate’s  “  Walker  Cali¬ 
fornia  Amendment.” 

Reverdy  Johnson  for  Attorney-General  is  very  well.  I  hope  that  the  Ad¬ 
ministration  will  have  sense  enough  to  let  Truman  Smith  name  the  New  Eng¬ 
land  Minister.  The  South  proscribes  him  and  Caleb  B.  Smith,  and  the  President 
yields.  If  conciliatory  Whigs  are  to  be  proscribed  by  the  South,  what  would 
they  not  do  with  you  and  me,  if  they  had  us  in  their  power? 

On  the  day  of  my  return  to  public  life,  after  a  long  ostracism,  I  recall  with 
fresh  gratitude  your  persevering  and  magnanimous  friendship. 

The  4th  of  March  came  on  Sunday,  and  the  ceremony  of  Inaugu¬ 
ration  was,  therefore,  postponed  until  the  next  day. 

March  5,  1849. 

The  ceremonial  is  over  and  the  pageant  has  passed  by. 

It  was  simple  and  sublime,  this  change  of  power  from  one  magistrate  elected 
by  the  people,  to  another  chosen  by  the  same  power.  The  Inaugural  meets  all 
expectations,  and  Mr.  Fillmore’s  speech  was  right  and  beautiful. 


104 


WASHINGTON  IN  1849. 


[1S49- 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1849. 

Washington  in  1849.  A  Southern  City.  The  Senate  Chamber.  Fellow  Senators.  Sew¬ 
ard’s  First  Speech.  Collamer  and  Calhoun.  Vice-President  and  Senator.  Distri¬ 
bution  of  Patronage.  Averting  Party  Discord. 

Washington,  in  1849,  was  a  town  of  about  forty  thousand  in¬ 
habitants.  It  was  in  its  least  attractive  stage.  The  rural  beauty  of 
its  youth  wras  gone;  the  tasteful  elegance  of  its  maturity  had  not  yet 
come.  It  was  still  the  city  of  “  Magnificent  Distances.”  Little  else 
about  it  was  magnificent.  The  white  fronts  of  the  Capitol  and  the 
Executive  Mansion  gleamed  through  surrounding  foliage,  at  each  end 
of  the  avenue;  the  substantial  Post-Office  building,  and  the  long 
colonnade  of  the  Treasury  looked  finished  and  imposing.  The  old 
brick  edifices  for  State,  War,  and  Navy  Departments  were  still  stand¬ 
ing.  The  Smithsonian  was  gradually  rising  out  of  a  chaos  of  brick 
and  freestone.  There  was  a  maze  of  broad,  unpaved  streets,  dusty 
in  summer,  muddy  in  winter,  along  which  were  scattered  detached 
houses  or  straggling  rows  of  buildings.  Lamps  were  few.  Houses 
were  not  numbered,  and  the  visitor  who  wanted  to  find  a  residence 
had  to  depend  upon  the  hack-drivers;  whose  method  of  memory 
seemed  to  be,  that  each  person  lived  “just  a  little  way  from  ”  some¬ 
where  else. 

Though  the  capital  of  the  Nation,  it  was,  in  all  social  and  indus¬ 
trial  aspects,  a  Southern  town.  The  slave-pen  and  the  auction-block 
were  prominent  on  a  public  thoroughfare.  Many  families  owned 
slaves,  whom  they  used  for  domestic  service,  or  “hired  out”  to  per¬ 
form  it  for  others;  the  owner  receiving  the  slave’s  wages.  Society 
looked  upon  “Abolition”  with  dread  and  disgust.  Congressmen  who 
talked  anti-slavery  could  not  always  be  ignored;  but  those  of  them  were 
received  with  most  favor,  in  drawing-rooms,  who  were  thought  to  be 
least  earnest  in  debate. 

The  Senate  Chamber  of  that  period  was  the  room  afterward  taken 
by  the  Supreme  Court.  Semicircular  in  form,  graceful  in  propor¬ 
tions,  with  its  dark  marble  columns  and  crimson  hangings,  it  had 
a  certain  air  of  stately  dignity,  more  impressive  to  the  spectator  in 
the  narrow  gallery,  than  the  spacious,  easy,  comfortable  Chamber  of 
the  present  day.  When  Seward  crossed  its  threshold,  and  walked  up 
the  main  aisle,  to  take  the  oath  of  office  and  his  senatorial  chair,  lie 
saw  around  him  the  faces  of  his  new  associates.  Some  have  since 
risen  to  fame;  some  fallen  into  obscurity;  but  nearly  all  have  now 


THE  CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON  IN  1849, 


LIBRARY 
Of  iv £ 
ilNlVERsHY  Or 


slU 


I’lA,  ! 

J .  ^ 


1849.  J 


HIS  FIRST  SPEECH. 


105 


passed  away.  Some  were  already  famous.  On  the  right  of  the  main 
aisle  were  to  be  seen  the  massive  head  and  great  deep-set  eyes  of  Web¬ 
ster;  the  tail  and  courtly  figure  of  Clay;  the  dark  but  genial  face  of 
Corwin;  the  white  head  of  “Honest  John  Davis;”  the  calm  and  cau¬ 
tious  visage  of  John  Bell;  the  scholarly-looking  head  of  Berrien;  the 
tall  forms  of  Mangum  and  Dayton;  and  the  merry  smile  of  John  P. 
Hale.  On  the  left,  the  portly  form  of  General  Cass,  the  late  Presi¬ 
dential  candidate;  the  towering  bulk  of  General  Houston,  ex-President 
of  Texas;  the  classic  head  and  genial  face  of  Colonel  Benton;  the 
long,  gray  locks  and  sharp,  attenuated  features  of  Calhoun;  the  erect, 
slender  figure  of  Jefferson  Davis;  the  swarthy,  foreign-looking  face 
of  Pierre  Soule;  the  energetic,  black-clothed  ‘‘Little  Giant”  Douglas; 
the  dark,  curling  locks  of  Hunter,  and  the  silver-haired,  familiar  faee 
of  his  own  colleague,  Dickinson. 

At  the  time  of  his  entrance  upon  his  senatorial  duties,  Seward  was 
not  yet  forty-eight  years  old.  His  appearance  was  still  youthful. 
His  eye  was  bright,  and  step  elastic.  The  “red  hair”  had  taken  a 
brownish  tinge;  but,  as  yet,  hardly  a  touch  of  gray.  He  usually 
dressed  in  a  plain  black  suit.  His  manner  was  urbane,  gentle  and 
cheerful,  and  his  characteristic  equanimity  did  not  desert  him,  even  in 
the  storms  of  senatorial  debate.  Some  of  his  friends  began  to  address 
him  in  conversation  as  “  Senator,”  on  his  coming  into  his  new  place. 
But  the  title  never  seemed  to  adhere  to  his  name,  like  the  old  and 
more  familiar  address  “  Governor.”  That  was  the  customary  one  with 
old  friends  all  his  life. 

•  As  a  new  Senator,  Seward’s  choice,  among  seats,  was  limited  to  such 
as  were  vacant.  He  selected  one  on  the  Whig  side,  but  soon  after 
relinquished  it  to  oblige  Mr.  Clay,  and  took  the  chair  on  Clay’s  right 
hand  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  back  or  outer  row  of  chairs.  This, 
however,  had  some  advantages;  it  was  remote  from  the  noisy  main 
entrance,  and  conveniently  near  the  private  door,  for  conferences  with 
friends  or  visitors.  The  Senate  Chamber  was  not  so  large  but  that 
every  member  could,  without  difficulty,  catch  the  eye  of  the  presiding  . 
officer,  and  be  heard  in  debate.  Seward  liked  the  place  so  well  that 
he  retained  it  during  most  of  his  senatorial  term. 

The  session  of  the  Senate  was  merely  for  Executive  business  ;  action 
upon  the  appointments  of  the  new  President,  etc.  But  opportunity  for 
his  “maiden-speech”  was  not  lacking.  Among  the  Cabinet  nomina¬ 
tions  was  that  of  Judge  Collatner  of  Vermont,  and  the  Southerners 
raised  against  it  the  objection  that  he  was  an  “Abolition  Whig.”  On 
that  point  nobody  doubted  that  the  new  Senator  from  New  York  was 
qualified  to  speak.  He  argued  in  behalf  of  Collamer’s  confirmation 


106 


FIRST  SPEECH  IN  THE  SENATE. 


[1849. 


without  disguise  of  his  own  anti-slavery  sympathies,  but  temperately 
and  with  such  convincing  proofs  of  the  “  nationality  ”  and  “  patriotism” 
of  the  nominee,  that  the  objections  were  withdrawn  or  overruled,  and 
the  nomination  was  confirmed.  He  wrote  to  Weed: 

Senate  Chamber,  March  3. 

I  tried  the  firmness  of  my  legs  yesterday  in  Executive  session  in  answer  to 
Mr.  Calhoun  on  the  confirmation  of  Mr.  Collamer  for  Postmaster-General.  It 
was  equal  to  what  was  expected,  aiid  that  was  enough.  Davis  of  Massachu¬ 
setts,  Hale,  and  Chase,  and  Dawson  of  Georgia,  and  I  believe  Badger,  were  all 
alike  satisfied  with  my  positions,  which  were,  the  right  to  entertain  and  de¬ 
bate  extreme  opinions,  without  proscription  and  with  fidelity  to  the  Union. 
On  the  whole  I  was  satisfied  with  myself,  and  Fillmore  says  I  was  safe.  It  is 
cheering  to  see  how  frankness  and  boldness  can  win  respect.  They  found  me 
“ultra,”  yet  “conservative.”  Davis  says  he  will  stand  with  me,  and  bring 
about  a  healthier  tone  of  debate. 

I  am  receiving  kind  expressions  all  around  upon  my  debut .  I  “stop  the 
press  ”  to  say  this,  for  I  write  among  so  many  interruptions  that  I  can  keep  no 
continuous  story. 

Seward  and  Fillmore,  meeting  at  the  Capitol  at  Albany,  as  members 
of  the  Legislature  of  1831,  were  political  associates  before,  as  well  as 
after,  the  organization  of  the  Whig  party.  Friendly  personal  relations 
existed  between  them,  and  for  a  dozen  years  there  was  no  marked 
divergence  in  their  political  views.  After  the  territorial  questions  came 
up,  however,  Seward’s  outspoken  opposition  to  slavery  led  the  more 
radical  members  of  the  Whig  party  to  look  to  him  as  their  leader; 
while  the  more  conservative  naturally  inclined  to  array  themselves 
behind  Mr.  Fillmore,  as  being  at  least  more  cautious  and  reserved  on 
the  dangerous  topic. 

How,  when  both  were  coming  to  Washington,  the  one  as  Vice- 
President  and  the  other  as  Senator,  eager  aspirants  for  office  were 
looking  to  each  for  support.  At  this  period,  the  anti-slavery  element, 
being  the  stronger  in  numbers,  claimed  and  gave  direction  to  party 
action,  in  State  conventions  and  legislative  caucuses.  Apprehensive 
that  the  strife  for  place  might  give  rise  to  party  discords,  Seward  and 
Fillmore  met  at  Weed’s  house  in  Albany,  before  going  to  Washington, 
had  a  frank  interchange  of  views,  and  a  consultation  about  their  fu¬ 
ture  course.  When  they  separated,  it  was  in  the  hope  and  belief  on 
the  part  of  all  three,  that  prudence  and  considerate  action  would  en¬ 
able  them  to  “keep  the  peace.”  But  once  arrived  in  Washington, 
Fillmore  found  that  many  of  his  especial  friends  and  followers  wanted 
foreign  missions,  consulates,  and  places  in  post-offices,  custom-houses, 
and  courts;  and  not  only  wanted  them  very  much,  but  looked  to  him 
to  exert  all  the  influence  of  his  higrh  office  to  obtain  them.  On  the 


1849.] 


VICE- PRESIDE  NT  AO  SENATOR. 


107 


other  hand,  like  aspirants  were  looking  to  Seward  for  like  help,  and 
deemed  that,  as  they  were  the  majority  of  the  party,  the  demands  of 
the  minority  were  inordinate  and  unreasonable.  General  Taylor,  at 
the  outset  of  his  Administration,  naturally  relying  upon  his  Vice-Pres¬ 
ident,  made  several  appointments  at  his  suggestion,  which  increased 
rather  than  diminished  the  growing  discontent.  Weed’s  and  Seward’s 
letters  to  each  other  during  March  and  April  on  this  subject,  evinced 
the  anxiety  with  which  they  were  endeavoring  to  save  the  party  har¬ 
mony,  without  undue  disappointment  to  their  followers  and  friends. 
In  one,  Seward  remarked: 

W AsniNGTON,  March  10. 

Mr.  F.  cannot  now  agree  to  any  thing  but  that  he  and  I  shall  go  together  to 
the  Secretary  and  each  name  a  candidate  for  Marshal.  Truman  Smith  and 
Edward  Curtis  are  engaged  in  putting  things  right,  and  will  report  to  me  if 
possible.  The  Cabinet  is  not  unfavorable,  but  timid  in  their  conduct  between 
F.  and  myself.  General  Taylor  has  got  out  by  casting  all  responsibility  on  the 
Cabinet. 

Thus  ends  the  first  week.  It  has  been  as  hard  as  the  first  week  in  Albany, 
with  the  additional  embarrassment  of  having  every  movement  hampered  and 
defeated  by  a  counteracting  agency. 

The  idea  of  the  V.  P.  being  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  has  expired  noiselessly. 
Another  week  may  work  out  other  conclusions,  which  seem  to  me  equally 
inevitable. 

Another  week  brought  an  adjustment,  which,  if  not  a  final  settle¬ 
ment  of  the  question,  was  at  least  a  great  relief  to  the  President  and 
Cabinet,  and  popularly  acceptable.  This  was  a  determination  to  con¬ 
sult  the  Whig  State  Government  at  Albany,  in  regard  to  candidates 
for  Federal  offices.  Communications,  more  or  less  formal,  from  lead¬ 
ing  Whigs  at  Albany,  expressed  a  willingness  to  assume  that  responsi¬ 
bility.  Seward  wrote: 

March  24. 

Well!  The  beginning  has  been  successful  beyond  anticipation.  Things  have 
ripened  until  suspicion  has  given  place  to  confidence,  and  weakness  to  strength. 

The  V.  P.  is  bland  as  ever.  The  Cabinet  are  sound,  the  Senators  wise,  and 
there  is  as  yet  no  ascertained  way  up  stairs  through  the  kitchen  of  the  White 
House. 

The  V.  P.,  with  inimitable  naivete ,  has  inquired  of  me  when  I  would  leave 
the  city,  saying  that  he  should  leave  when  I  should  take  my  departure,  so  as 
to  prevent  the  jealousies  of  our  friends ,  respectively.  I  shall  go  home  next 
week.  Let  Governor  Fish  now  write  to  me  when  you  have  any  advice  to  give 
the  Cabinet.  Some  of  the  members  take  that  point  with  great  respect.  It  is 
the  State  Administration  at  Albany  that  is  to  be  strengthened,  and  the  Gover¬ 
nor  is  its  acknowledged  head.  This  saves  the  necessity  of  deciding  between 
the  V.  P.  and  the  Senator. 


108 


OLD  WORLD  REVOLUTIONS. 


[184!). 


March  29. 

The  Intelligencer  of  to-morrow  will  contain  my  vindication  of  General  Tay¬ 
lor  on  the  “Free  Soil”  question.  It  was  approved  in  full  Cabinet,  the  Presi¬ 
dent  presiding,  in  my  presence,  and  ordered  printed.  All  trouble  is  at  an  end. 
I  shall  have  much  to  tell  you.  Something  about  the  Boston  matters,  etc. 

To  Lieutenant-Governor  Patterson,  lie  wrote: 

March  29. 

Your  letter  came  with  the  general  epistle.  This  latter  finishes  every  thing. 
All  was  ripe  for  it.  It  was  read  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  before  the  Presi¬ 
dent  and  Cabinet,  assembled  in  my  own  presence.  All  were  satisfied  and 
gratified.  New  York  rose  up  before  them,  a  great,  unanimous,  confiding 
Whig  State.  You  cannot  imagine  how  grateful  I  am,  nor  how  effectually  this 
seasonable  step  has  removed  all  difficulties.  Every  member  of  the  Cabinet 
breathed  more  freely. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1849. 

Old  World  Revolutions.  Free  Schools.  Life  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  Southern  Trip. 
Charleston  Hospitality.  Judge  Wayne.  Disunionism.  Death  of  S.  S.  Seward.  A 
Month  at  Florida.  His  Executorship.  The  Institute.  Old  Letters.  A  Railroad  to  the 
Pacific.  Closing  up  Law  Business.  Pennsylvania  Whigs  and  Clayton.  The  Premier¬ 
ship. 


In  1849,  the  Old  World  seemed  to  be  marching  in  the  road  toward 
Republicanism.  The  Emperor  of  Austria  had  abdicated.  The  Pope, 
though  he  had  commenced  a  career  of  reform,  had  been  unable  to 
keep  up  with  the  demands  of  Italian  reformers.  Revolution  had 
broken  out  in  Rome,  and  he  had  fled.  Louis  Napoleon  had  been 
elected  President  of  the  French  Republic,  and  it  was  fondly  predicted 
that  his  peaceful  and  Republican  career  would  rival  the  martial  and 
monarchical  one  of  his  uncle. 

California  was  still  debatable  ground,  but  a  flood  of  emigrants  from 
the  free  States  was  pouring  into  it  by  sea  and  land.  Fresh  gold  dis¬ 
coveries,  in  a  hundred  different  localities,  were  attracting  new-comers, 
and  a  Provisional  Government  was  talked  of.  In  New  York,  amoiw 
the  notable  enterprises  on  foot,  was  a  railway  company  to  build  a  line 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Another  companv  was  already  dig¬ 
ging  and  blasting  for  a  track  up  the  east  bank  of  the  Hudson  river. 
At  Albany,  the  law  was  passed  establishing  free  schools  throughout 
the  State. 


1849.] 


DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


109 


At  home  once  more,  Seward  was  preparing  for  his  Southern  trip. 
A  literary  labor  was  just  approaching  completion.  This  was  a  life  of 
John  Quincy  Adams.  He  had  begun  it  at  the  request  of  Derby, 
Miller  &  Co.,  shortly  after  delivering  the  eulogy  of  the  previous  year, 
hoping  always  to  find  leisure,  which  never  came.  He  worked  upon  it 
at  intervals  during  his  multiplied  engagements.  When  at  last  he  was 
called  to  new  and  engrossing  duties  at  Washington,  it  was  evident 
that  he  would  have  no  time  to  finish  it.  So  it  was  agreed  with  the 
publishers  to  call  in  the  aid  of  Rev.  John  M.  Austin  of  Auburn,  who, 
with  such  materials  and  suggestions  as  Seward  could  give  him,  took 
up  the  work  and  soon  had  it  ready  for  the  press.  In  April  it  was 
issued,  and  had  an  extended  sale. 

The  last  week  in  April  found  him  on  his  way  southward.  Pausing 
a  day  at  Washington,  to  see  the  President  and  his  brother,  Colonel 
Taylor,  he  then  took  the  steamer  down  the  Potomac.  Arriving  at 
Charleston  on  the  28th,  he  remained  there  nearly  a  fortnight,  attend¬ 
ing  the  Circuit  Court  held  there  by  Mr.  Justice  Wayne.  His  letters 
home  described  the  progress  of  his  cases  and  arguments  in  the  “hot 
court-room, ”  and  dwelt  with  pleasure  upon'the  “genial  hospitality” 
he  found  in  Charleston.  He  met  at  dinners  and  parties,  the  Petigrus, 
Kings,  Duncan,  Rhett,  Memminger,  Haines,  and  others,  with  whom 
acquaintance  was  renewed  in  after  years.  He  was  especially  struck 
with  “the  depth  and  hold  which  the  doctrine  of  disunion  seemed  to 
have  gained  ”  upon  leading  minds  in  South  Carolina.  At  Washing¬ 
ton,  disunion  sentiments  were  usually  only  heard  in  the  heat  of  debate. 
But  here  in  Charleston  they  were  discussed  with  philosophic  calmness, 
at  the  dinner  table,  and  the  consequences  to  flow  from  them  “  re¬ 
garded  with  hope  rather  than  dread.” 

Returning  home  in  May,  he  remained  there  during  the  summer, 
except  when  called  to  attend  court  at  Canandaigua  and  Coopers- 
town. 

In  August  he  was  called  to  Florida,  by  intelligence  of  the  illness  of 
his  father.  .  Though  for  some  years  more  or  less  infirm,  and  now  over 
eighty  years  old,  the  elder  Seward  retained  a  stock  of  vigorous  vitality 
that  enabled  him  to  surmount  the  attack.  But  later  it  recurred  and 
ended  in  his  death.  His  descendants,  now  numbering  more  than  a 
score,  gathered  with  friends  and  neighbors  at  the  old  mansion-house 
in  the  little  mountain  village  to  attend  his  funeral.  As  one  of  the 
oldest  residents  of  that  region,  he  was  widely  known.  White-haired 
men  and  women,  from  all  parts  of  Orange  county,  came  to  share  in 
the  obsequies  of  their  contemporary.  His  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pier¬ 
son,  conducted  the  funeral  services  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  where 


110 


AT  FLORIDA. 


[1849. 


lie  had  been  so  long  and  constant  an  attendant.  Then  the  hearse 
moved  slowly  down  the  winding  road,  across  the  meadows,  to  the 
family  vault  in  the  distant  hillside,  which  years  ago  he  constructed 
to  receive  the  remains  of  his  kindred.  Now  its  grated  door  closed 
upon  his  own. 

Seward  remained  for  several  weeks  in  the  paternal  home  attending 
to  family  affairs,  and  to  new  duties  now  devolved  upon  him.  His 
father’s  will  named  him  and  his  kinsman,  George  M.  Grier  of  Goshen, 
executors  and  trustees  of  an  estate  not  inconsiderable  in  amount  and 
somewhat  varied  in  character.  They  were  also  to  take  charge  of  the 
“  S.  S.  Seward  Institute,”  which  had  been  the  favorite  enterprise  of 
the  testator’s  declining  years.  Huge  bundles  of  papers  and  great 
volumes  of  accounts,  all  in  precise  order,  attested  how  methodical  had 
been  the  old  man’s  habits  throughout  a  long  and  energetic  business 
life.  Carefully  tied  and  labeled  files  of  old  family  letters  showed 
his  strong  affection  for  kindred,  nearly  every  one  of  whom  he  had  at 
some  time  helped;  then  chided  and  rebuked;  then  helped  again.  One 
of  the  incidents  of  the  search  through  these  dusty  files  was  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  the  kindly  notes  of  La  Fayette,  inviting  father  and  son  to 
visit  him  at  Lagrange  in  1833,  and  bidding  them  adieu  on  quitting 
Paris.  Another  was  a  sheet  ten  years  older,  but  evidently  preserved 
with  pride,  on  which  in  boyish,  but  ambitious  chirography,  “  Henry” 
was  announcing  his  decision  to  establish  himself  at  Auburn  to  practice 
law. 

While  at  Florida  there  came  a  letter  from  St.  Louis  inviting  him  to 
take  part  in  a  convention  in  favor  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific.  The 
discovery  of  gold  in  California,  the  rush  of  emigrants  thither,  and  the 
hardships  and  delays  encountered  by  them,  had  suggested  the  idea  of 
such  a  railway;  but  the  project  looked  so  gigantic  and  costly  as  to  be 
deemed  visionary  by  prudent  people.  It  was  derided  as  the  “  Moon¬ 
shine  Pailway,”  the  “  Great  American  Desert  Line,”  etc.  Seward  had 
faith  in  its  practicability,  and  in  its  ultimate  necessity.  Unable  to 
attend  the  Convention,  he  wrote  in  reply,  adverting  to  the  almost 
“magical  development”  of  the  Pacific  coast.  He  said  the  streams  of 
emigration  thither,  from  East  and  West,  indicated  that  the  ultimate 
destiny  of  the  United  States  is  to  bring  together,  under  one  popular 
government,  men  of  every  race  and  clime.  He  concluded  by  promis¬ 
ing  “the  most  disinterested  and  diligent  efforts  in  support  of  the 
proposed  enterprise,”  adding  that  “it  ought  not  to  be  left  for  States 
yet  to  be  organized,  and  even  yet  to  be  peopled,  to  construct,  link  by 
link,  the  chain  which  the  Federal  power  ought  to  forge  at  a  single 
blow.” 


1849-’ 50.] 


A  WASHINGTON  HOME. 


Ill 


He  wrote  home: 

United  States  Court-Room,  ^ 

Philadelphia,  October  26,  1849.  \ 

The  city  of  Philadelphia  is  full  of  jealousies  which  are  very  likely  to  disturb 
the  security  of  the  Cabinet  at  Washington  this  winter.  The  opposition  to  Mr. 
Clayton,  Secretary  of  State,  is  very  vigorous  and  revengeful.  They  are  look¬ 
ing  out  for  a  successor  to  supplant  him.  They  seem  to  have  even  supposed 
that  I  was  to  be  used  for  such  a  purpose!  But  fortunately,  if  I  was  weak  in 
virtue  and  in  political  sagacity,  the  post  of  a  minister  and  even  a  premier  has 
no  temptation  for  me. 

October  28. 

Here  we  are  at  the  verge  of  November,  and  of  winter,  and  of  Congress;  and 
I  am  fastened,  apparently  faster  than  ever,  to  this  professional  treadmill. 
Little  has  been  done  to  help  detach  you  and  the  family,  less  to  detach  myself, 
from  home  and  its  cares;  and  nothing  can  be  done  to  qualify  myself  for  the 
arduous  duties  and  immense  responsibilities  of  Congress.  Mr.  Latrobe’s  speech 
yesterday  was  a  master  effort.  I  shall  come  into  the  ring  in  the  course  of  a 
day  or  two.  This  getting  out  of  the  law  goes  very  roughly. 

Astor  House,  November  11,  1849. 

The  Philadelphia  lawyers  left  me  at  twelve  last  night.  I  fought  my  way  out 
to  church  this  morning,  and  w’as  repaid  for  my  energy  by  a  beautiful  discourse 
from  Dr.  Wainwright.  It  was  at  Trinity,  a  place  where  our  service  appears 
most  solemn  and  impressive.  After  church  I  called,  with  a  committee  of  the 
Common  Council,  on  Father  Matthew,  wdiom  I  found  just  what  he  had  been 
described,  a  pure,  benevolent,  plain,  unassuming  man,  of  gentle  speech  and 
great  simplicity  of  manners. 

Now  I  am  going  to  drive  with  Horace  Greeley,  and  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to 
observe  Father  Matthew’s  precepts  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 


CHAPTER’NV. 

1849-1850. 

Residence  in  Washington.  Opening  of  Congress.  The  Contest  over  the  Speakership. 
The  New  York  Delegation.  Disunion  Talk.  The  “Father  Matthew  ”  Debate.  A 
Biographical  Sketch.  Judge  Conkling.  New  Year’s  Day.  Colonel  Benton.  Mrs. 
Hamilton.  The  Hungarian  Struggle.  Governor  Ujhazi.  Land  for  the  Exiles. 
Taylor’s  California  Message.  The  “  President’s  Plan.” 

A  house  in  Washington  was  now  found,  and  hastily  equipped  and 
furnished.  It  was  a  respectable,  unpretending,  red  brick  structure 
on  F.  street,  and  "was  one  of  a  block  of  three  ordinary  city  houses, 
each  twenty-five  feet  wide,  and  all  just  alike.  This  was  his  first  home  - 


112 


OPENING  OF  CONGRESS. 


["1849- ’50. 


in  Washington.  Not  more  than  a  stone’s  throw  from  the  Post-Office, 
and  Patent-Office,  and  the  shops  on  Seventh  street,  it  was  convenient 
for  a  residence,  and  within  walking  distance  of  the  Capitol.  In  the 
adjoining  house  on  the  left,  lived  Mr.  Winder,  the  builder  and  owner 
of  the  great  white  building,  occupied  by  the  offices  of  the  War  Depart¬ 
ment.  On  the  right  lived  Major  Weightman,  then  lately  returned 
from  New  Mexico.  Two  doors  beyond,  was  the  residence  of  Governor 
Crawford  of  Georgia,  the  new  Secretary  of  War.  Seward  had  sent 
down,  from  Auburn,  part  of  his  library,  and  his  writing  chair,  and 
established  his  study  in  the  basement.  Above  were  parlor  and  dining¬ 
room,  with  bed-rooms  in  the  second  and  third  stories.  His  family 
during  the  first  winter  comprised  Mrs.  Seward,  a  son  who  had  just 
graduated  at  college,  and  had  come  to  be  his  father's  private  secretary, 
the  two  younger  children,  also  a  niece,  making  her  first  visit  to  the 
capital,  and  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who  was  now  the  Repre¬ 
sentative  in  Congress  from  the  Albany  district.  He  wrote  to  Weed: 

Washington,  Nov.  30,  1849. 

We  arrived  here  on  Wednesday  evening.  There  is  nothing  wrong  here,  so 
far  as  we  are  concerned  in  New  York.  I  have  seen,  however,  only  the  Presi¬ 
dent,  Mr.  Clayton,  and  Mr.  Ewing. 

The  malcontents  of  the  South  mean  to  be  factious;  and  they  expect  to  com¬ 
pel  compromise.  I  think  the  P.  as  willing  to  try  conclusions  with  them,  as 
General  Jackson  was  with  the  Nullifiers. 

Nov.  30,  1849. 

The  message  will  be  C — ’s.  It  will  be  good,  shorter  than  its  predecessors, 
but  not  short  enough.  It  will  be  Whig  through  and  through,  firm  but  mode¬ 
rate.  Its  contents  have  been  stated  to  me. 

I  have  advised  that  the  Whigs  reject  all  questions  of  candidates;  and 
stand  by  and  fast  to  Winthrop.  The  caucus  comes  off  to-morrow  evening. 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  3d  of  December,  the  flags  were 
hoisted.  The  Thirty-first  Congress  began  its  ses-sion  —  a  session  des¬ 
tined  to  be  long  and  stormy.  It  commenced  with  a  struggle,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  over  the  Speakership.  The  Whigs  had 
renominated  Robert  C.  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts.  The  Democrats 
had  nominated  Howell  Cobb  of  Georgia.  But  neither  party  could 
concentrate  its  full  vote  on  its  candidate.  Five  of  the  Southern 
Whigs  would  not  vote  for  Winthrop.  Some  of  the  Free  Soil  Demo¬ 
crats  would  not  vote  for  Cobb.  As  a  majority  of  the  whole  House 
was  required  to  elect  a  Speaker,  there  was  no  choice.  Anti-slavery 
men  were  baffled.  Southern  men  were  exultant.  Seward  wrote: 

Dec.  3,  1849. 

I  do  not  waste  time  in  telling  you  what  the  telegraph  communicates  to  you. 
You  will  know  about  the  Speakership  long  before  this  can  reach  you.  The 


1849-’50.] 


CONTEST  FOR  SPEAKER. 


113 


gentlemen  of  extreme  opinions  in  the  South  are  preparing  an  issue,  which 
can  have  no  danger  for  the  country,  but  which  will  probably  relieve  the  Ad¬ 
ministration.  The  President  will  be  put  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mason’s 
and  Dixon’s  line;  and  he  will  not  flinch  from  any  duty.  Nothing  is  talked 
of  here  but  this  insane  course  of  the  defenders  of  slavery.  The  honors  and 
rewards  of  compromise  will  be  the  object  of  emulation,  among  several  gen¬ 
tlemen  of  both  parties,  advanced  in  years,  and  desirous  of  being  considered 
conservators  of  the  Union. 

There  will  be  no  need  of  passion  or  of  any  demonstration  on  the  part  of  us 
who,  not  frightened  at  the  attempt  of  disorganization,  mean  to  stand  firm  on 
the  rights  of  California  and  New  Mexico  to  be  free.  I  want  that  we  should 
show  that  the  virtue  of  moderation  belongs  to  us. 

I  have  received  the  Governor’s  excellent  and  noble  letter,  and  shall  answer 
it  as  soon  as  I  can  form  any  opinion  on  the  questions  he  submits  to  me  in  re¬ 
gard  to  the  general  policy  of  the  party  at  home. 

I  gave  up  my  seat  in  the  Senate  to  Mr.  Underwood,  who  relinquished  his  to 
Mr.  Hale,  as  a  consideration  for  his  resigning  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  thus  secured 
his  old  place. 

It  is  quite  important  that  Mr.  Dickinson  should  come  here  with  right  dispo¬ 
sition. 

Washington,  December  4,  1849. 

The  Senate  adjourned,  leaving  the  House  balloting  for  a  Speaker. 

It  is  nor  unlikely  that  the  Democrats  may  attempt  to  break  up  the  Legation 
at  Vienna,  under  pretense  of  sympathy  with  the  revolutionists.  I  incline  to 
support  the  mission  on  the  ground  that  the  American  Republic  owes  it  to  the 
people  of  Europe,  to  be  represented  in  the  most  arbitrary  courts,  to  encourage 
the  hopes  of  Republicans  throughout  the  world. 

Washington,  December  7,  1849. 

Mr.  Schoolcraft  reports  the  delegation  as  being  much  more  nearly  right 
than  we  had  supposed  them  to  be.  You  see  that  the  Whigs,  standing  firm, 
have  caused  their  adversaries  to  break  on  the  Speaker  question. 

December  8,  1849. 

I  detest  and  loathe  this  running  to  the  President  every  day  to  protest  against 
this  man  and  that.  I  went  yesterday  to  Reverdy  Johnson  and  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  and  told  them  that  I  did  not  mean  to  trouble  the  President  unneces- 
sarilv.  I  wish  the  friends  at  home  would  leave  it  so. 

V 

December  9,  1849. 

No  Speaker  yet  and  no  definite  idea  when  there  will  be.  I  have  been  three 
hours  with  Mr.  Clayton,  and  with  Mr.  Meredith. 

Nearly  three  weeks  were  consumed  in  fruitless  attempts  to  effect 
the  choice.  Sixty-two  ballotings  were  taken,  and  between  them  oc¬ 
curred  heated  debates  and  recriminations.  One  day  Mr.  Bowen  of 
Indiana  was  nearly  elected  by  a  hasty  combination,  which  then  col¬ 
lapsed  amid  great  excitement.  At  last,  on  the*  22d  of  December,  it 
8 


114 


[1 849-’ 50. 


the  president’s  plan. 

was  decided  to  let  a  plurality  determine  the  result.  This  elected  How¬ 
ell  Cobb.  So  the  Democrats  had  control  of  the  organization  of  both 
Chambers. 

The  New  York  delegation  in  this  Congress  was  a  strong  one.  Of 
the  thirty- four  New  York  members  the  larger  part  were  Whigs.  Of 
these  Whigs,  at  least  three-quarters  were  in  hearty  political  accord. 
Among  them  were  John  A.  King,  Charles  E.  Clarke,  Harvey  Putnam, 
Elijah  Risley,  0.  B.  Matteson,  John  L.  Schoolcraft,  William  A.  Sack- 
ett,  Elbridge  C.  Spaulding,  and  A.  M.  Schermerhorn,  all  old  personal 
friends.  Among  the  Democrats  was  Preston  King. 

The  House,  as  a  whole,  contained  many  members  whose  names 
were  then,  or  have  since  become  historic.  Massachusetts  had  sent 
Horace  Mann  and  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Pennsylvania,  Thaddeus  Ste¬ 
vens  and  David  Wilmot,  North  Carolina,  Edward  Stanley,  Georgia  had 
sent  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Robert  Toombs,  and  Thomas  Butler  King, 
Alabama,  Henry  W.  Hilliard,  Mississippi,  Albert  J.  Brown  and  Jacob 
Thompson,  Louisiana,  Charles  W.  Conrad,  Ohio  had  Joshua  R.  Gid- 
dings,  David  A.  Carter,  Robert  C.  Schenck,  Samuel  F.  Yin  ton,  and 
Lewis  D.  Campbell,  Kentucky  had  Linn  Boyd,  Tennessee  had  An¬ 
drew  Johnson  and  Frederick  P.  Stanton,  Illinois  had  Edward  D.  Ba¬ 
ker,  John  A.  McClernand,  and  John  Wentworth,  Wisconsin,  Charles 
Durkee,  and  Minnesota,  Henry  K.  Sibley. 

The  Speakership  contest  having  been  settled  on  Saturday,  President 
Taylor,  on  Monday  morning,  sent  in  his  message.  Of  course,  the  part 
most  eagerly  listened  to,  as  it  was  read  from  the  Clerk’s  desk,  was  that 
which  declared  the  President’s  policy  in  regard  to  the  new  territories. 
This  was  sagacious  and  clear.  Shortly  after  his  inauguration,  he  had 
sent  out  to  the  Pacific  coast  Thomas  Butler  King  of  Georgia,  to  invite 
the  people  of  California  and  New  Mexico  to  form  State  Constitutions, 
and  with  them  apply  for  admission  into  the  Union.  This  was  the 
“  President’s  plan,”  and  to  the  ordinary  observer,  it  seemed  to  be  a  much 
more  speedy  and  practicable  plan,  than  either  the  plan  of  “  disunion  ” 
or  the  plan  of  “compromise.”  But  it  was  not  satisfactory  to  those 
who  deemed  an  “  equilibrium  ”  necessary,  between  free  and  slave 
States,  nor  to  those  who  wanted  slavery  extended.  Seward  having 
heartily  concurred  in  the  President’s  invitation  when  it  was  sent,  was 
still  more  heartily  disposed  to  approve  and  defend  its  results,  now 
that  it  had  brought  California  to  the  door  of  Congress  with  a  “  free 
State  ”  Constitution. 

During  the  debates  Southern  feeling  was  manifested  in  expressions 
and  threats  that  created  alarm.  One  Representative  said:  “If  sla¬ 
very  is  to  be  abolished  in  the  District,  or  prohibited  in  the  territories, 


lS49-’50.] 


FATHER  MATTHEW. 


115 


I  trust  in  God,  that  my  eyes  have  rested  upon  the  last  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives/’  Another  said:  “  I  do  not  hesitate  to  own 
before  this  House,  and  the  country,  and  in  the  presence  of  a  living 
God,  that  if,  by  your  legislation,  you  seek  to  drive  us  from  the  terri¬ 
tories,  and  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District,  I  am  for  disunion.”  In 
one  wing  of  the  Capitol,  it  was  said,  that  “  the  day  in  which  aggres¬ 
sion  is  consummated,  on  any  portion  of  the  country,  this  Union  is 
dissolved;”  and  in  the  other  wing,  a  Senator  echoed  that  the  Union 
was  “already  dissolved.”  The  deep  dissatisfaction  which  existed  at 
the  South,  in  view  of  the  possibility  that  slave-holders  might  be  forbid¬ 
den  to  take  their  slaves  to  California,  was  manifested  in  both  Cham¬ 
bers,  nearly  every  day. 

Rev.  Theobald  Matthew,  or  “Father  Matthew,”  as  he  was  familiarly 
called,  had,  by  his  precepts  and  example,  induced  thousands  of  Irish¬ 
men  to  sign  the  temperance  pledge.  Not  only  reclaimed  drunkards, 
and  reunited  families,  but  whole  communities,  held  “  the  Irish  Apostle 
of  Temperance  ”  in  affectionate  esteem.  Crowds  flocked  to  listen  to 
his  preaching.  In  pursuing  his  benevolent  work  he  had  come  to 
America;  and  this  winter  was  visiting  Washington.  A  motion  was 
made,  one  day,  to  invite  him  to  a  seat  within  the  bar  of  the  Senate. 
Probably  no  objection  would  have  been  made,  had  not  somebody  dis¬ 
covered  that  his  name  had  been  appended,  with  that  of  O’Connell,  to 
an  anti-slavery  appeal  to  the  Irishmen  of  America.  Instantly,  fierce 
opposition  was  made  to  the  resolution. 

Seward,  joining  in  the  debate,  defended  Father  Matthew,  saying, 
that  while  his  devotion  to  temperance  was  a  merit,  his  devotion  to  the 
rights  of  man  wTas  an  additional  one.  The  resolution  was  adopted  by 
thirty-three  to  eighteen, —  a  good  many  of  those  who  disliked  it,  not 
caring  to  put  themselves  on  record  against  it.  Writing  to  Weed,  Sew¬ 
ard  said: 

Dec.  27,  1849. 

I  have  received  your  letter  in  which  you  approve  of  my  affair  with  the 
Southerners,  in  Father  Matthew’s  case. 

The  Southern  leader  in  the  Senate  is  morose.  The  others  let  him  take  the 
whole  control.  The  Northern  men  are  tame,  indolent,  pusillanimous.  If  I 
could  show  the  Northern  and  Southern  men  that  I  was  of  different  metal,  and 
yet  not  a  querulous  and  discontented  man,  it  was  well.  I  suppose  you  see, 
that  I  shall  only  be  found  fault  with,  for  working  too  much.  All  outsiders 
come  to  me,  as  an  organ ;  and  the  favor  I  bear,  for  being  true  to  the  President, 
will  make  me  an  object  of  hatred. 

■  Replying  to  Fowler  &  Wells,  of  New  York,  in  reference  to  a  pro¬ 
posed  biographical  sketch,  he  wrote: 


116 


NEW  YEAR'S  DAY. 


riS49-’50. 


Dec.  29,  1849. 

I  feel  sensibly  that  my  life  has  been  spent  in  good  wishes  for  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  mankind;  and  that  I  have  accomplished  very  little  worth  recording. 
What  seem  to  me  the  prejudices  of  ages  that  are  past,  hang  like  a  cloud  upon 
this  generation,  and  prevent  them  from  distinguishing  truth,  justice,  and  free¬ 
dom.  He  who  advocates  these  is  thought  a  disturber,  a  demagogue.  I  do 
not  think  the  opinion  can  be  changed  in  our  day;  aud  I  have  not  been  able 
to  do  any  thing,  to  send  my  name  down  to  a  future  one.  I  have,  therefore, 
resigned  myself  to  misapprehension.  Yet  all  this  neither  affects  my  cheerful¬ 
ness  or  my  resolution  to  persevere. 

Near  tlie  closing  of  the  year,  Seward  presented  a  petition  in  the 
Senate,  for  the  abolition  of  liquors  and  flogging  in  the  U.  S.  Navy. 
He  explained  and  advocated  the  reform  in  a  brief  speech. 

Writing  to  an  old  friend  and  neighbor,  Judge  Colliding,  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  some  of  the  debates,  he  said: 

I  am  alone,  in  the  Senate,  and  in  Congress,  and  about  in  the  United  States, 
alone.  While  adhering  faithfully  to  the  Whigs,  I  dare  to  hold  on  the  dis¬ 
allowed  rights  of  disfranchised  men  and  classes.  I  must  stand  in  that  soli¬ 
tude,  and  maintain  it,  or  fall  altogether.  The  world  is  full  of  men  who  can 
avoid  it  dexterously;  and  they  do  it.  I  would  not  have  their  places,  or  mine, 
at  that  expense.  Hence  I  spoke. 

A  bright,  clear,  crisp,  winter  morning  ushered  in  the  first  New 
Year’s  day  of  Seward’s  Washington  life.  One  of  Mrs.  Seward’s  letters 
narrates  how  the  day  was  spent. 

We  made  but  three  visits  —  first  to  see  Mrs.  Benton.  The  Colonel  was  very 
agreeable.  We  took  a  cup  of  chocolate,  and  were  introduced  to  his  two 
daughters.  From  there  we  drove  to  Mrs.  Adams,  who  did  not  receive.  Then 
wTe  went  to  Mrs.  Hamilton.  Here  I  was  much  interested,  not  only  by  the  lady 
herself,  but  by  the  ancient  furniture  and  pictures  which  decorated  her  rooms. 
Mrs.  Holley,  a  widowed  daughter  who  lives  with  her,  received  us  and  pre¬ 
sented  us  to  her  mother.  She,  though  very  old  (90)  and  very  feeble,  insisted 
upon  rising  to  receive  and  take  leave  of  her  guests.  The  room  was  full  when 
we  went  in,  but  they  soon  withdrew  and  left  us  alone.  Mrs.  Hamilton  recol¬ 
lected  Henry,  and  told  us  many  interesting  things  about  the  furniture  and 
pictures.  The  original  picture  of  Washington  by  Stuart,  a  bust  of  Hamilton, 
a  picture  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hamilton,  a  cake-basket  of  silver  filigree  work 
one  hundred  years  old,  a  table  presented  by  Washington,  and  many  other 
things  were  examined  with  an  interest  which  you  will  easily  conceive. ,  I  re¬ 
turned  home,  and  Henry  went  w*itli  the  young  people  to  the  President’s  and 
all  the  Cabinet.  In  the  mean  time,  I  had  innumerable  calls  at  home,  both 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  according  to  the  custom  here. 

During  the  past  year  Americans  had  watched  with  interest  the 
struggle  of  the  Hungarians  for  constitutional  government.  When 


lS49-’50.  J 


HUNGARIAN  EXILES. 


117 


at  last  the  revolution  was  crushed  by  the  combined  armies  of  Austria 
and  Russia,  and  when  Gorgey  had  laid  down  his  arms,  Komorn  had 
been  captured,  and  Kossuth’s  power  overthrown,  there  were  various 
public  and  private  demonstrations  of  sympathy  in  the  United  States. 
General  Cass  introduced  a  resolution  and  made  a  speech  in  the  Sen¬ 
ate,  suggesting  the  expediency  of  suspending  diplomatic  relations  with 
Austria.  Toward  the  close  of  the  year,  it  had  become  known  that 
Governor  Ujhazi,  and  several  other  Hungarians  of  note,  were  about  to 
seek  refuge  in  America.  Seward  offered  a  resolution  in  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  the  powers  in  “subverting  the  nationality  and  liberties  of 
Hungary,”  and  instructing  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands  to  inquire 
into  the  propriety  of  granting  a  portion  of  public  domain  to  such  ex¬ 
iles.  This  led  to  debate;  Douglas  opposing  the  project  as  making  a 
distinction  between  native  and  foreign-born  citizens;  others  objecting 
that  the  public  lands  “ought  to  be  used  for  the  expenses  of  the  Fed¬ 
eral  Government,”  and  not  “as  a  charity  fund.”  Seward,  in  reply  on 
the  first  point,  said  that,  if  the  question  must  be  raised,  he  was  free 
to  say  that  — 

The  man  who  is  expelled  by  tyranny  from  his  own  land,  in  consequence  of 
an  effort  to  establish  its  nationality  and  independence,  I  give,  in  my  sympa¬ 
thies,  a  preference  over  the  one  who  has  lost  nothing,  done  nothing,  suffered 
nothing,  for  his  own  freedom  or  the  freedom  of  mankind.  Further  than  this, 
I  would  not  go;  and  if  the  Senator  from  Illinois  has  inferred  that  I  have  sym¬ 
pathies  for  men  of  other  lands,  in  preference  to  my  own  countrymen,  he  does 
me  an  injustice. 

As  to  the  other  point,  he  answered: 

I  have  never  been  in  favor  of  making  the  profits  arising  from  the  sale  of 
public  lands  a  source  of  ordinary  revenue  in  the  operations  of  the  government. 
I  have  always  maintained,  and  I  think  I  always  shall  maintain,  that  it  is  a 
great  fund,  the  common  property  of  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States, 
properly  to  be  applied  to  objects  of  great  national  improvement  and  benefi¬ 
cence. 

While  the  question  was  still  pending,  Governor  Ujhazi  and  his 
friends  arrived  in  New  York,  renounced  all  allegiance  to  Austria,  and 
took  the  preliminary  steps  to  become  American  citizens.  Coming  on 
to  Washington,  they  were  presented  to  President  Taylor  and  his 
daughter,  at  one  of  the  Friday  evening  receptions  at  the  White  House, 
where  the  bronzed  features  of  some  and  the  picturesque  costumes  of 
others  attracted  no  little  attention.  Seward  gave  them  a  dinner. 
The  President  invited  them  to  another,  and  various  marks  of  courtesy 
and  welcome  were  extended  to  them  by  people  of  all  parties. 

On  the  21st  the  President  sent  into  Congress  his  special  message, 


118 


clay’s  compromise. 


[1850 


in  reply  to  a  resolution  of  inquiry,  as  to  his  proceedings  in  regard  to 
California  and  New  Mexico.  In  it  he  narrated  his  sending  Thomas 
Butler  King  to  those  Territories  to  inform  their  p>eople  of  his  desire 
that  they  should  form  Constitutions,  and  apply  for  admission  as  States. 
It  was  understood  that  the  Californians,  concurring  in  a  suggestion 
so  much  in  accord  with  their  own  wishes,  had  already  held  a  conven¬ 
tion  and  framed  a  Constitution,  which  was  now  on  its  wav.  In  that 
Constitution  slavery  was  prohibited.  Under  it,  State  officers  and 
members  of  Congress  had  been  elected,  and  the  whole  work  now  only 
lacked  the  sanction  of  Congress. 

The  President’s  plan  was  one  difficult  to  attack,  yet  it  was  not  at  all 
acceptable  to  Southern  men,  who  saw  that  it  would  inevitably  bring 
both  Territories  in  as  free  States.  Various  projects  were  proposed  in 
Congress  to  change  or  delay  this  outcome,  among  them  bills  to  pro¬ 
vide  territorial  governments  for  California,  Deseret,  and  New  Mexico, 
as  well  as  bills  to  change  the  boundary  of  Texas,  and  bills  to  insure 
the  recapture  of  fugitive  slaves.  But  all  these  were  soon  to  be  eclipsed 
by,  or  merged  in,  a  more  imposing  scheme. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1850. 

Clay’s  Compromise.  Personalities  in  Debate.  The  Right  of  Petition.  Southern  Threats. 
Calhoun’s  Forebodings.  Bell’s  Resolutions.  Legislative  Instructions.  Webster’s 
Seventh  of  March  Speech.  Seward’s  California  Speech.  His  Course  Outlined. 


One  day  toward  the  close  of  January,  Henry  Clay  rose  from  his 
chair  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  waving  a  roll  of  papers,  with  dra¬ 
matic  eloquence  and  deep  feeling,  announced  to  a  hushed  auditory  that 
he  held  in  his  hand  a  series  of  resolutions  proposing  an  amicable  ar¬ 
rangement  of  all  questions  growing  out  of  the  subject  of  slavery. 

Read  and  explained  by  its  author  this  plan  of  compromise  was  to 
admit  California,  and  to  establish  territorial  governments  in  New 
Mexico,  and  the  other  portions  of  the  regions  acquired  from  Mexico, 
without  any  provisions  for  or  against  slavery  —  to  pay  the  debt  of 
Texas  and  fix  her  western  boundary  —  to  declare  that  it  was  “inexpe¬ 
dient  ”  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  “expedient  ” 
to  put  some  restrictions  on  the  slave  trade  there,  to  pass  a  new  and 
more  stringent  fugitive  slave  law,  and  to  formally  deny  that  Congress 
had  any  power  to  obstruct  the  slave  trade  between  the  States. 


1850.] 


SENATORIAL  COURTESY. 


119 


( ( 


Upon  this  plan  of  compromise  and  the  modifications  afterward 
made  in  it,  began  that  long  debate,  since  become  historic,  which  en¬ 
grossed  the  attention  of  Congress  and  the  country  for  eight  weary 
months.  At  the  outset,  many  of  those  who  had  threatened  “Dis¬ 
union,”  opposed  “Clay's  Compromise,”  because  it  did  not  go  far  enough, 
while  the  “  Wilmot  Proviso  ”  men  were  equally  resolute  in  opposing 
it,  because  it  went  too  far.  Seward,  with  many  other  Northern  Whigs, 
adhered  to  the  “  President’s  Plan,”  as  being  a  much  more  just  and 
speedy  way  of  solving  the  problem.  Avowing  himself  unterrified  by 
the  threats  of  “  Disunion,”  he  insisted  that  neither  “  Compromise  ” 
nor  the  “Fugitive  Slave  Law  ”  was  necessary,  and  that  it  was  both 
the  right  and  the  duty  of  Congress  to  admit  the  Territories  as  free 
States,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  slave 
trade  between  the  States. 

Southern  feeling  was  predominant  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  as  it  had 
been  for  many  years.  Neither  of  the  two  great  parties  was  opposed  to 
slavery,  and  the  recognized  leaders  of  both  were  men  of  Southern 
birth.  Seward  found  very  early  after  taking  his  seat  among  the  “  con¬ 
script  fathers,”  that  he  was  regarded  as  the  legitimate  object  of  sus¬ 
picions,  sneers,  and  attacks.  His  record  in  regard  to  slavery  was 
studied,  and  it  showed  him  to  have  declared  not  only  for  “  Free  Soil,” 
but  for  emancipation.  That  he  represented  a  great  State,  that  he  was 
a  Whig,  and  a  party  leader,  instead  of  mitigating  his  offense,  increased 
it.  Such  formidable  backing  made  him  more  “dangerous.”  That  he 
had  the  confidence  of  the  President,  and  on  some  topics  spoke  as  by 
authority  for  the  Administration,  excited  jealousies.  Vials  of  wrath 
were  poured  out  upon  him,  when  he  rose  to  speak  on  indifferent  topics; 
and  even  when  he  sat  silently  in  his  chair.  At  one  time  a  Senator  rose 
solemnly  and  in  a  portentous  voice  read  the  passage  from  Seward’s 
Cleveland  speech,  in  which  he  said:  “  Slavery  can  and  must  be  abol¬ 
ished,  and  you  and  I  can  and  must  do  it;”  and  thereupon,  if  a  con¬ 
temporary  newspaper  report  can  be  trusted,  “  a  shudder  ran  through 
his  auditory.” 

If,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  the  arrogant  tone  toward  him  was  at 
all  tempered  by  the  usages  or  courtesies  of  debate,  no  such  limits  re¬ 
strained  those  addressed  to  him  through  the  press  or  the  mail-bag. 
Every  morning  brought  him  scurrilous  anonymous  letters  and  news¬ 
papers  with  marked  articles,  whose  invective  varied  from  that  of 
“  Junius  ”  to  that  of  “  Billingsgate.” 

Northern  readers  were  at  first  surprised  and  puzzled  by  the  amount 
of  vituperation  visited  upon  the  new  Senator  from  New  York.  It 'was 
evidently  unprovoked  by  any  like  utterances  of  his  own,  for  he  never 


120 


VIEWED  FROM  THE  GALLERY. 


[1850. 


dealt  in  personalities.  That  opinions  on  abstract  political  questions 
were  to  be  resented  as  personal  grievances,  or  to  be  controverted  by 
personal  insults,  was  not  so  easy  to  comprehend  north  of  Mason’s  and 
Dixon’s  line  as  south  of  it.  What  the  Northern  farmer  deemed  a 
question  of  philosophy,  politics,  and  philanthropy,  the  Southern  planter 
regarded  as  a  design  to  rob  him  of  his  “property  ”  duly  inherited  or 
bought.  The  Southern  slave-holder  viewed  the  “Abolitionist”  with 
a  dread  and  disgust  akin  to  that  which  the  Western  farmer  has  for 
the  horse-thief.  It  was  believed  by  many  that  the  attacks  upon  Sew¬ 
ard  were  studied  and  preconcerted,  in  order  to  draw  him  into  an  affray 
or  duel.  If  any  such  purpose  was  entertained,  it  was  thwarted  by  the 
philosophic  indifference  with  which  he  listened  to  the  diatribes,  and 
the  calm  composure  with  which  he  adverted  to  them. 

On  one  such  occasion  Mrs.  Seward  happened  to  be  in  the  gallery. 
Describing  the  scene  in  a  letter  to  her  sister  she  said: 

I  spent  the  morning  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  Henry*  said  a  few  words 
about  Austria,  which  drew  upon  him  the  tornado;  not  because  they  cared  what 
he  said,  but  because  one  who  entertained  anti-slavery  principles  should  venture 
to  speak  at  all.  I  wish  you  could  have  heard  the  speeches;  that  which  is  pub¬ 
lished  gives  you  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  violence  or  vulgarity  of  that  which 
was  spoken.  I  amused  myself  by  watching  its  effect  upon  the  different  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Senate.  Henry  looked  the  personification  of  indifference,  with  his 
face  turned  directly  toward  the  speaker. 

Henry  Clay  smiled  occasionally  at  the  sallies  of  wit,  which  were  about  like 
those  we  hear  from  the  clown  at  the  circus.  Daniel  Webster  looked  grave  — 
I  saw  no  muscle  of  his  face  relax. 

The  Vice-President  was  fidgety,  occasionally  grasping  the  little  mallet, 
with  the  intention  apparently  of  interrupting  the  speaker;  then  relaxing  his 
grasp  and  leaning  back  with  a  hopeless  air  as  though  overcome  by  his  per¬ 
tinacity.  Col.  Benton  (who,  by  the  way,  is  one  of  the  finest-looking  men  in 
the  Senate)  must  have  written  over  a  half  of  quire  of  paper,  as  he  never  raised 
his  eyes  or  checked  the  motion  of  his  fingers.  Of  course  the  Democratic  side 
of  the  house  enjoyed  the  speeches  much  more  than  the  Whigs  generally,  and 
this  difference  was  perceptible  also  in  the  listeners  on  the  different  sides  — 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  House  of  Representatives  having  come  in  as  spectators. 

After  the  trial  of  Freeman  you  can  believe  me  when  I  tell  you  that  I  was 
little  moved.  I  speak  truly  when  I  say  that  my  strongest  sentiment  was  con¬ 
tempt  and  pity  for  malice  so  impotent.  Those  who  are  friendly  to  Henry  only 
feared  that  he  might  be  tempted  to  reply.  Even  John  Davis,  who  is  phleg¬ 
matic  enough,  said  that  he  could  not  have  kept  his  seat. 

Much  as  I  love  Henry  I  feel  that  my  love  and  respect  are  both  augmented 
by  his  present  position.  When  I  looked  upon  his  slight  form,  and  thought 
that  it  embodied  the  only  spirit  sufficiently  fearless  to  vindicate  human  rights, 


♦William  Henry  Seward. 


< 


1850.]  HIS  COURSE.  121 

yet  combined  with  a  moderation  and  Christian  charity  which  can  alone  render 

such  efforts  effective,  I  felt  that  it  was  good  for  me  to  be  there,  it  was  a  sight 

calculated  to  make  our  & 

“Faith  more  strong 

In  high  humanity. " 

I  have  no  misgiving  about  the  final  result;  sooner  or  later  the  righteous  cause 
must  prevail. 

Early  in  the  session  Seward  announced  the  rule  which  would  govern 
his  action  in  such  matters.  He  remarked: 

I  assail  the  motives  of  no  Senator.  I  am  not  to  be  drawn  into  personal 
altercations  by  any  interrogatories  addressed  to  me.  I  acknowledge  the 
patriotism,  the  wisdom,  the  purity  of  every  member  of  this  body.  I  never 
have  assailed  the  motives  of  honorable  Senators  in  any  instance.  I  never  shall. 

When  my  own  are  assailed,  I  stand  upon  my  own  position.  My  life  and  acts 
must  speak  for  me.  I  shall  not  be  my  own  defender  or  advocate. 

From  this  he  did  not  swerve  during  his  twelve  years’  senatorial 
career.  One  of  Dr.  JSTott’s  letters  to  him  said: 

I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  do  not  lose  temper;  that  you  do  not  “return  rail¬ 
ing  for  railing;  ”  but  that  no  array  of  talent,  no  manifestation  of  rage  deters 
you  from  speaking  and  acting  as  a  freeman  ought.  You  stand  in  no  need  of  my 
advice,  and  were  I  to  suppose  you  did,  I  should  only  say  “persevere;”  be 
calm,  be  courteous;  just  to  the  South,  but  true  to  your  own  principles. 

His  letters  to  Weed  after  a  visit  from  him,  said: 

Washington,  January  25,  1850. 

I  cannot  agree  that  you  shall  reach  home  before  a  note  from  me  shall  await 
you  there,  thanking  you  most  fervently  for  the  kind,  fraternal  and  wise  counsel 
that  you  gave  me  in  that  parting  interview,  whose  solemnity  I  shall  never 
forget. 

It  was  necessary,  for  I  had  been  tried  in  new  vexations,  and  had  been  con¬ 
founded  with  conflicting  admonitions  and  instructions.  I  now  see  my  way 
clear,  and  from  this  moment  I  shall  devote  my  time,  what  I  can  save  of  it,  to 
a  bold  yet  careful  sketch  of  the  destiny  of  this  country  and  its  races;  and, 
from  that  point,  I  will  demonstrate  the  certain  deliverance  of  the  continent 
from  slavery  to  be  inevitable,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  to  be  impossible. 

This  will  be,  if  possible,  my  first,  and  I  hope  my  only  speech  this  session ; 
and  it  may  be  months  before  I  shall  be  ready  to  make  it. 

Febi'uary  2,  1850. 

Did  it  ever  fall  to  the  lot  of  any  man,  in  such  a  conjuncture  of  his  own  fame 
and  interests,  to  fall  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  such  a  national 
and  legislative  crisis  as  this? 

My  entrance  into  the  Executive  office  in  Albany  bewildered  me,  but  that  ex¬ 
perience  was  nothing  compared  to  my  trials  here.  In  both  cases,  however,  I 
have  enjoyed  your  aid,  and  in  both  the  malignity  of  adversaries  has  done  for 
me  more  than  I  could  do  for  myself.  But  let  this  pass. 


122 


THE  LEGISLATURE  AT  ALBANY. 


[1850. 


This  week  will  be  occupied  with  Southern  demonstrations. 

My  Hungarian  Bill  will  be  defeated. 

February  3,  1850. 

I  saw  the  P.  on  Friday.  I  had  a  good  occasion  and  opportunity.  I  told 
him  that  he  would  get  no  favor  nor  forbearance  from  Congress;  that  faction 
would  run  into  sedition ;  that,  having  saved  the  Union,  he  would  be  re-elected. 

He  understands  lrimself. 

Representing  a  populous  and  busy  State,  Seward,  of  course,  had 
many  petitions  sent  him,  for  presentation  to  the  Senate.  Among 
them  were  some  praying  for  cheap  postage;  some  for  abolition  of  Hog¬ 
ging,  and  grog,  in  the  Navy;  some  for  opening  of  public  lands  to 
actual  settlers;  some  for  mitigating  damages  by  Mississippi  floods; 
one  or  two  for  the  improvement  of  the  Harlem  river;  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  Coast  Life  Saving  Service;  and  an  occasional  one  for  a  rail¬ 
road  and  telegraph  to  the  Pacific.  But  the  great  mass  of  them  were 
for  freedom  in  the  territories,  and  for  trial  by  jury  for  fugitive  slaves. 
All  the  other  petitions  were  received  and  referred  to  committees,  as 
a  matter  of  course.  But  there  was,  for  some  time,  strenuous  opposi¬ 
tion  to  the  inception  of  any  anti-slavery  petitions  whatever.  How¬ 
ever,  the  Senate  at  last  concluded  to  allow  them  to  be  presented;  pro¬ 
vided  they  were  at  once  laid  upon  the  table,  and  not  taken  up  after¬ 
ward.  In  the  course  of  the  debate,  Seward  took  occasion  to  say: 

I  have  never  yet  seen  the  petition  of  auy  human  being  that  I  would  not 
receive;  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  shall.  The  Constitution  imposes  no 
restriction  or  modification  upon  the  right  of  petition.  We  are  not  above  giv¬ 
ing  reasons  to  our  fellow  men.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  not  above 
the  petition  of  the  humblest  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Seward’s  bold  utterances  on  questions  concerning  which  many 
deemed  it  wiser  to  temporize,  led  to  animated  debates  at  Albany.  His 
supporters  in  the  Legislature  introduced  and  advocated  resolutions, 
sustaining  his  course  in  regard  to  the  Hungarian  exiles,  the  rivers 
and  harbors,  and  slavery  extension.  His  opponents  as  warmly  op¬ 
posed  them;  but,  after  a  struggle,  they  were  adopted,  and  sent  on  to 
Washington. 

Governor  Fish,  in  one  of  his  letters,  remarked: 

Our  Democratic  Assembly  finds  a  difficulty  in  the  expression  of  its  senti¬ 
ments  on  the  subject  of  the  extension  of  slavery.  I  think  it  will  find  a  voice, 
although  it  be  late  in  attaining  to  the  power  of  intelligible  articulation. 

Mr.  Clay’s  resolutions,  unsatisfactory  as  they  were,  to  anti-slavery 
men,  at  first  met  with  objections  from  Southern  members.  One 
“  deeply  regretted  the  admission  that  slavery  did  not  exist  in  the  ter- 


1850.] 


caliioun’s  speech. 


123 


ritories.”  Several  would  "never  assent  to  the  doctrine  that  slave¬ 
holders  could  not  go  there,  taking  their  property  with  them.”  Some 
questioned  the  validity  of  the  Mexican  decree,  abolishing  slavery  in 
New  Spain,  and  doubted  the  constitutionality  of  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Congress  to  exclude  it.  Prognostications  and  threats  of  “  dis¬ 
union”  were  freely  made. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  began  to  be  signs  of  a  growing  disposition, 
on  the  part  of  many  Northern  men,  to  give  up  the  “  Proviso  ”  for  the 
sake  of  peace;  and  to  follow  the  lead  of  Mr.  Clay.  Conservative 
Southern  Whigs  were  quite  ready  to  meet  these  half  way.  Seward’s 
position  was  regarded  as  “  ultra”  by  both  classes;  and  it  not  unfre- 
quently  happened  that,  on  questions  in  the  Senate  relating  to  slavery, 
only  three  Senators,  Seward,  Chase,  and  Hale,  would  be  found  voting 
together,  on  one  side,  while  all  the  other  Senators  present  were  ar¬ 
rayed  against  them,  on  the  other. 

Newspapers,  received  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  showed  that  else¬ 
where,  as  well  as  at  the  capital,  the  proposed  compromise  was  an  en¬ 
grossing  topic.  Great  meetings  wrere  held  at  the  North  in  support  of 
it.  State  Legislatures  took  ground,  for  and  against  it.  Fresh  fuel  was 
added  to  the  heated  discussion  by  a  new  “Fugitive  Slave  Law,”  in¬ 
troduced  by  Senator  Mason  of  Virginia,  and  by  the  talk  of  Southern 
Conventions,  and  “Secret  Southern  Caucuses.”  Absurd  rumors 
found  credence.  One  day  there  was  alarm  and  excitement  in  the 
lobbies,  over  a  story  that  the  House  of  Representatives  was  “  to  be 
broken  up  by  Southern  men,  coming  armed  for  contest.”  The  next, 
the  story  was,  that  there  would  be  “no  shooting,”  but  that  the 
Southern  members  would  “  withdraw  in  a  body.” 

California  contributed  her  quota  to  the  excitement  of  the  hour. 
Her  new  Constitution  was  received,  published,  and  commented  upon. 
Dr.  Gwin  and  Col.  Fremont  had  been -chosen  her  first  Senators;  and 
were  on  their  way  to  Washington. 

March  was  an  eventful  month.  Time  enough  had  elapsed  for  each 
Senator  to  receive,  from  the  press  and  people  of  his  State,  their  re¬ 
sponse,  in  regard  to  Clay’s  proposed  compromise.  Resolutions  pro 
and  con  had  come  from  different  Legislatures.  The  great  Castle  Gar¬ 
den  LTnion  meeting,  and  other  similar  gatherings,  had  shown  that 
there  was  a  growing  “  Compromise  ”  feeling  in  the  commercial  cities. 

Each  of  the  leaders  in  senatorial  debate  felt  that  the  hour  had  come 
for  him  to  declare  whether  he  was  for  or  against  it.  Mr.  Bell  of  Ten¬ 
nessee  had  introduced  a  new  series  of  resolutions  similar  in  principle, 
but  differing  in  detail.  Mr.  Calhoun,  though  in  failing  health,  ob¬ 
tained  the  floor  for  a  speech.  Everybody  awaited  it  with  great  inter- 


124 


Webster’s  “seventh  of  march  speech,” 


[1850. 


est,  regarding  him  as  the  acknowledged  exponent  of  Southern  opinion. 
A  short  time  before,  when  the  Vermont  resolutions  wrere  under  con¬ 
sideration,  he  had  said  in  solemn  tones,  felt  at  the  time  to  be  pro¬ 
phetic: 

I  have  long  labored  faithfully  —  faithfully  —  to  repress  the  encroachment  of 
the  North.  At  the  commencement,  I  saw  where  it  would  end,  and  must  end, 
and  I  despair  of  ever  seeing  it  arrested  in  Congress.  It  will  go  to  its  end,  for 
gentlemen  have  already  yielded  to  the  current  of  the  North,  which  they  admit 
here  they  cannot  resist.  Sir,  what  the  South  will  do  is  not  for  me  to  say. 
They  will  meet  it,  in  my  opinion,  as  it  ought  to  be  met. 

He  was  to  speak  again  on  the  4th  of  March.  An  expectant  throng 
filled  the  Senate  Chamber.  His  gaunt  figure  and  attenuated  features 
attested  that  he  had  risen  from  a  sick  bed;  but  his  fiery  eyes  and  un¬ 
shaken  voice  showed  he  had  no  intention  of  abandoning  the  contest. 
In  a  few  words  he  explained  that  his  health  would  not  permit  him 
to  deliver  the  speech  he  had  prepared,  but  that  “his  friend  the 
Senator  behind  him  (Mason)  would  read  it  for  him.”  Beginning  by 
saying  that  he  had  “  believed  from  the  first  that  the  agitation  of  the 
subject  of  slavery  would,  if  not  prevented  by  some  timely  and  effective 
measure,  end  in  ‘disunion,’” — the  speech  opposed  Clay’s  plan  of  ad¬ 
justment;  attacked  the  President’s  plan;  adverted  to  the  growing 
feeling  that  the  South  could  not  remain  in  Union  “with  safety  and 
honor;”  pointed  out  the  gradual  snapping,  one  after  another,  of  the 
links  which  held  the  Union  together,  and  expressed  the  most  gloomy 
forebodings  for  the  future. 

Three  days  later  a  similar,  or  greater,  throng  gathered  to  listen  to 
Webster’s  great  “  7th  of  March  speech,”  which  has  ever  since  been 
recorded  as  marking  an  era  in  his  life.  He  rose  from  his  seat  near  the 
middle  of  the  chamber,  wearing  his  customary  blue  coat  with  metal 
buttons,  and  with  one  hand  thrust  into  the  buff  vest,  stood,  during 
his  opening  remarks,  as  impassive  as  a  statue;  but  growing  slightly 
more  animated  as  he  proceeded.  Calm,  clear,  and  powerful,  his  so¬ 
norous  utterances,  while  they  disappointed  thousands  of  his  friends  at 
the  North,  lent  new  vigor  to  the  “Compromisers,”  with  whom,  it  was 
seen,  he  would  henceforth  act. 

Seward  had  the  floor  for  the  following  Monday.  In  the  morning, 
before  going  to  the  Capitol,  he  wrote: 

March  11. 

I  have  neglected  all  courtesies  and  correspondence  in  the  necessary  studies 
for  the  effort  I  am  about  to  make  to-day.  The  unlooked-for  course  of  Mr. 
Webster  has  prepared  the  way  for  me  in  the  North,  but  has  rendered  of  little 
value  the  little  of  moderation  I  can  practice  in  regard  to  the  other  portion  of 


1850.] 


LET  CALIFORNIA  COME  IN. 


125 


a 


>> 


the  Union.  I  showed  my  notes  confidentially  to  Mr.  Ewing,  and  he  is  satis¬ 
fied.  I  went  Saturday  to  confer  with  the  head  of  the  State  Department.  He 
was  dining  out.  Last  night  he  Was  surrounded  by  company,  and  we  had  no 
private  talk.  But  I  found  that  he  hoped  more  of  disregard  of  Northern  senti¬ 
ment  than  I  can  manifest  conscientiously,  or  with  my  views  of  safety. 

W  lien  he  rose  to  speak  the  galleries  were  barely  filled,  and  no  crowd 
awaited  him  in  the  lobbies  or  on  the  floor.  What  the  “  ultra”  Whig 
Senator  from  New  York  would  say  was  not  likely  to  be  to  the  taste  of 
the  dominant  circles  that  day  in  Washington.  Such  of  his  personal 
friends  as  were  in  town,  were  looking  down  from  their  places  in  the 
gallery,  and  several  New  York  Kepresentatives,  hastening  over  from 
the  House,  gathered  in  a  small  knot  in  the  side  aisle  near  his  desk, 
where  they  stood  and  listened.  He  began  by  saying: 

Four  years  ago  California,  a  Mexican  province,  scarcely  inhabited  and  quite 
unexplored,  was  unknown  even  to  our  desires,  except  by  a  harbor,  capacious 
and  tranquil,  wrhich  only  statesmen  then  foresaw  would  be  useful  in  the  com¬ 
merce  of  a  far-distant  future. 

Sketching  her  rapid  growth  into  a  State,  asking  admission  into  the 
Union,  he  said: 

I  answer:  Yes.  Let  California  come  in.  Every  new  State,  whether  she 
come  from  the  East,  or  from  the  West;  every  new  State,  coming  from  what¬ 
ever  part  of  the  continent  she  may,  is  always  welcome.  But  California,  that 
comes  from  the  clime  where  the  West  dies  away  into  the  rising  East;  Califor¬ 
nia,  that  bounds  at  once  the  empire  and  the  continent;  California,  the  youth¬ 
ful  queen  of  the  Pacific,  in  her  robes  of  freedom,  gorgeously  inlaid  with  gold, 
is  doubly  welcome. 

Taking  up  the  objections  raised  to  her  admission,  by  Calhoun  and 
others,  he  devoted  a  considerable  portion  of  his  speech  to  their  refu¬ 
tation.  Then  adverting  to  the  engrossing  theme  of  the  hour,  he  said: 

But  it  is  insisted  that  the  admission  of  California  shall  be  attended  by  a 
compromise  of  questions  which  have  arisen  out  of  slavery.  I  am  opposed  to 
any  such  compromise  in  any  way,  and  in  all  the  forms  in  which  it  has  been 
proposed.  They  involve  the  surrender  of  the  exercise  of  judgment  and  con¬ 
science,  on  distinct  and  separate  questions,  at  distinct  and  separate  times. 

Continuing  the  argument,  he  pointed  out  the  fallacy  of  the  pretense 
of  “equilibrium  between  free  States  and  slave  States.”  Enforcing  his 
point  by  numerous  illustrations,  he  came  next  to  the  proposed  Fugi¬ 
tive  Slave  Law,  and  said: 

Your  Constitution  and  laws  convert  hospitality  to  the  refugee  from  the  most 
degrading  oppression  on  earth  into  a  crime.  But  all  mankind,  except  you, 
esteem  that  hospitality  a  virtue.  We  are  not  slave-holders.  We  cannot,  in  our 
judgment,  be  either  true  Christians  or  real  freemen  if  we  impose  on  another  a 
chain  that  we  defy  all  human  power  to  lay  on  ourselves. 


CIVIL  WAR  AND  EMANCIPATION* 


[1850. 


126 

Further  argument  on  this  point  was  followed  by  an  emphatic  decla¬ 
ration,  that  he  should  oppose  the  implied  condition  not  to  legislate  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Sir,  I  shall  vote  for  that  measure,  and  am  willing  to  appropriate  any  means 
necessary  to  carry  it  into  execution.  And  if  I  shall  be  asked  what  I  did  to 
embellish  the  capital  of  my  country,  I  will  point  to  her  freedmen  and  say : 
“  These  are  the  monuments  of  my  munificence!  ” 

His  next  point  in  relation  to  the  formation  of  States  out  of  Texas, 
brought  on  a  colloquy  with  Mr.  Webster,  courteous,  but  earnest,  end¬ 
ing  in  Seward’s  remark: 

Congress  can  hereafter  decide  whether  any  States,  free  or  slave,  can  be 
framed  out  of  Texas.  If  they  should  never  be  framed  out  of  Texas,  there 
could  be  no  question  about  them. 

After  combating,  at  some  length,  the  claim  that  slave-holders  had 
the  right,  under  the  Constitution,  to  go  with  their  slaves  into  new 
territories,  and  so  establish  slavery  there,  he  gave  utterance  to  the 
phrase,  destined  afterward  to  be  so  bitterly  assailed: 

The  Constitution  regulates  our  stewardship ;  the  Constitution  devotes  the 
domain  to  union,  to  justice,  to  defense,  to  welfare,  and  to  liberty.  But  there 
is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution ,  which  regulates  our  authority  over  the 
domain,  and  devotes  it  to  the  same  noble  purposes. 

He  came  finally  to  the  alarm  caused  by  threats  of  disunion,  and 
remarked: 

• 

That  day,  I  trust,  is  far  off  when  the  fountains  of  popular  contentment  shall 
be  broken  up.  But  whenever  it  shall  come  it  will  bring  forth  a  higher  illus¬ 
tration  than  has  ever  yet  been  given  of  the  excellence  of  the  system;  for  then 
it  will  be  seen  how  calmly,  how  firmly,  how  nobly,  a  great  people  can  act  in 
preserving  their  Constitution. 

Calling  up  a  picture  of  what  would  come  “when  the  founders  of  the 
republic  of  the  South  come  to  draw  those  fearful  lines,”  entailing 
“border  warfare,”  “stoppage  of  avenues,  of  travel,  trade,  and  social 
intercourse,”  “families  and  kindred  separated  and  converted  into  ene¬ 
mies,”  “new  and  onerous  imposts,  direct  taxes,”  and  “forced  loans,” 
and  “  conscriptions  to  maintain  an  opposing  navy,  and  the  new  and 
hateful  banner  of  sedition,”  he  added: 

Then  the  projectors  of  the  new  republic  of  the  South  will  meet  the  question, 
and  they  may  well  prepare  now  to  answer  it.  What  is  all  this  for  ?  What  in¬ 
tolerable  wrong,  what  unfraternal  injustice  have  rendered  these  calamities  un¬ 
avoidable  ?  What  gain  will  this  unnatural  revolution  bring  to  us  ?  The  answer 
will  be:  All  this  is  done  to  secure  the  institution  of  African  slavery. 

When  that  answer  shall  be  given  it  will  appear  that  the  question  of  dissolv- 


1S50-] 


CIVIL  WAIl  BRINGING  EMANCIPATION. 


cc 


n 


ing  the  Union  is  a  complex  question;  that  it  embraces  the  fearful  issue, 
whether  the  Union  shall  stand,  and  slavery,  under  the  steady,  peaceful  action 
of  moral,  social,  and  political  causes,  be  removed  by  gradual,  voluntary  effort, 
and  with  compensation,  or  whether  the  Union  shall  be  dissolved,  and  civil 
tear  ensue ,  bringing  on  violent ,  but  complete  and  immediate  emancipation.  We  are 
now  arrived  at  that  stage  of  our  national  progress,  when  that  crisis  can  be 
foreseen  —  when  we  must  foresee  it. 

Announcing  his  conviction,  that  the  Union  must  survive  even  such 
a  conflict,  lie  said: 

The  Union,  the  creature  of  necessities,  physical,  moral,  social,  and  political, 
endures  by  virtue  of  them,  and  these  necessities  are  stronger  now  than  when  it 
was  founded. 

The  Union,  then,  is,  not  because  merely  that  men  choose  that  it  shall  be, 
but  because  some  government  must  exist  here,  and  no  other  government  but 
this  can. 

As  Seward’s  first  message  had  outlined  the  principles  which  gov¬ 
erned  the  whole  policy  of  his  State  Administration,  so  this  his  first 
elaborate  senatorial  speech  outlined  his  whole  course  while  he  remained 
in  that  body.  ♦ 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1850. 

The  Echo  to  the  Speech.  Criticisms  and  Denunciations.  “The  Higher  Law.”  The 
Nashville  Convention.  The  Administration.  The  Galphin  Claim.  The  Committee 
of  Thirteen. 

Every  morning  the  mail  now  poured  out  on  the  table  in  Seward’s 
study,  an  avalanche  of  letters  and  newspapers,  with  criticisms  or  com¬ 
mendations  of  the  speech.  Some  of  the  letters  were  suggestive.  Dr. 
Nott  wrote: 

Amid  that  din  of  abuse  in  the  midst  of  which  you  live  and  move,  I  cannot 
refrain  from  saying,  that  the  wiser  and  better  part  of  the  community  here 
sympathize  with  you.  For  myself,  I  rejoice  that  amid  this  betrayal  of  trust, 
this  sacrifice  of  rights,  which  has  characterized  this  session  of  Congress,  there 
has  been  from  the  “Empire  State,”  one  who  has  dared  to  speak  and  act  for 
liberty.  God  reigns,  and  because  He  does  so,  slavery  is  doomed.  Your  speech 
has  made  and  left  an  impression  that  no  other  speech  has.  It  will  be  remem¬ 
bered  and  referred  to  when  the  outbreaks  of  passion  it  occasioned  will  be 
forgotten. 


128 


[1350. 


“THE  HIGHER  LAW.” 

Samuel  B.  Rnggles  wrote: 

I  took  the  liberty,  although  not  thereto  specially  invited,  to  feel  a  little 
anxious  for  you  yesterday.  The  current  running  adversely  to  your  views  had 
become  tremendous,  especially  at  the  Capitol ;  and  I  did  not  scruple  to  say 
that  yesterday  was  the  very  crisis  of  -your  political  fate. 

I  do  most  cordially  and  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  the  result,  retaining 
my  right  to  say  more  and  even  to  find  fault  should  there  be  any  provocation, 
when  we  get  the  extended  speech.  As  far  as  I  can  now  discern  its  outlines, 
they  are  grand ,  continental ,  and  majestic. 

Warm,  enthusiastic  and  grateful  letters  came  from  the  Pacific  coast. 
The  boldness  of  his  dissent  from  such  honored  leaders  as  Clay  and 
Webster  brought  upoh  him  the  censure  of  many  of  his  own  party,  as 
well  as  of  the  other.  His  vivid  description  of  what  a  civil  war  in  the 
United  States  would'be;  and  his  prediction  that  it  would  inevitably 
bring  sudden  and  violent  emancipation,  attracted  less  attention  from 
either  friends  or  foes,  than  it  would  have  done  could  they  have  real¬ 
ized,  at  that  time,  that  the  scenes  portrayed  would  ever  actually  occur) 

His  opponents,  in  both  parties,  searching  for  a  vulnerable  point  iu 
his  argument,  thought  they  had  found  one,  in  what  he  said  about  a 
“higher  law.”  Taken  with  its  carefully  worded  context,  it  was 
only  the  repetition,  of  a  general  truth  in  which  all  Christendom  was 
supposed  to  concur.  But  they  held  that  what  he  said  in  one  place 
about  the  “higher  law,”  and  what  he  said  in  another  place  about 
the  “Fugitive  Slave  Law,”  implied  that  he  thought  such  a  law  one 
that  a  humane  and  Christian  people  could  not,  or  would  not  obey. 
This  stirred  the  anger  of  those  who,  though  they  disliked  it,  wanted 
it  obeyed,  “  because  it  was  law;  ”  and  because  it  would  conciliate  the 
South.  The  phrase  “/Higher  Law,”  became  at  once  the  subject  of 
animated  discussion.  A  Whig  newspaper  at  Washington  opened  the 
attack  on  it.  Press  arid  pulpit  through  the  country  divided  in  opinion. 
'  for  and  against  it.  Some  writers  and  speakers  inveighed  against  his 
teaching,  as  pernicious,  unpatriotic,  and  wicked.  Others  claimed  that 
it  was  moral,  philosophical,  and  Christian.  The  phrase  was  repeated, 
and  quoted  so  often,  that  it  became  associated  with  his  name,  and  with 
that  of  his  partisans.  Nearly  every  public  man  of  prominence  felt 
himself  called  upon,  at  some  time  during  the  ensuing  year,  to  define, 
by  speech  or  pen,  precisely  what  his  own  views  were  on  the  subject  of 
the  relative  obligations  of  divine  and  human  laws.  Of  course  these 
views  varied  with  varying  minds  and  tempers.  Beginning  with  criti¬ 
cism,  by  the  cautious,  they  ran  into  rancorous  and  abusive  epithets, 
by  the  zealous  and  violent.  The  wordy  storm  raged  for  months;  and 
was  not  forgotten  during  Seward’s  life-time.  He  wrote  to  Weed: 


1850.] 


THE  HIGHER  LAW. 


120 


(( 


Washington,  March  15,  1850. 

I  have  just  read  your  note;  and,  of  course,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  occasion 
)r  the  difference  between  Mr.  Webster’s  views  and  my  own  was  an  unfortu¬ 
nate  one.  But  it  was  there,  and  had  to  be  met.  The  first  element  of  political 
character  is  sincerity.  In  any  event,  this  question  is  to  continue  through  this 
year,  and  longer.  We  know  which  class  of  opinion  must  gain,  and  which 
must  lose  strength.  ' 

Remember  that  my  dissent  on  the  fugitive  slave  question  alone  would  have 
produced  the  same  denunciation,  if  I  had  gone,  on  all  the  rest,  with  Mr. 
Webster.  This  thing  is  to  go  on  to  an  end,  near  a  revolution.  While  it  is 
going  on,  could  I,  with  consistency,  or  safety,  be  less  bold,  or  firm.  After  it 
shall  be  over,  could  I  endure  that  the  slightest  evidence  of  irresolution  should 
have  been  given,  on  my  part  ? 

March  22. 

The  herculean  labor  of  franking  my  speech  by  the  10,000,  coming  in  the 
midst  of  so  many  occupations,  has  disturbed  my  equilibrium  for  correspond¬ 
ence,  as  badly  as  California  disturbs  Mr.  Calhoun’s. 

The  Republic  says  Bell’s  and  Webster’s  plan  is  the  same  as  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s.  The  Union  says  the  President  adheres  to  his  own.  There  is  a  plot  to 
sell  out  the  Proviso,  for  a  tariff.  One,  who  is  in  it,  proposed  it  to  the  Presi¬ 
dent.  He  got  no  sympathy. 

The  Southern  agitators  are  recoiling,  under  the  apprehension  of  the  stigma 
of  the  “Hartford  Convention.”  I  think  you  will  do  well  to  look  to  that.  The 
Northern  papers  should  speak  out,  firmly  and  strongly,  to  their  representatives, 
and  all  will  go  well.  There  is  enough  timidity,  in  the  House,  to  cave  in ,  if 
that  is  not  done.  The  Nashville  Convention  drags  so  feebly,  that  it  can  be 
scattered  to  the  winds,  if  the  Northern  press  is  bold.  All  things  here  are 
changed.  In  lieu  of  affected  contempt,  I  have  now  rancorous  malignity  to 
encounter  from  the  South,  and,  instead  of  distrust  from  the  North,  I  meet 
generous  confidence  and  respect. 

March  31. 

/  I  have  been,  for  the  last  fortnight,  franking  my  speech,  and  the  labor 
^-continues  as  oppressive  as  ever.  About  100,000  have  gone  from  here,  and 
nearly  half  of  them  under  my  own  frank.  Your  apprehensions  of  evil,  from 
it,  have  given  me  much  pain.  I  have  reflected  upon  the  exigency  upon  which 
I  spoke,  and  the  question  which  demanded  examination.  I  have  studied  the 
criticisms  upon  the  effort,  with  what  abatement  of  self-esteem  I  could;  and 
after  all  this,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  argument  in  poor  Freeman’s 
case,  it  is  the  only  speech  I  ever  made  that  contains  nothing  that  I  could 
afford  to  strike  out  or  qualify^ 

I  am  not  able  to  see  how  I  could  have  defended  the  right,  as  I  was  bound 
to  defend  it,  in  any  other  way;  or  even  how  I  could  have  served  the  Adminis¬ 
tration  or  the  Whig  party;  not  to  say  how  I  could  have  maintained  my  own 
position  and  character,  had  I  spoken  otherwise.  I  know  there  is  carping  and 
caviling.  But  if  people  can  carp  at  the  recognition  of  the  fear  of  God  as  the 
beo-iunino-  of  wisdom,  or  the  truthfulness  with  which  I  have  shown  the 

o  o  7 

9 


130 


WHEN  I  AM  DEAD. 


[1850. 


cruelty  of  compacts  between  white  men  to  oppress  black  ones,  what  could  I 
have  said  that  would  not  have  provoked  more  just  and  more  severe  censure  ? 
I  blow  that  I  have  spoken  words  that  will  tell  when  I  am  dead,  and  even 
while  I  am  living,  for  the  benefit  and  blessing  of  mankind;  and  for  myself 
this  is  consolation  enough.  I  am  content  that  God  has  given  me  the  place 
and  the  occasion ;  and  I  should  be  will  to  close  my  legislative  career  with 
this  honest  and  faithful  beginning  of  il 


April  1. 


There  is  need  of  counsel  here  about  the  “  Galphin  Claim.”  Thoughtless¬ 
ness  has  brought  the  Administration  into  a  strait,  from  which  they  cannot 
escape  with  honor  and  safety,  without  the  resignation  of,  at  least,  the  Secre¬ 
tary  of  War  and  the  Attorney-General,  if  not  also  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury;  $192,000  of  interest ,  allowed  contrary  to  settled  custom,  and  nearly 
half  of  it  going  directly  into  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  makes  a 
startling  case !  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  pleads  the  opinion  of  the  At¬ 
torney-General ;  and  both  of  them  plead  absolute  ignorance  that  the  Secretary 
of  War  had  any  interest  in  it. 

One  of  the  Washington  correspondents  said: 

Since  Seward’s  speech  he  is  overwhelmed  with  letters  and  papers  of  com¬ 
mendation.  He  receives  not  less  than  a  hundred  a  day.  Among  them  are 
letters  from  lawyers,  thanking  him  for  his  logic,  and  from  clergymen,  pro- 
sors,  teachers,  and  philanthropists,  commending  his  utterances  about  the 
ligher  Law.”  Some  arc  in  the  shape  of  resolutions  and  petitions. 

But  liis  correspondence  was  by  no  means  wholly  of  this  character, 
reflected  the  local  opinions  and  temper  of  the  times.  Abusive  and 
reatening  anonymous  letters  were  frequent.  Of  this  class  of  com¬ 
munications  the  following  is  a  fair  specimen.  With  varying  forms  of 
threat  and  epithet,  they  continued  coming,  with  little  intermission, 
during  his  whole  official  life: 


Savannah,  January  22,  1850. 


Mr.  Seward  : 

Sir — I  see  you  have  commenced  with  your  damnable  abolition  petitions 
again.  Now,  sir,  allow  me  to  say  to  you,  that  if  we  ever  find  you  in  Georgia, 
you  will  forfeit  your  odious  neck,  you  scamp.  How  dare  you  meddle  with  the 
South?  We  have  hemp  and  flax  here  for  you,  you  scoundrel. 


GEORGIA  SAVANNAH. 


Occasionally  there  would  be  an  earnest  remonstrance  or  entreaty 


from  some  old  friend,  urging  him  to  “  follow  the  guidance  of  such 


noble  spirits”  as  Clay  and  Webster,  Cass  and  Calhoun,  to  “  uphold 


the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  ”  and  “discard  his  peculiar  tastes 


for  the  Irish  and  the  Negroes.”  . 

Col.  Benton  now  moved  to  take  up  and  pass  the  California  Bill, 
without  regard  to  other  measures,  and  supported  this  line  of  action 


1850.  J 


THE  OMNIBUS  BILL. 


131 


C( 


5? 


by  speeches  of  originality  and  independence.  But,  under  the  lead  of 
Mr.  Clay,  the  compromisers  defeated  his  proposition,  and  then  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  organize  a  “Select  Committee  of  Thirteen/’  six  from  the 
North,  and  six  from  the  South,  and  one  to  be  chosen  by  the  twelve. 

To  this  committee  were  to  be  referred  all  the  resolutions;  and  it  was 
expected  to  mature  some  scheme  that  should  solve  “all  pending 
differences  growing  out  of  the  institution  of  slavery/’  Clay  was  chair¬ 
man.  Among  its  members  were  Webster,  Cass,  Bell,  Dickinson, 
Berrien,  Mangum,  and  Mason.  The  death  of  Calhoun,  and  the 
funeral  honors  to  his  memory,  occasioned  a  pause,  but  only  a  brief 
one,  in  the  engrossing  debate.  Senators  Hale  and  Chase  made 
speeches  against  the  Compromise;  Badger,  Douglas,  and  others  made 
arguments  in  its  favor. 

Other  debates,  this  spring,  in  which  Seward  took  part  were  those 
in  which  he  advocated  the  relief  expedition  to  find  Sir  John  Franklin, 
internal  improvements,  branch  mints  in  New  York  and  California, 
militia  enrollment,  Canadian  trade,  Washington  city  improvements, 
and  increased  care  in  taking  the  census.  The  inevitable  “African 
Question”  having  crept  into  this  latter  debate,  by  a  proposal  to  ascer¬ 
tain  how  many  slaves  could  read,  Seward  remarked: 

I  desire  this  information  because  we  have  all  cherished  a  hope  that  the  con- 

r 

dition  of  African  servitude,  in  this  country,  was  a  stage  of  transition  from  a 
state  of  barbarism.  I  wish  to  know  what  is  the  extent  of  the  education,  or  of 
instruction,  that  prevails,  so  as  to  ascertain  whether  they  are  advancing  toward 
that  better  condition,  which  constitutes  the  only  excuse,  as  I  understand,  that 
we  have  for  holding  them  in  servitude. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1850. 

The  “Omnibus  Bill.”  The  Long  Debate.  A  Stormy  Session.  Clay,  Webster,  Benton, 
Houston  and  Douglas.  The  Crisis.  Seward’s  Second  Speech.  Summer  Life  in 
Washington.  Letter  to  Ilis  Son  About  European  Travel.  Meredith.  The  Galphin 
Claim.  The  President’s  Illness.  Forebodings. 


Winter  joassed  away,  spring  buds  and  blossoms  came,  and  now  the 
liot  summer  sunshine  was  beginning  to  pour  down  on  the  Capitol. 
But  there  was  no  talk  or  thought  of  adjournment.  Not  only  the 
Congress,  but  the  country,  was  absorbed  in  the  great  debate.  Every 
mail  brought  bushels  of  letters  about  it.  Newspapers  throughout  the 


132 


THE  LONG  DEBATE. 


[1850. 


land  were  teeming  with  it.  State  Legislatures  and  public  meetings 
were  echoing  the  congressional  eloquence.  And  still  it  went  on  and 
on.  One  week  the  compromisers  had  apparently  gained  strength 
enough  to  risk  a  vote.  The  next,  unfavorable  signs  warned  them  to 
wait  a  little  longer.  Early  in  May,  Clay,  as  chairman  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Thirteen,  reported  a  scheme  which  embodied  substantially 
his  original  plan,  with  the  addition  of  a  bill  to  make  Utah  a  distinct 
territory.  This  compound  legislation  soon  gained  the  popular  nick¬ 
name  of  the  “  Omnibus  Bill.” 

Mrs.  Seward,  having  gone  home  to  Auburn  for  the  summer,  Sew¬ 
ard’s  daily  letters  to  her  described  his  life: 

Senate  Chamber,  Monday  Morning,  May  13. 

My  watch,  set  to  New  York  time,  brings  me  here  a  quarter  of  an  hour  too 
early.  The  Chamber  exhibits  a  renewal  of  the  earlier  instances  of  stage  effect 
which  you  saw.  The  galleries  are  crowded;  and  ladies  and  their  cavaliers  are 
besieging  the  doors.  The  popular  thirst  for  the  eloquence  of  Mr.  Clay  is  not 
yet  satiated.  Mr.  Webster  is  in  his  seat  arrayed  in  that  bright  blue  coat  and 
particularly  buff  waistcoat,  which  are  so  ominous  of  an  explosion  that  kills  al¬ 
ways  somebody. 

May  14. 

You  will  have  received  and  read  Mr.  Clay's  speech.  I  have  not  found  my¬ 
self  called  upon  to  apply  to  myself  the  censure,  that,  in  no  very  direct  way, 
he  cast  upon  me.  The  prospect  is,  that  the  debate  will  not  be  renewed  to-day. 
Mr.  Clay’s  confidence  of  success  has  not  produced  any  general  conviction  that 
the  “  Omnibus  Bill  ’’  will  pass  the  Senate. 

May  16,  1850. 

I  retired  at  ten,  and  thus  have  enabled  myself  to  resume  my  habit  of  rising 
at  five,,  owing  to  which  circumstance  you  have  this  note,  written  now,  instead 
of  being  scrawled  in  the  hurry  of  the  Senate  Chamber. 

The  fate  of  the  Compromise  Bill  is  very  uncertain.  On  a  test  question  yes¬ 
terday,  it  had  not  one  Whig  vote  from  a  free  State.  But  it  gained  Democratic 
votes  in  the  free  States  to  balance  the  loss  of  votes  in  the  slave  States. 

I  have  broken  the  seal  of  the  envelope  to  supply  an  omission.  This  is  my 
birthday.  From  this  time  I  enter  my  fiftieth  year.  It  is  a  numeral  very  high 
in  the  progress  of  human  life.  The  decline  of  life  begins  then,  if  not  already 
begun.  The  season  for  usefulness  grows  short,  and  for  pleasure  draws  to  a 
close.  Give  me  your  sympathies  and  your  wishes  that  what  remains  hereafter 
may  be  spent  more  serenely  and  more  wisely;  commend  me  to  all  my  dear 
children,  and  believe  me  more  devotedly  and  ever  yours. 

May  17,  1850. 

Yesterday’s  debate  revealed  the  fact  that  the  Southern  terrorists  had  let 
their  thunder  cool  in  their  hands.  The  Nashville  Convention  and  the  threats 
of  disunion  have  sunk  into  ridicule.  There  are  attempts  to  cover  the  re¬ 
treat  of  the  South  by  Clay’s  Compromise.  The  debate  yesterday  was  warm 


1850.] 


IN  THE  PRESIDENT’S  GROUNDS. 


133 


and  spirited  on  the  part  of  JefTerson  Davis  and  Clemens,  so  much  so  that  friends 
quietly  interfered  to  arrest  so  as  to  avoid  a  possible  fracas.  It  is  now  believed 
that  the  “  Compromise”  is  dead,  and  yet  I  can  almost  count  enough  Northern 
“  dough-faces”  to  bring  it  back  from  the  grave  and  worship  it. 

I  send  you  the  Democratic  Review ,  the  organ  of  the  party.  You  will  find  in  it 
the  portrait  of  one  whose  honor  or  shame  is  a  part  of  your  own  existence. 
Perhaps  the  allusions  scattered  through  the  whole  work  to  the  same  person 
may  awaken  suspicion  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  contempt  expressed  in  the 
leading  article  on  “The  Progress  of  Fanaticism.” 

May  18,  1850. 

Yesterday  was,  as  to-day  will  be,  Dies  non  parliamentarius.  My  closet  was 
the  scene  of  my  operations,  and  the  boundaries  of  my  journeyings  were  the 
narrow  range  of  a  twilight  walk  for  exercise.  Of  my  own  doings  I  can  report 
that  the  mass  of  letters  exhibits  evident  decrease,  while  the  heaps  of  documents 
you  could  neither  walk  through  nor  walk  over  are  wasting  away.  In  another 
week  I  trust  I  shall  be  free  to  choose  my  studies. 

Well,  the  Galphin  committee  break  into  three  reports.  All  prove  the  Ad¬ 
ministration  guiltless;  and  all  prove  it  worse  than  guilty,  stupid  in  what  has 
passed,  and  more  stupid  in  clinging  to  place  after  such  a  blunder.  This  affair 
looms  upon  me  now,  just  as  it  did  when  I  first  heard  of  it,  as  a  'weight  that  will 
sink  down  even  General  Taylor.  To  add  to  this  there  is  a  discovery  of  a  gross 
blunder  in  the  Indian  Department,  a  bureau  of  the  Home  Department.  Inno¬ 
cent  of  any  wrong  in  the  matter  Mr.  Ewing  is,  but  when  has  innocence  or 
purity  been  accepted  as  a  plea  among  politicians  and  statesmen? 

The  Southerners  say  that  twelve  of  them  will  vote  against  Mr.  Clay’s  “  Com¬ 
promise.”  I  write  to  you  as  I  would  converse  with  you,  without  reserve. 
Your  discretion  will  be  your  guide  about  the  extent  to  which  I  may  be  quoted 
on  political  subjects. 

May  19. 

It  is  Sunday,  the  first  Sunday  since  we  parted.  What  a  blessed  day  Sunday 
is.  IIow  much  more  blessed  it  seems  as  we  advance  on  our  path,  all  the  while 
growing  narrower,  darker,  and  rougher.  IIow  I  should  enjoy  this  Sunday  in 
our  home  with  our  children,  old  and  young,  all  about  us,  and  our  flowers  and 
our  birds. 

Our  Cabinet  Ministers  are  beginning  to  feel  the  stings  of  political  ingratitude 
and  hate.  Mr.  Meredith  sent  for  me  yesterday  morning  to  advise  with  me, 
about  the  course  of  action  on  the  California  question,  and  then  we  ran  into 
that  of  the  Galphin  investigation.  After  discussing  these  things  with  him,  I 
took  his  daughters  into  the  carriage  and  rode  to  Georgetown,  where,  after 
looking  with  them  all  through  the  beautiful  garden  and  grounds,  and  the  tidy 
apartments  of  the  Academy,  we  brought  Caroline  away  for  a  recess  until 
Tuesday. 

The  musical  entertainments  for  the  summer  have  begun,  and  so  Caroline  and 
I  strolled  yesterday  through  the  President’s  grounds  while  the  band  was  dis¬ 
coursing  sweet  and  touching  eloquence.  The  grounds  sadly  need  seats,  and 
they  are  too  small  for  the  use  of  all  the  people  of  Washington. 


134 


A  STORMY  SESSION-. 


[1850. 


May  31,  1850. 

Our  apartment  begins  to  wear  the  aspect  of  a  study  —  1  have  been  obliged  to 
retreat  into  it  to  escape  outward  pressure,  which  flows  in  upon  my  basement 
office;  I  have  set  my  window  wide  open  to  draw  in  the  morning  sun,  and  I  be¬ 
gin  the  labor  of  the  day  as  usual  by  rehearsing  to  you  the  details  and  incidents 

of  the  day  that  has  just  past. 

«  _ 

I  was  quite  surprised  in  the  morning  by  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Potter  of 

Albany,  forced  out  of  his  calmness  by  what  he  regarded  as  an  ungracious  attack 
upon  me  in  Mr.  Clay’s  speech.  I  send  the  letter  to  you,  and  I  confess  it  was  a 
pleasant  thing,  not  less  on  account  of  the  personal  regard  of  the  writer  than 
because  it  was  a  greeting  that  showed  me  our  own  Episcopal  Church  was  not 
altogether  torpid  in  the  midst  of  the  warming  up  of  tflc  moral  conscience  of 
the  free  States. 

The  mail  brought  also  the  copy  of  my  speech  in  a  London  paper  accompa¬ 
nied  by  a  notice.  I  should  have' sent  you  this,  but  Mr.  Weed  took  it  away. 
You  may  see  something  of  it  in  the  Journal  and  you  may  not.  That  depends 
on  his  wisdom. 

There  are  apjDrehensions  that  a  serious  invasion  of  Cuba  has  been  made  by 
adventurers,  six  thousand  in  number,  gathered  from  all  parts  of  this  country, 
and  recently  embarked  at  New  Orleans. 

May  22. 

Yesterday,  Mr.  Soule  of  Louisiana,  another  of  the  Southern  Senators  whose 
vote  was  needed  by  Mr.  Clay,  came  out  in  an  effective  speech  against  the 
Compromise.  This  called  up  Mr.  Clay,  who  uttered  a  speech  replete  with  elo¬ 
quence,  but  dogmatic  and  especially  offensive  to  the  President,  Cabinet,  and 
the  Whigs  who  support  them.  It  is  not  reported  in  the  Intelligencer  this  morn¬ 
ing;  I  will  send  you  the  Union ,  and  the  two  papers  will,  I  hope,  keep  you  ad¬ 
vised  of  matters  here.  I  feel  a  solicitude  that  you  shall  not  fall  out  of  the  cir¬ 
cuit  in  this  respect.  It  would  deprive  me  of  your  advice  and  sympathy,  when 
we  come  together  once  more. 

To  Weed  he  wrote: 

Washington,  May  22. 

Yesterday  Mr.  Clay,  in  his  eloquent  speech  against  the  President’s  plan,  was 
so  bold,  so  arrogant,  and  so  offensive  that  it  will  render  it  necessary  that  I 
shall  at  a  proper  time,  if  I  can  find  it,  and  in  a  proper  way,  if  I  can  do  it, 
vindicate  and  defend  the  Administration  and  the  noble  old  chief.  This  I  feel 
a  hope  I  can  do  in  a  good  spirit. 

Messrs.  Douglas,  Morton,  and  Shields  dined  with  me  yesterday.  They  all 
agreed  that  they  should  vote  against  the  Compromise,  as  a  united  measure; 
that  it  would  be  defeated  by  ten  majority,  and  that  the  several  measures  em¬ 
braced  in  it  would  singly  prevail  in  the  Senate  by  an  equal  majority. 

If  Mr.  Clay  knew  how  to  yield  he  would  separate  his  bills  now. 

To  his  eldest  son,  Augustus,  who  was  preparing  for  an  European 
tour,  he  wrote:  , 

May  24,  1850. 

The  object  of  travel,  as  you  know,  is  not  to  consume  time,  or  to  find  mere 
amusement  in  relaxation,  but  it  is  to  acquire  knowledge.  It  is,  in  your  case. 


1850.] 


SENATORIAL  LIFE. 


135 


a  part  of  a  continuance  of  education.  All  wise  men  have  always  regarded  it 
as  a  very  great  and  beneficial  process  of  education.  I  have  always  practiced 
travel  as  much  as  possible,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  my  range  of  knowl¬ 
edge. 

But  before  we  begin  to  travel  for  such  purposes,  we  must  qualify  ourselves 
for  it.  You  are  going  to  study  men  and  things,  society  and  government  in 
Europe.  Have  you  yet  obtained,  not  a  thorough,  but  some  reasonable  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  society  and  government,  men  and  things,  at  home?  You  have  been 
confined  to  the  camp,  and  have  learned  the  routine  of  military  duties,  and 
have  seen  something  of  war  on  its  broad  scale,  just  as  a  young  lawyer  at  your 
age  would  have  learned  liis  book  of  practice  and  experimented  in  the  courts. 
But  I  hope  you  will  think  there  is  much  more  to  look  at  and  consider  before 
you  go  to  Europe.  The  geography  and  the  history  of  your  own  country,  and 
its  politics,  as  well  as  its  statesmen,  much  of  these  you  ought  to  know,  and 
the  books  for  learning  them  are  near  you.  All  could  be  rapidly  studied  here; 
nay,  the  knowledge  almost  forces  itself  upon  one  here.  Again,  the  habit  of 
address  in  society  must  be  obtained,  in  some  degree,  at  home,  before  you  will 
be  willing  to 'seek  admittance  into  society  abroad.  Do  not  think  the  studies 
are  to  be  long.  I  have  no  such  idea.  A  week  or  two,  or  three,  will  bring  you 
accumulation  of  treasure.  The  habit  of  seeking  will  be  all  the  task.  That 
once  formed,  knowledge  will  be  constantly  offering  itself  to  you;  so  that, 
when  you  are  abroad,  you  can  repay  others  by  information  of  our  country,  for 
the  knowledge  they  impart  to  you  concerning  theirs.  Let  me  hear  from  you 
frequently,  I  pray  you,  and  believe  me  always 

Affectionately,  etc. 

Lieutenant  Augustus  H.  Sewtakd. 

He  wrote  home: 

May  25. 

We  spent  yesterday  on  the  Omnibus  Bill.  Mr.  Soule’s  speech  wras  more  ele¬ 
vated  in  tone  and  sentiment  than  the  speech  of  any  representative  of  any  slave 
State. 

We  had  an  executive  session  on  Wednesday,  in  which  we  passed  the  Nica¬ 
ragua  Treaty,  made  with  Sir  Henry  Bulwer  by  the  Secretary  of  State. 

May  26. 

Sunday  has  come  round  again.  The  expedition  of  the  Southern  Propagan¬ 
dists  against  Cuba  proves  a  ridiculous  failure,  and  thus  we  are  saved  from  a 
source  of  agitation  and  embarrassment  full  of  apprehended  difficulty. 

Yesterday,  we  dined  at  three,  having  Mr.  Harrington  for  a  guest.  I  read 
until  seven.  What  luxury  there  is  in  reading  now-a-days,  when  all  that  is 
done  that  way  is  not  merely  by  stealth,  but  by  “flat  burglary!  ”  I  spent  the 
evening  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  whom  I  found  desponding  and  angered 
by  Mr.  Clay’s  speech. 

The  sun  has  come  forth,  and  I  believe  I  shall  accept  his  beaming,  warm  in¬ 
vitation  and  go  to  church. 


136 


CLAY,  WEBSTER  AND  MASON. 


[1850. 


May  28. 

You  will  find  in  yesterday’s  Intelligencer  Mr.  Webster’s  long  and  studied 
reply  to  the  citizens  of  Newburyport,  and  through  them  (as  they  say  nowa¬ 
days)  to  Horace  Mann.  I  scarcely  dare  say,  even  to  you,  that  with  all  its 
elaborateness  it  seems  to  me  a  failure.  The  moral  sense,  the  conscience  of  the 
age,  has  outgrown  Mr.  W.  Mr.  Mason  spoke  yesterday.  He  was  against  Mr. 
Clay’s  “  Compromise,”  and  suggested  one  of  his  own. 

The  June  of  Auburn  is  upon  us  here,  and  it  has  come  by  surprise  upon  me. 

I  cannot  realize  that  it  is  time  for  summer,  or  that  summer  lias  a  right  to  crowd 
on  so  fast.  When  I  was  watching  for  the  crocus,  the  tulip  burst  upon  me. 
Before  I  was  prepared  to  demand  asparagus,  peas  tempt  me.  I  grieve  that 
summers,  of  which  there  are  to  be  for  me  only  a  limited  store,  are  to  be  enjoyed 
by  me  alone. 

Wednesday ,  May  29. 

You  will  find  in  the  Senate’s  debate  of  yesterday,  reported,  I  suppose,  in 
this  evening’s  papers,  an  amusing  divertissement ,  in  which  John  P.  Hale  and 
the  younger  Dodge  of  Iowa  were  the  actors. 

The  new  South  Carolina  Senator,  Mr.  Elmer,  is  very  dangerously  ill. 

Thursday ,  May  30. 

The  more  I  see  of  Washington,  the  more  I  distrust  my  ability  to  work  out 
the  great  ends  I  have  cherished  or  to  advance  them.  When  I  see  that  such 
political  and  moral  sentiments  and  principles  have  been  the  standard  of  virtue, 
and  such  policy  the  standard  of  governmental  beneficence  for  this  great  Nation 
and  even  for  the  best  and  wisest  classes  of  this  Nation,  I  despair  almost  of 
being  heard  in  advocating  higher  aims,  or  of  being  tolerated  in  acting  upon 
more  just  and  democratic  principles. 

Friday ,  May  31. 

I  could  spend  hours,  if  I  had  them  to  waste,  in  looking  upon  the  rose-vines 
clustering  together  across  the  partition  wall  which  divides  our  unsocial  neigh¬ 
bor  Crawford  from  us.  You  must  not  fail  to  have  roots  of  these  this  fall. 
One  of  them  is  a  variegated  rose.  But  will  they  survive  our  winter?  Well, 
we’ll  try. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Elmer  of  South  Carolina  is  a  startling  event,  and  presents 
a  coincidence  calculated  to  attract  attention.  But  it  passes  without  making 
any  but  the  most  momentary  impression.  It  is  thus  that  activity  of  life  pro¬ 
duces  callousness;  and  if  such  is  its  effect  in  civil  occupation,  need  we  wonder 
that  soldiers  become  heedless  of  the  moral  of  death? 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Judd  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  appeared  in  the  Senate  Chamber 
with  two  sons  of  the  King  of  that  country.  They  were  tall,  erect,  graceful, 
educated,  and  in  all  respects  fashioned  like  princes,  except  that  they  had  a 
very  swarthy  complexion.  They  had  sought  me,  and  came  into  the  Senate 
Chamber  on  my  introduction.  There  was  an  obvious  suspicion  that  they  were 
negroes,  but  all  were  free  and  many  happy  to  be  introduced  to  them  when  it 
was  found  that  they  were  princes  of  the  blood,  and  one  heir-apparent  to  the 
throne  of  a  kingdom. 


1850.] 


BllUTUM  FULMEN. 


137 


a 


>> 


June  1,  1850. 

The  hope  of  ail  adjournment  over  next  week  has  fled.  Mr.  Clay  would  not 
consent;  as  indeed  he  could  not,  because  delay  and  procrastination  are  killing 
the  hopes  of  his  abominable  bill.  The  opponents  were  scattering  when  we 
came  to  a  vote  at  an  unaccustomed  and  unseasonable  hour  on  our  return  from 
the  funeral.  I  shall  be  necessary  here  next  week,  there  is  so  little  of  firmness, 
«o  little  of  action  and  of  concert  among  the  opponents  of  slavery.  We  are  ap¬ 
proaching  another  spasm  of  what  is  called  here  “the  crisis.” 

The  end  of  the  California  debate  is  approximating  in  Congress,  and  the  times 
will  be  interesting.  It  is  now  said  that  there  will  be  no  general  laws  and  no 
appropriations.  Well!  let  faction  show  itself!  It  will  be  harmless  now  and 
powerless  hereafter. 

The  summer  has  come.  It  comes  with  chilly  winds.  But  it  has  heat  in  re¬ 
serve,  I  trow. 

June  3,  1850. 

I  had  my  walk,  a  visit  to  the  public  green  house,  my  coffee  and  eggs,  and 
the  Intelligencer ,  and  now,  indulge  myself  with  a  word  to  you,  before  begin¬ 
ning  the  studies  of  the  day.  Yesterday  I  went  to  Dr.  Pyne’s  church.  We 
had  a  long,  well-written  discourse,  from  the  Bishop  of  Jamaica;  spent  an  hour 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Meredith;  declined  their  invitation  to  dinner;  read  a  por¬ 
tion  of  the  afternoon;  Mr.  Meredith  called,  and  I  took  a  long  walk  with  him; 
and  closed  the  day  by  study.  I  look  for  a  week  of  excitement,  but  only  a  pre¬ 
lude  to  the  greater  excitement  which  the  next  wTeek  will  bring.  The  North 
and  South,  after  studying  Mr.  Clay’s  juggle  for  three  months,  are  falling  back 
upon  their  first  positions.  That  is  the  whole  of  the  matter. 

June  4,  1850. 

The  Evening  Journal  is  waging  a  generous  conflict;  and  it  is  a  pleasant 
thing  to  see  it  growing  bold.  You  will  need  to  read  particularly,  in  yester¬ 
day's  debate,  Mr.  Webster’s  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  his  remarks.  He  pro¬ 
duced  a  bill,  giving  the  fugitive  a  trial  by  jury,  which  he  says  he  drew  in 
February. 

You  will  find  a  very  nice  article  in  the  Whig  Review ,  with  a  very  atrocious 
picture.  We  are  indebted  to  Greeley  for  the  article,  as  I  believe  you  know. 
He  is  here,  and  is  staying  chiefly  with  me.  I  think  you  will  find  the  Review 
at  Derby’s. 

June  5. 

We  have  fallen  from  chilly  skies,  into  blazing,  red  hot  summer!  I  have 
snatched  the  exercise  of  a  walk,  this  morning,  before  the  pavements  were 
heated  up,  but  I  dread  the  noonday  climbing,  and  the  four  o’clock  descent  of 
Capitol  Hill.  We  begin  to  see  light  here.  The  gasconaders  of  the  South  find 
themselves  in  convention  at  Nashville,  to  overawe  Congress.  The  movers  of 
the  plot  are  divided,  a  part  going  on  there  for  the  purpose  of  saving  them¬ 
selves,  by  perseverance  and  consistency  in  perilous  courses;  another  portion 
withdrawing  and  seeking  safety  in  Mr.  Clay’s  Compromise,  only  to  save  thenn 
selves  from  taking  refuge  under  the  President’s  plan.  The  debates  at  Nash¬ 
ville  will  be  hrutum  f  ulmen  (I  beg  your  pardon,  I  must  translate,  wasted  thun* 


138 


COMPROMISE  AND  SLAVERY. 


[1850. 


der).  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Webster  is  for  the  trial  by  jury  for  fugitive  slaves; 
and  if  you  read  his  remarks  yesterday,  you  will  have  seen  that  he  was  the 
author  of  that  measure  in  the  Senate,  and  not  I, —  the  difference  between  us 
being,  that  he  put  his  bill  into  his  drawer,  I  laid  mine  on  the  Senate’s  table. 
The  New  York  delegation  are  true  and  firm.  Greeley  is  here,  privately  ami¬ 
able,  politically  cross  and  grumbling.  He  is  much  with  me.  How  do  you 
like  his  article  in  the  Whig  Review? 

Jane  6. 

The  newspapers  will  give  you  the  votes  in  the  Senate,  on  the  preliminary 
questions,  on  Mr.  Clay’s  bill.  You  will  scarcely  be  able  to  divine  the  mean¬ 
ing,  except  that  on  the  “  Wilmot  Proviso;”  and  you  will  grieve  to  find  Mr. 
Webster’s  name  on  the  wrong  side,  unnecessarily  there,  too,  for  the  cause  of  free¬ 
dom  had  betrayers  enough,  without  him.  Things  begin  to  wear  the  promise 
of  an  end.  We  vote  more,  and  talk  less.  The  House  of  Representatives 
comes  to  the  question  next  week. 

June  8. 

We  have  had  a  brush  this  morning  in  the  Senate,  over  a  resolution  intro¬ 
duced  by  General  Cass,  implying  censure  upon  the  President,  in  which  I  par¬ 
ticipated  so  far  as  to  defend  him.  General  Houston  followed  in  a  splashy 
speech,  to  which  I  think  I  shall  reply,  on  Monday  or  Tuesday.  Honest  John 
Davis  is  on  the  floor,  making  a  good,  strong  “Free  Soil  ’’  speech,  which  will 
do  great  good  in  Massachusetts.  I  shall  try  to  get  the  floor;  but  it  begins 
to  be  doubtful  whether  I  can  get  it.  It  is  understood  that  the  debate  will 
close  on  Wednesday;  and  there  will  be  a  great  rush  for  the  floor. 

The  Senate  has  gratified  Mr.  Clay  with  meeting  at  eleven  o’clock,  instead  of 
at  twelve.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  amendments  to  the  “  Compromise  ”  Bill. 
Reasoning  upon  any  known  principles  of  human  action  ever  before  encountered 
by  me,  I  should  say  confidently  that  the  “Compromise”  would  be  lost  by  a 
dozen  voices.  But  men  are  very  uncertain.  Just  when  you  are  wanting  a 
Whig,  who  absolutely  resists  it,  he  is  sick,  and  gone  home.  A  Democrat  of 
the  same  sentiment  has  the  misfortune  of  a  sick  sister  who  has  been  sick  a 
longtime,  and  he  cannot  bear  it  any  longer.  I  suspect  everybody  now-a-days; 
and  since  I  see  slave-drivers  make  captives  of  Clay,  Webster,  and  Cass,  and 
then,  in  turn,  make  slaves  of  smaller  fry,  I  am  about  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  slavery  is  the  normal  condition  of  mankind. 

In  the  evening,  we  dropped  in  at  Mrs.  Adams’,  and  had  a  very  pleasant  call. 
By  the  way,  I  met  here  Charles  Francis  Adams.  He  is  only  a  little  taller 
than  his  father,  and  looks  verv  like  him.  We  extended  our  walk  to  the  White 
House,  where  we  had  a  very  kind  and  affectionate  welcome  from  all  the 
family.  Mrs.  Bliss  has  been  sick,  but  is  now  out  again.  Mrs.  Wood  was 
there. 

Sunday ,  June  9. 

I  had  Col.  Benton,  with  two  others,  at  dinner  yesterday.  A  long  sitting 
after  dinner  made  me  a  late  study  at  night,  and  that  required  a  long  sleep  this 
morning.  There  came  visitors  who  could  not  be  denied.  Then  it  was  church 
time,  then  dinner;  and  then  came  John  P.  Hale  and  Horace  Greeley;  and  so 
the  day  was  gone,  my  letters  unanswered,  and  my  studies  standing  still. 


1850.] 


‘  COMPROMISE  ”  DEBATES. 


139 


Col.  Benton  is  a  very  strong  man.  To-morrow,  the  Colonel  gives  us  his  fire. 

Yesterday,  Mr.  Dawson  made  the  galleries  and  Senators  happy  by  a  personal 
speech  against  Hale.  Hale  replied  in  part  and  will  conclude  to-morrow.  Ho 
defends  himself  gallantly. 

June  10. 

We  have  alarming  accounts  of  insolent  conduct  by  the  Spanish  authorities  in 
Cuba  against  the  persons  of  one  hundred  or  more  American  prisoners  captured 
on  the  high  seas,  and  against  our  consul  there.  It  requires  great  delicacy  to 
conduct  the  questions  which  are  continually  occurring  between  us  and  the 
Spanish  government  to  a  safe  issue. 

Mr.  Greeley  informs  me  that  Mr.  Clay  went  home  from  church  sick  yesterday 
but  that  he  was  better  last  night.  It  is  a  severe  trial  to  a  constitution  as  old 
as  Mr.  Clay’s  that  he  is  going  through.  But  every  thing  relating  to  a  great 
man  is  so  apt  to  be  exaggerated,  that  I  scarcely  know  how  to  credit  any  thing 
that  will  so  well  furnish  the  letter-writers  with  a  paragraph. 

Colonel  Benton  came  out  to-day  in  a  most  elaborate  speech.  It  was  an 
extraordinary  speech.  The  argument  was  powerful,  but  the  speech  was  a  per¬ 
fect  abandonment  to  satire  and  ridicule,  which  I  think  will  do  more  execution 
than  heavier  metal.  It  was  a  scene  which  I  regret  you  could  not  witness.  The 
sympathies  of  the  audience  were  with  the  assailed,  and  prejudices  strong  and 
hateful  resisted  the  speaker,  and  yet  he  brought  laughter  and  almost  cheers 
from  his  hearers  continually. 

General  Cass  has  the  floor  to-day,  and  who  will  follow  I  do  not  know. 

June  11. 

General  Cass  yesterday  replied  to  Colonel  Benton.  He  was  followed  by  Mr. 
Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  in  a  sharp,  spirited,  and  effective  reply.  The  fearful 
day  when  anarchy  was  to  revel  in  the  House  of  Representatives  has  come.  There 
was*  no  disorder,  no  blood  flowed,  no  sedition  uttered,  and  indeed  it  was  as 
pleasant,  cool,  and  comfortable  a  day  as  any  we  have  had  in  all  the  month.  Oh  ! 
how  I  do  despise  the  Northern  recreants  who  suffer  themselves  to  betray  and 
sell  the  holiest  hopes  and  interests  of  freedom  under  the  terror  of  the  gascon- 
aders,  whom  you  and  I  have  seen  here  this  winter.  I  grow  more  and  more 
amazed  that  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster,  who  have  seen  and  heard  it  all  their 
long  lives,  should  yield  to  it  now  when  it  is  only  the  rehearsal  of  an  old,  worn- 
out  burlesque  of  tragedy. 

June  13. 

Your  letters  woo  me  home  strongly  by  so  many  touching  notices  of  my  chil¬ 
dren,  of  the  trees,  and  flowers,  and  of  friends.  But  we  are  here  in  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  end;  if,  indeed,  there  is  to  be  an  end  of  this  mighty  strife.  Every 
hour  brings  forth  new  developments,  new  fears,  and  new  doubts.  I  am  quite 
satisfied  that  the  North  is  to  be  betrayed  in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Cooper  “came 
out ”  yesterday,  going  in  for  the  “Compromise.”  General  Shields  has  been 
flattered  into  the  same  course.  I  have  no  hope  of  Douglas  and  I  begin  to  find 
that  nobody  is  reliable,  save  those  whom  I  know  to  have  been  sent  here  by 
the  people  upon  a  due  examination  of  the  question  of  freedom. 

There  is  a  concert  between  Southerners  in  the  two  Houses  to  keep  the  ques- 


140 


HOUSE  AND  SENATE. 


[1850. 


tion  open,  manifestly  looking  to  the  defeat  of  California,  and  to  the  breaking 
lip  of  Congress  in  a  storm. 

June  14. 

The  House  of  Representatives  which  might  have  passed  the  California  bill 
three  months  ago,  is  locked  fast  to  produce  effect  upon  the  Senate. 

You  will  learn  from  the  Union ,  that  Congress  is  in  a  terrible  state  of' excite¬ 
ment.  Do  not  believe  it.  It  is  vaporing.  I  hope  that  it  will  produce  no 
effect  on  the  country.  We  have  yet  a  long  debate  before  us  on  the  California 
bill  after  we  get  through  with  the  amendments. 

Truman  Smith,  Atchison,  Clay,  Webster,  Clemens,  King,  Davis,  Corwin, 
etc.,  etc.,  are  said  to  be  calculating  on  debating. 

June  1G. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  assure  you  that  the  dark  and  portentous  clouds  have 
passed  away.  The  factiousness  and  even  revolutionary  action  which  were  threat¬ 
ened,  have  not  appeared.  Whatever  the  result,  Congress  will  adjourn,  and 
adjourn  in  peace,  as  it  always  has  doue,  and  as  I  trust  it  always  will  do  hereafter. 

The  Democrats  are  seeking  to  save  their  party  by  the  passage  of  the  Com- 
promise  Bill.  The  principles  maintained  by  us  are,  therefore,  in  great  jeopardy 
when  all  our  ancient  leaders  cooperate  with  our  adversaries.  It  is  apparent 
that  no  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  many  who  spoke  and  acted  with  us  when 
you  were  here. 

June  17. 

You  will  not  fail,  I  hope,  to  read  to-day's  debate  in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Web¬ 
ster  came  into  the  Senate  in  bright  buttons  and  buff  waistcoat.  He  challenged 
all  the  world  to  prove  inconsistency.  His  speech  was  an  answer  and  vindica¬ 
tion  of  himself,  or,  at  least,  so  intended.  You  will  see  that  I  horrified  the 
Senate  and  especially  G-eneral  Cass,  anew,  by  simply  restating  my  position. 

Wednesday ,  June  19. 

The  debates  have  fallen  into  a  regular  humdrum  monotony.  Fashion  has 
withdrawn  her  court.  The  weather  is  oppressively  hot.  My  time  is  spent  in 
the  Senate  in  the  morning,  and  at  night  over  my  notes.  I  have  paired  off  with 
Mr.  Dickinson  for  the  week.  He  has  gone  to  New  York  to  be  feasted  for  his 
labors  to  save  our  Union  that  he  is  blindly  engaged  in  undermining.  Colonel 
Benton  is  enjoying  the  fame  of  his  speech  with  the  gratification  of  a  school¬ 
boy.  You  will  not  omit  to  read  Mr.  Webster’s  letter  to  the  people  of  Ken¬ 
nebec. 

June  20. 

We  are  every  day  thinking  how  much  cooler  and  more  pleasant  it  must  be 
in  the  retreat  you  have  found,  and  which  you  keep  so  closely  to,  than  it  is 
here  in  the  burning  heats  of  the  Capitol. 

Stetson  of  the  Astor  House,  sent  me  a  pair  of  noble  salmon,  which  I  served 
up  yesterday  to  John  A.  King  and  James  G.  King.  I  have  come  to  have  a 
great  liking  for  the  Kings.  They  have  withstood  the  seductions  of  the  sedu¬ 
cers,  and  are  like  the  rock  in  the  defense  of  the  right.  They  have  been  tried 
as  through  fire.  Mr.  Clay’s  “Omnibus  Bill  ”  lingers  and  drags.  He  is  looking 
very  haggard,  and  betrays  impatience  and  temper.  There  is  daily  new  and 


1850.] 


A  SECOND  SPEECH. 


141 


sickening  evidence  of  infidelity  to  the  North  by  the  representatives  here.  To¬ 
day,  on  a  plain  proposition,  we  had  only  sixteen  votes,  while  the  whole  num¬ 
ber  of  Northern  Senators  is  thirty. 

Jane  27. 

In  the  Senate  Chamber  at  half-past  eleven.  The  scene  quite  changed.  The 
red  carpet,  red  curtains,  red  drapery  were  all  removed,  and  we  have  a  nice 
airy  hall. 

Mr.  Webster’s  appointment  had  gathered  an  audience.  The  ladies  filled  the 
front  circle  of  the  gallery.  Two-thirds  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  on 
the  floor.  Webster  is  in  the  midst  of  a  speech,  cl§ar  and  strong,  of  course. 
Mrs.  Webster  occupies  the  central  chair  in  the  gallery,  in  front  of  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  chair. 

One  o’clock,  p.  m.,  Mr.  Foote,  following  Mr.  Webster,  is  now  on  the  floor,  to 
vindicate  himself. 

'  June  28. 

We  had  yesterday  a  very  exciting  day  in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Foote  commenced 
defending  himself  before  his  constituents  at  home.  Mr.  Davis,  of  the  same 
State,  replied  with  much  warmth.  The  conviction  has  become  a  general  one 
that  the  “  Compromise  ”  will  fall.  I  saw  the  President  this  morning.  He  is 
in  fine  spirits. 

July  1,  1850. 

I  devote  my  morning  thoughts  to  you,  for  the  day  gets  filled  up  with 
cares  that  I  hardly  dare  to  let  advance  upon  me.  After  resting  an  hour  or 
two  yesterday,  during  the  most  blazing  heats  I  ever  endured.  I  took  Fred  and 
set  out  for  a  walk.  We  met  Mr.  Meredith,  and  with  him  we  wandered  over 
hill  and  dale,  until  eight  o’clock.  He  consulted  me,  concerning  a  special  mes¬ 
sage  that  the  President  may  send  to  Congress,  in  a  manner  that  I  may  not  put 
on  paper. 

Hon.  John  Bell  is  quite  ill,  I  believe,  of  nothing  but  the  necessity  of  choos¬ 
ing  which  way  to  vote,  and  speak  on  the  Compromise.  He  has  a  speech, 
— Upham,  Truman  Smith,  I  know  not  how  many  more. 

% 

July  2,  1850. 

Mr.  Upham  is  making  a  very  sensible,  good  speech,  to  fifteen  or  sixteen 
Senators;  the  rest,  as  well  as  the  audience,  who  had  gathered  to  hear  General 
Houston’s  loud  declamation,  having  withdrawn.  I  am  to  take  the  floor  when 
Mr.  Upham  concludes.  What  chance  I  have,  you  may  judge;  but  I  feel 
quite  sure  I  shall  be  heard  by  the  country.  The  Southern  men  have  concluded 
to  give  us  the  appropriations,  without  resistance;  and  they  will  try,  T  think, 
after  defeating  the  “Omnibus,’’  to  defeat  “California”  by  irregular  means. 

When  Senator  Upham  sat  down,  Seward  rose  to  make  his  second 
speech  against  the  “Compromise.”  It  was  received  with  more  inter¬ 
est  than  the  one  in  March.  Ill  success  had  attended  attempts  to  put 
him  down  by  affected  indifference.  Galleries  as  well  as  Senators 
seemed  to  think  it  might  be  as  well  to  listen  to  hvhat  he  should  have 
to  say.  Besides,  the  President’s  policy  was  growing  in  public  esteem. 


142 


THE  SLAVEHOLDERS’  DREAM. 


[1850. 


and  Seward  had  come  to  be  regarded  now  as  the  leader,  if  not  of  all 
the  Administration  forces,  at  least  of  the  Whig  members  in  the  New 
York  delegation;  several  of  whom  had,  by  this  time,  taken  ground  in 
the  debate,  against  the  “Compromise.” 

He  began  by  remarking,  that, 

If  a  stranger  should  chance  to  enter,  during  these  high  debates,  he  would 
ask  whether  California  was  an  enemy,  or  an  unbidden  and  unwelcome  intru¬ 
der,  or  an  oppressor,  hateful  and  dangerous?  We  should  be  obliged  to  an¬ 
swer:  “No!  she  has  brought  us  to  the  banks  of  streams  which  flow  over  pre¬ 
cious  sands,  and  at  the  base  of  mountains  which  yield  massive  gold.  She 
delivers  into  our  hand  the  key  that  unlocks  the  long-coveted  treasures  of  the 
Eastern  world.  California  refuses  only  to  let  us  buy  and  sell  each  other, 
within  her  domain.  She  invites  us  to  extend  the  sway  of  peace,  of  arts,  and 
of  freedom.  The  very  head  and  front  of  her  offending  hath  this  extent  —  no 
more.” 

Taking  up  in  succession  “the  other  parties  affected  by  the  com¬ 
bination,”  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 
he  showed  how  the  Compromise  meant  merely,  to  give  slavery,  in  each 
of  them,  some  advantage  which  it  did  not  already  possess.  He  de¬ 
scribed  “  The  Slave-holder’s  Dream  ”  of 

new  States  which  will  surround  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  cover  its  islands.  Those 
new  States,  combined  with  the  slave  States  already  existing,  will  constitute  a 
slave  empire,  whose  seat  of  commerce  on  the  Crescent  levee,  will  domineer  not 
only  over  the  southern  portion  of  the  continent,  but  through  the  Mississippi 
and  its  far-reaching  tributaries,  over  the  broad  valley  that  stretches  away  from 
the  foot  of  the  Alleghanies  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This,  Sir, 
is  the  dream  of  the  slave-holder,  and  this  is  the  interpretation  thereof.  I  know 
full  well  that  it  is  woven  of  the  “stuff”  that  “all  dreams  are  made  of.”  I 
know  how  hopeless  would  be  the  attempt  to  establish  and  to  maintain  such 
States,  and  an  empire  composed  of  such  States.  But  I  know  that  nothing 
seems  to  slavery  impossible,  after  advantages  already  won. 

Recalling  the  popular  apprehensions  of  the  winter,  he  said: 

We  were  harassed  by  alarms  of  danger  to  the  Republic.  Well,  Sir,  Cali¬ 
fornia,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  the  District  of  Columbia,  were  no  sooner  crowded 
and  crammed  into  this  unwieldy,  rickety  ark,  through  distrust  of  the  cus¬ 
tomary  vehicles  of  legislation,  to  weather  out  the  dark  and  dangerous  storm, 
than  the  storm  passed  away  like  a  cloud  in  April !  The  ominous  kalends  of 
June  have  come,  and  with  them,  the  extra  constitutional  assemblage  at  Nash¬ 
ville;  but  not  its  invading  fleets  and  hostile  armies.  So,  also,  the  crisis  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  has  come  without  disclosing  steep  ruin.  The  politi¬ 
cal  elements  have  subsided  from  their  wild  uproar.  Why  not,  now,  let  Cali¬ 
fornia  resume  the  voyage,  in  her  own  separate  vessel;  and  following  the  Presi¬ 
dential  chart  make  the  port  speedily  and  in  safety  ? 


1850.] 


THE  PRESIDENT’S  ILLNESS. 


143 


And  finally,  after  warning  them  that  all  such  compromises,  even  if 
adopted,  would  be  futile,  he  said: 

You  may  slay  the  “  Wilmot  Proviso  ”  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  bury  it 
beneath  the  Capitol  to-day;  the  dead  corse,  in  complete  steel,  will  haunt 
your  legislative  halls  to-morrow! 

He  wrote  home: 

July  3. 

You  will  learn  that  I  made  my  intended  speech  ;  and  will  even  have  seen  the 
speech  itself  before  you  get  this.  I  got  the  floor,  under  the  most  unfavorable 
circumstances,  just  at  the  dinner  hour,  having  waived  the  morning  privilege  in 
favor  of  others.  My  speecli  was,  nevertheless,  heard  by  a  full  house;  and  the 
kind  expressions  I  receive  are  all  I  could  have  desired. 

July  5. 

The  morning  has  been  spent  in  revising  proofs.  The  speech  brings  me 
much  commendation.  Colonel  Bell  has  the  floor  to-day,  with  a  speech  which 
assails  the  ‘‘Compromise,”  while  he  withholds  any  declaration  of  his  purpose, 
as  to  his  vote. 

July  6. 

It  is  Saturday,  and  it  is  the  third  day  of  Colonel  Bell’s  speech.  Mrs.  Bell 
is  in  the  gallery,  and  is  seeing  how  well  her  husband  can  reason,  against  a 
measure  he  is  going  to  vote  for. 

1  drove  yesterday  to  the  Navy  Yard,  but  Mrs.  Ballard,  as  the  Commodore, 
wTere  absent.  Then  to  the  President  —  learned  that  he  was  ill,  — then  to  the 
other  ministers  —  found  a  kind  reception  at  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury’s 
hospitable  mansion. 

July  7. 

Our  friend,  Col.  Bell,  closed  his  speech  yesterday.  It  was,  all  of  it,  sensible, 
spirited,  and  able;  yet  it  did  not  bring  even  himself  to  a  decision,  whether  to 
vote  for  or  against  the  bill.  Our  excellent  friend,  Truman  Smith,  got  the 
floor,  for  to-morrow,  to  make  a  sensible  speech,  which,  of  course,  will  not  be 
at  all  appreciated . 

General  Taylor  has  been  ill,  but  the  newspapers  have  not  got  news  of  it. 

July  8. 

The  President  is  sick,  of  a  bilious  attack.  The  Vice-President  is  “  tempted 
to  strange  thoughts.” 

I  wTas  at  Mr.  Meredith’s  last  night,  and  found  him  disturbed  by  apprehen¬ 
sions  of  censure  about  the  “Galphin  Claim.”  The  House  has  censured  Mr. 
Crawdord  severely  and  by  a  heavy  majority,  and  have  gratuitously  attacked 
the  President.  I  doubt  not  that  the  same  judgment  will  be  meted  out  to  Mr. 
Johnson  and  to  Mr.  Meredith.  Do  you  remember  my  conversation  with  the 
President?  How  unfortunate  that  my  suggestions  were  not  adopted. 

July  9. 

Although  the  telegraph  will  anticipate  by  hours  and  days  what  I  write,  I 
cannot  omit  to  speak  my  dreadful  apprehensions  about  the  President.  He  is 


144 


DEATH  OF  PRESIDENT  TAYLOR. 


[1850. 


in  extreme  danger.  All  that  can  be  said  of  encouragement  by  his  physicians 
is,  that  “  there  is  hope.’’  My  feelings  are  saddened  by  this  event. 

Truman  Smith  concluded  his  speech  yesterday.  Mr.  Butler  o"f  South  Caro¬ 
lina  is  just  beginning  a  speech.  The  “Compromise”  is  supposed  to  be  lost, 
but  Heaven  knows  what  will  be  the  change  that  the  President’s  withdrawal 
from  us  would  produce. 

The  dreaded  calamity  came  before  the  next  morning  dawned.  Pres¬ 
ident  Taylor  lay  dead  at  the  White  House.  It  was  the  second  of  that 
series  of  events,  each  of  which  has  made  an  epoch  in  the  national 
history. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1850. 

Death  of  President  Taylor.  Resignation  of  the  Cabinet.  Change  of  Administrative 
Policy.  President  Fillmore  and  the  Compromise.  Webster  and  Clay.  Debate  on 
New  Mexico.  The  Compromise  Gaining  Ground.  California  Admitted.  Territorial 
and  Texas  Bills.  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  “  Final  Settlement  of  the  Slavery  Question.’' 

July  10. 

I  am  right  glad  that  you  were  not  within  hearing  of  that  sad  tolling  of  the 
bells  at  midnight  that  announced  to  the  people  of  the  metropolis  the  death  of 
him,  in  whom  all  trusted  and  whom  all  loved.  The  President  died  like  a  brave, 
undaunted  Christian.  I  never  saw  grief,  public  grief,  so  universal  and  so  pro¬ 
found.  There  is  no  man  who  speaks  of  it  without  swelling  thoughts  that  arrest 
utterance. 

There  is  a  new  President.  I  think  he  is  more  to  be  commiserated  than  the 
pure  and  noble  spirit  that  hashed.  I  have  discharged  my  duty  to  the  dead  one 
according  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  I  believe  he  and  all  his  friends  were  sat¬ 
isfied  of  that.  I  have  waited  twice,  thrice,  upon  the  successor,  and  tendered 
what  counsel  and  aid  I  could  render.  But  he  can  comprehend  neither  me  nor 
his  own  embarrassed  position.  I  suppress  in  conversation  with  all  others, 
what  you  may  safely  know,  my  apprehensions  that  his  administration  will  be 
conducted  in  a  spirit  of  war  and  proscription  against  me,  and  all  with  whom  I 
act,  and  that  this  will  occur  simply  because  he  does  not  at  all  know  or  under¬ 
stand  his  position  or  mine.  All  is  dark  for  him  and  for  the  country,  and  there 
is  not  a  ray  of  light  to  enable  me  to  see  through  it.  He  seems  to  have  none  of 
the  faculty  of  which  the  late  President  had  so  much,  of  inspiring  affection  and 
confidence. 

I  called  at  the  White  House  to-day.  The  family  seemed  attached  and  grate¬ 
ful  to  us.  I  thought  it  wdse  to  be  silent  in  the  Senate  to-day.  Everybody  is 
discussing  me,  and  I  am  desirous  to  avoid  giving  proofs  that  I  am  wanting  in 
moderation.  God  be  praised  !  my  eulogy  was  spoken  when  General  Taylor 
needed  friends,  and  my  action  vindicated  it. 


1850.] 


PRESIDENT  EILLMORE. 


145 


I  have  telegraphed  to  Weed  to  come  here  to  consult  with  me  in  this  great 
emergency,  and  I  have  boldly  advised  the  President  to  retain  the  Cabinet. 
Here  I  wait  and  rest  in  the  prospect  of  being  relieved  from  responsibilities 
which  have  oppressed  me. 

July  11. 

The  Cabinet  have  resigned,  but  between  you  and  myself,  they  all  wish  to 
retain  their  places,  except  Governor  Crawford,  who,  I  think,  is  happy  in 
chance  of  escape. 

My  illness  has  relieved  me  from  the  painful  duty  of  renewing  disregarded 
counsels  to  the  P.  My  friends  have  not  been  admitted  to  me  to-day. 
Some  of  them  certainly  remain,  but  they  are  at  least  decimated.  I  have  seen 
no  one  since  morning,  and  I  have  heard  no  news  since  then,  but  all  that  trans¬ 
pires  shows  that  the  friends  of  Southern  policy  or  of  Northern  subserviency  to 
it  are  flushed  with  the  confident  hope  that  the  new  Administration  will  go  into 
their  hands, —  as  indeed  I  do  not  see  how  it  could  do  otherwise. 

The  temper  of  those  with  whom  I  have  acted,  in  fighting  the  battle,  under 
the  late  President,  is  quite  certain  to  bring  us  all  into  Coventry.  It  seems  to 
me  that  this  must  bring  me  into  a  state  of  great  comfort.  I  shall  be  feared 
less;  while- 1  shall  be  avoided,  by  all  the  crowds  of  parasites  and  office-seekers. 

My  own  course  of  conduct  will  remain  the  same,  but  I  do  not  see  how  it 
can  help  bringing  me  into  opposition  to  the  new  Administration,  if  it  takes 
the  departure  from  the  policy  of  General  Taylor,  which  I  apprehend. 

July  12. 

The  Cabinet  have  tendered  their  resignations  ;  and  the  question  of  accepting 
them  is  in  abeyance.  The  town  is  full  of  rumors,  and  I  may  say  of  discon¬ 
tent.  The  Whigs,  who  have  weathered  so  far  through  the  storm,  insist  that 
Mr.  Fillmore  is  a  Whig,  bound  to  adhere  to  the  policy  of  his  lamented  pre¬ 
decessor.  Slavery  Whigs  and  Democrats  demand  a  change  of  the  Cabinet,  and 
.a,  surrender  to  the  Compromise.  Both  parties  see  him,  advise  with  him,  and 
are  listened  to  with  respect;  but  they  receive  no  answer,  no  satisfaction.  All, 
therefore,  are  equally  alarmed,  and  equally  dissatisfied. 

Thus  Providence  has  at  last  led  the  man  of  hesitation  and  double  opinions, 
to  the  crisis,  where  decision  and  singleness  are  indispensable.  You  will  see 
that  the  Evening  Journal  fixes  the  conditions  of  support.  I  know  not  how  the 
new  P.  can  adopt  them;  or  how  he  can  decline  them.  Washington  is  filling 
up  with  strangers.  I  should  be  induced  to  withdraw,  if  my  absence  from  the 
funeral  might  not  give  pain  to  the  family,  who  deserve  every  thing  at  our  hands. 

To  Weed,  lie  wrote: 

July  12. 

I  have  your  two  notes,  and  that  noble  article  in  the  Journal.  If  any  thing 
could  bring  the  person  concerned  to  wisdom,  that  would  do  it.  I  think  he 
will  turn  out  to  be  neither  quite  right  nor  quite  wrong.  I  hear  of  Mr.  Hunt’s 
arrival ;  but  he  has  not  yet  called  on  me.  The  quidnuncs  have  me  annihilated, 
for  which  happy  state  I  thank  God. 

All  men  of  all  parties  have  called  on  the  P.,  and  all  come  away,  without 
10 


146 


THEY  ARE  ALL  HERE. 


[1850. 


(( 


knowing  or  being  able  to  conjecture  any  thing.  I  believe  that  I  am  not 
obliged  to  advise  more  than  I  have  done,  unless  upon  notice  that  counsel  is 
wanted.  You  are  very  wise  in  staying  away.  I  wish  I  were  as  far  off. 

July  14. 

They  are  all  here.  They  surround  the  P.  They  want  peace  —  they  depre¬ 
cate  disturbance  of  the  Whig  party  in  New  York.  They  think  it  is  to  be  pre¬ 
vented,  by  moderating  intolerance  to  the  few  friends  we  have  in  place.  But 
they  do  not  conceive,  for  a  moment,  a  policy  so  right  as  the  preservation  of 
General  Taylor’s  Cabinet.  A  President  must  be  a  President,  they  think.  He 
must  make  a  new  Cabinet,  or  he  would  not  be  a  President!  That  Cabinet 
must  be  a  compromise  Cabinet,  to  unite  Whigs  —  therefore,  half  and  half. 
And  they  do  not  see  that  a  seam,  once  opened,  will  let  in  the  flood,  and  sink 
the  ship.  Not  a  word  has  the  P.  said  to  the  head  of  the  State,  or  of  the 
Treasury,  or  of  the  Interior,  about  the  future;  while  he  manifestly  reveals  to 
others,  that  Webster  is  to  go  in,  and  Dawson;  and  balances  with  Corwin. 
Truman  Smith  is  right  altogether;  but  he  is  desponding.  I  have  not  at¬ 
tempted,  in  person,  to  break  the  charmed  circle;  and  I  shall  keep  out  of  it. 
There  are  all  manner  of  rumors,  of  the  changes  which  will  pass  the  Compro¬ 
mise  Bill. 

Writing  home,  after  the  funeral,  he  said: 

July  14. 

The  funeral  pageant  called  me  from  home  early,  and  kept  me  out  late.  I 
will  not  describe  it;  it  was  painfully  magnificent.  Its  tendency  was  to  inspire 
respect  for  virtue,  and  emulation  of  it.  As  soon  as  I  had  dined,  I  went  to  the 
White  House,  called  for  Colonel  Taylor  and  Dr.  Wood,  and  to  them  I  ex¬ 
pressed  all  the  gratitude  and  affection  for  all  the  family,  that  you  and  I  both 
feel.  I  shall  give  Mrs.  Taylor  your  letter,  at  a  fitting  moment. 

There  are  gathered  around  the  P.  all  the  friends  who  have  factiously  sus¬ 
tained  him.  He  is  undecided,  perplexed.  He  wishes  for  peace  and  harmony. 
I  am  led  to  believe  that  he  will  try  to  compromise,  to  give  out  that  he 
leaves  the  late  President’s  plan  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress; 
while  he  will  displace  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  Cabinet,  and  bring  in  Mr. 
Webster. 

It  is  painful  to  see  the  friends  of  slavery  confidently  calculating  upon  the 
desertion  of  the  P.,  and  of  a  portion  of  the  party,  from  our  own  impregnable 
ground.  But  we  shall  see  that  the  Whig  party  have  got  just  what  they  called 
for,  in  the  nomination  of  a  conservative  Vice-President. 

July  15. 

There  is  mirth,  merriment,  and  no  little  insolence  and  contumely  all  over 
the  town;  and  somehow,  very  strangely,  the  sadness  is  chiefly  with  me.  I  am, 
with  a  few  friends,  the  only  visitors  of  the  Cabinet,  who  a  week  ago  were  so 
great.  They  are  all  to  go  out,  to  go  home;  sent  home  as  unworthy  to  be  kept 
by  a  Whig  President.  It  is  even  chronicled  of  me,  as  a  wicked  thing,  that  I 
have  recommended  their  being  retained.  I  am  quite  sure  that  my  sentiments 
are  quite  unfashionable  —  fidelity,  constancy,  justice,  humanity !  Why,  John 


1850.  J 


THE  NEW  CABINET 


147 


Jay  and  Franklin  would  be  mocked  in  the  streets,  if  they  were  to  revisit 
Washington ! 

Again,  to  Weed  he  said: 

July  15. 

I  shall  not  touch,  or  attempt  to  touch,  an  appointment.  I  shall  vote  for  all 
appointments,  sustain  the  Administration,  except  on  the  cardinal  question  of 
slavery,  keep  out  of  quarrels  with  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Foote,  if  possible.  Can  I 
do  more?  If  you  will  advise  me,  I  will  be  thankful. 

July  10. 

The  .P.  recoils,  asks  time.  Mr.  Webster  hesitates  and  shrinks.  The  P.  is 
hesitating.  It  is  found  that  thirty  days  are  necessary  to  enable  him  to  decide. 
All  is  uncertainty.  Everybody  is  here  that  has  heretofore  been  willing  to  be 
regarded  as  a  friend,  peculiarly,  of  the  President.  On  Sunday,  Webster  was 
surely  selected.  On  Monday,  it  turned  out  all  a  mistake.  Curtis  earnestly 
presses  Mr.  Webster.  The  tariff  is  coming  into  play  again  as  the  instrument. 
But  the  tariff  may  possibly  pass  the  Compromise  Bill  in  the  House,  if  it  reaches 
there.  The  compromise  cannot  pass  the  tariff. 

July  17. 

Mr.  Webster  has  made  another  great  speech;  I  think  it  will  be  any  thing 
but  a  salve  to  the  old  sore.  The  P.,  on  Monday,  asked  for  thirty  days.  Yes¬ 
terday,  the  Cabinet  answered  they  would  stay  until  next  Monday;  no  longer. 

You  remember  Mr.  Weller,  senior,  on  the  comparison  of  the  coach  and  the 
railroad.  “There  we  are.”  Must  we  wait  until  we  can  repair  the  coach? 

He  wrote  Mrs.  Seward: 

July  18. 

I  called  last  evening  on  Miss  Bremer,  and  gave  her  an  airing  for  an  hour  or 
two  before  sunset.  She  is  a  very  intelligent,  gentle  person  of  about  forty  or 
forty -five,  I  think.  I  gave  her  a  letter  to  you.  She  leaves  Washington  on 
Monday. 

July  10. 

I  had  a  pleasant  visit  to  Sir  Henry  Bulwer  last  evening.  He  and  Lady  Bul- 
wer  are  drooping  under  the  effects  of  the  season.  They  expect  to  go  to  Staten 
Island  as  soon  as  the  Cabinet  shall  have  been  formed.  They  promise  to  visit 
you  soon  afterward. 

The  ladies  of  the  President’s  family  withdrew  from  the  city  last  night.  I 
expect  to  see  them  in  Baltimore.  I  called  this  morning  at  the. White  House 
on  business.  It  was  all  the  same,  only  the  occupant  was  changed.  It  was  a 
sad  sight  for  me. 

To  Weed,  the  next  day,  lie  wrrote: 

July  20. 

Well,  you  see  the  Cabinet.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  well  enough  if  these  ques¬ 
tions  were  well  over.  As  it  is,  it  compromises,  and,  therefore,  seems  inevit¬ 
ably  to  divide.  It  is  neither  one  thing  nor  the  other.  We  hear  that  you  go  to 
Europe.  I  wish  that  I  could  go  with  you. 

The  government  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  Mr.  Clay  is  its  organ 
in  Congress. 


148 


CLAY  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1S50. 


July  21. 

The  Cabinet  was  composed  on  the  dictation  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  he  is  happy. 
I  believe  you  are  advised  just' how  far  I  have  been  concerned.  I  tendered  my 
own  advice  and  aid,  and  yours.  I  advised  to  retain  all  the  Cabinet  but  Mr. 
Crawford.  I  advised  to  retain  Clayton  at  all  events.  This  was  on  the  first 
day.  After  that,  I  went  no  more  near  the  presence,  and  I  was  not  invited  to 
come. 

I  spoke  in  executive  session,  in  commendation  of  Mr.  Hall,  and  was  ready 
to  defend  Corwin.  Now,  for  the  future,  I  propose  on  no  account,  political  or 
personal,  to  darken  the  porch  of  the  F.,  or  any  of  his  ministers,  unless  called 
upon,  except  on  such  social  occasions  as  may  bring  in  all  the  world.  I  pro¬ 
pose  to  defend  right  measures,  and  let  wrong  ones  alone,  except  those  which 
may  involve  my  own  u peculiar  principles,”  as  they  are  called. 

I  see  that  the  hounds  are  let  loose  upon  you,  and  that  you  stand  nobly  at 
bay;  I  think  that  is  right.  We  are  to  go  through  a  period  of  non-action,  non¬ 
intervention,  re-action,  in  which  I  shall  be  hunted  as  well  as  you.  I  propose 
to  stand  fast,  and  wait  the  turn  of  the  tide. 

There  will  be  a  grand  battle  fought  over  New  Mexico.  I  propose  to  lead 
for  New  Mexico,  if  allowed,  as  I  did  for  California. 

To  Mrs.  Seward,  he  wrote: 

July  21. 

It  is  Sunday  —  a  Sunday  come  at  last,  after  a  week  of  sadness  and  solicitude 
on  political  and  public  accounts.  I  have  forced  things  in  the  House  to  dine 
General  Scott,  Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  and  the  outgoing  Cabinet.  Others,  I  think, 
would  strain  a  point  to  dine  the  incoming  one. 

The  new  ministry  is  appointed.  It  is  just  so  much  of  a  compromise  Cabinet 
that  one  can  neither  approve  it  nor  condemn  it.  It  will  begin  so  and  go  on 
so  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

Henceforth,  if  I  muzzle  not  my  mouth  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  I  cer¬ 
tainly  shall  not,  I  shall  be  set  down  as  a  disturber,  seeking  to  disturb  the 
Whig  Administration  and  derange  the  Whig  party.  So  we  go,  in  this  chang¬ 
ing  world!  If  I  were  to  fall  short  of  my  former  zeal,  I  should  only  hasten  the 
ruin,  which  I  shall  not  be  allowed  to  labor  to  prevent.  I  suppose  you  will  see 
enough  of  the  papers  to  learn  that  the  hounds  are  let  loose  upon  Weed.  Pretty 
soon  they  will  begin  to  bark  at  me,  and  what  a  pretty  chorus  they  will  have 
throughout  all  the  cities ! 

Mr.  Clay  is  happy.  The  Administration  is,  in  all  its  parts,  acceptable  to 
him,  and  he  is  now  the  dictator  he  aimed  to  be. 

July  22. 

The  new  Cabinet  goes  into  office  to-day.  Mr.  Clay  is  making  his  final  speech. 
He  speaks  much  more  temperately  than  usual.  The  argument  is  a  good  one ; 
but  in  any  other  Senator’s  mouth  it  would  not  be  called  a  great  one.  The 
galleries  are  crowded,  admiring,  and  happy.  It  is  idle  to  speculate  now  about 
the  probable  fate  of  the  bill.  The  decision  is  at  hand.  Mr.  Webster  expresses 
great  desire  for  the  passage  of  the  bill.  The  President  does  not  yet  intimate 
an  opinion. 


t 


1850.]  THREATS  TO  EXPEL  HIM.  149 

July  23. 

I  called  this  morning  on  the  members  of  the  retiring  Cabinet.  Mr.  Clayton, 
no  longer  Secretary,  was  to  be  seen  in  his  robe-de-chambre.  Mr.  Ewing  comes 
into  the  Senate  to  replace  Mr.  Corwin.  Mr.  Collamer  is  desponding  below  any 
degree  of  despondency  I  have  ever  touched. 

Mr.  Clay’s  speech  yesterday  is  said  to  be  better  than  the  efforts  of  his  earlier 
days.  Well,  you  will  judge. 

I  go  not  near  the  new  Cabinet.  They  shall  not  have  the  complaint  any 
longer  that  I  am  too  busy  in  rendering  advice  and  aid. 

July  24. 

Our  dinner  yesterday  was  given  to  friends  whom  deprival  of  office  deprived 
of  appetite.  Geperal  Scott  was  eloquent,  but  prolix ;  Mr.  Meredith  agreeable ; 
Mr.  Collamer  mournful.  The  influence  of  the  new  Administration  is  seen  in 
the  general  disposition  prevailing  in  both  Houses  to  favor  the  Compromise. 
We  have  painful  indications  of  giving  way  on  the  part  of  men  heretofore  as¬ 
suring  us  of  their  firmness.  It  is  sad,  sad  enough  to  see  the  fickleness  and  in¬ 
consistency  of  statesmen,  if  such  they  are. 

July  25. 

Time  and  the  tergiversations  of  the  Whig  Administration  are  doing  their 
work.  The  friends  of  the  “  Compromise  ”  Bill  now  claim  that  it  will  pass, 
and  we  are  holding  back  to  wait  for  reinforcements  by  the  new  Senators 
from  Massachusetts  and  Ohio.  The  House  of  Representatives  is  practically 
disorganized.  The  resistance  there  to  the  “  Compromise  ”  is  exhausted,  and 
there  is  every  thing  to  discourage.  The  old  Cabinet  are  disappearing,  and  the 
new  one  is  in  place. 

Governor  Baldwin  is  making  a  good  speech  to  empty  seats,  and  I  must  sus¬ 
tain  and  listen  to  him. 

July  25,  1850. 

We  have  had  a  scene  in  the  Senate  of  which,  most  unexpectedly,  I  was  made 
the  prominent  figure.  Desertion  is  all  around  us,  and  the  friends  of  the  Compro¬ 
mise,  swollen  in  number  and  in  pride,  yesterday  attempted  to  “sit  us  out.”  On 
our  side  we  were  anxious  to  delay  the  question,  until  the  arrival  of  the  new 
Senators  from  Massachusetts  and  Ohio.  So  it  was  understood  that  we  should 
debate  through  the  day.  *  I  offered  an  amendment  for  the  admission  of  New 
Mexico,  and  argued  it  at  length.  Governor  Pratt  of  Maryland  rose,  with  much 
vehemence,  to  reply,  and  commenced  putting  into  my  mouth  strange  perversions 
of  my  speech  of  March  the  2d,  so  erroneous  and  absurd,  that  it  was,  of  course, 
for  me  to  deny  that  I  had  ever  expressed  any  of  the  propositions  he  attributed 
to  me,  with  a  flourish,  threatening  to  move  my  expulsion.  I  disclaimed  vin¬ 
dication,  but  relied  on  my  speech  itself.  The  debate  became  general,  and  I 
think  it  resulted  in  leaving  the  gentlemen  floored,  and  the  public  mind  in  a 
way  of  being  better  advised. 

I  will  not  undertake  to  detail  the  strange  debate  of  to-day.  You  will  have 
it  in  a  day  or  two  in  the  newspapers,  and  even  to-morrow  by  telegraph.  I 
think  they  will  scarcely  propose  to  expel  me  again. 


150 


THE  DEBATE  OYER  HEW  MEXICO. 


[1850. 


Tho  galleries  of  Congress  reflect  the  prevailing  temper  at  the  capi¬ 
tal,  and  on  this  day  the  partisans  of  the  “  Compromise  ”  were  pre¬ 
dominant.  Nods  and  winks  were  exchanged,  and  a  murmur  of  sup¬ 
pressed  satisfaction  went  round,  as  they  heard  the  beginning  of  this 
onslaught  upon  the  “  ultra”  Senator  from  New  York.  But  it  sub¬ 
sided,  as  they  heard  his  cool  and  calm  reply: 

If  there  is  any  proposition  I  have  ever  made,  any  measure  I  have  ever 
proposed,  which  I  am  willing  to  stand  by,  here,  before  the  country,  and  before 
the  world,  it  is  the  proposition  I  have  now  submitted.  Therefore,  though  I 
stand  alone,  I  shall  be  content,  convinced  that  I  stand  right.  I  do  not  propose 
to  reply  to  what  is  personal  in  the  remarks  of  the  Hon.  Senator  from  Mary¬ 
land.  I  have  nothing  of  a  personal  character  to  say.  There  is  no  man  in  this 
land  who  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  this  country  and  to  mankind  to  justify 
his  consumption  of  five  minutes  of  the  time  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
with  personal  explanations  of  himself.  When  the  Senator  made  his  remarks,  I 
rose  to  explain  to  him  that  he  was  under  a  misapprehension.  The  speeches 
which  I  have  made  here,  under  a  rule  of  the  Senate,  are  recorded,  and  what  is 
recorded  has  gone  before  the  people,  and  will  go,  worthy  or  not,  into  history. 
I  leave  them  to  mankind;  I  stand  by  what  I  have  said.  That  is  all  I  have  to 
say  upon  that  subject. 

The  Senator  proposes  to  expel  me.  I  am  ready  to  meet  that  trial,  too,  and 
if  I  shall  be  expelled  I  shall  not  be  the  first  man  subjected  to  punishment  for 
maintaining  that  there  is  a  power  higher  than  human  law;  and  that  power 
delights  in  justice;  that  rulers,  whether  despots  or  elected  rulers  of  a  free 
people,  are  bound  to  administer  justice  for  the  benefit  of  society.  Senators, 
when  they  jfiease  to  bring  me  for  trial,  or  otherwise,  before  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  will  find  a  clear  and  open  field.  I  ask  no  other  defense  than  the 
speeches  upon  which  they  propose  to  condemn  me. 

Dismissing  thus  the  personal  matter,  he  then  resumed  and  con¬ 
cluded  his  argument  for  admitting  New  Mexico  as  a  free  State. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  he  continued: 

July  29. 

Here  we  are  in  the  whirl  of  the  agony  of  final  debate.  It  is  quite  apparent 
that  the  slave  power  is  to  have  its  triumphs  in  the  Senate,  and  there  is  little 
reason  to  hope  that  it  will  be  less  successful  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
One  by  one  partial  aids  are  given  to  the  bill  by  men  who  have  heretofore  op¬ 
posed  it. 

July  31. 

W e  have  done  our  duty  and  can  do  no  more.  The  influences  exerted  are  too 
much  for  weak  human  nature  in  August.  The  Administration  avoids  speak¬ 
ing  officially,  but  gives  out  unofficially  that  the  bill  is  approved.  I  wish  I  had 
confidence  in  the  House  that  the  friends  of  the  right  would  make  a  decent 
resistance,  but  they  have  no  leader  and  no  courage.  If  they  had  both,  they 
would  have  sent  California  to  us  four  or  five  months  ago. 


1850.] 


TIIE  CALIFORNIA  BILL. 


151 


July  31. 

It  is  now  quite  well,  universally  understood  here  that  the  President  desires 
the  passage  of  the  “Compromise  ”  Bill,  and  his  influence  is  rapidly  demoral¬ 
izing  us.  I  do  not  see  the  end.  But  I  do  see  that  I  am  in  the  course  dictated 
by  justice  and  fidelity. 

The  “  Omnibus  Bill  ”  was  defeated,  but  its  component  parts  were 
taken  up  separately.  A  letter  to  Weed  said: 

August  2. 

Well,  we  have  disposed  of  the  “Omnibus  Bill.”  Let  me  apprise  you  of  the 
actual  state  of  things.  There  is  no  secret  here  of  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
Administration  to  have  the  Texas  Border  question  and  the  Territorial  Bills  pass, 
separately,  through  both  Houses,  thus  effecting  the •“  Compromise  ”  in  another 
way.  Now,  these  bills  cannot  pass  the  House  without  disgracing  the  New 
York  Whig  delegation,  and  perhaps  ruining  the  hopes  of  the  State.  I  think 
you  can  now  do  good  by  coming  here.  Is  it  not  best  ? 

To  Mrs.  Seward  lie  said: 

August  1. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  new  debate  to-day.  Mr.  Dawson  is  opening  to  us 
a  new  chapter  of  horrors.  I  know  not  how  many  dough-faces  he  will  find. 
Mr.  Clay  is  engaged  at  this  moment  in  pronouncing  the  funeral  oration  over 
his  “  Omnibus.”  He  is  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  mourning. 

August  2. 

The  California  Bill  must  pass  the  Senate  before  I  can  leave  here,  and  the 
other  bills,  territorial  and  others,  must  not  pass  when  I  am  absent;  because 
I  must  vote  against  them.  The  new  Administration  has  assumed  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  its  own  affairs.  My  responsibilities  are  much  diminished. 

Mr.  Clay  brought  down  applause  from  the  galleries,  by  his  charge  into  the 
South  Carolina  chivalry;  and  Mr.  Foote  did  the  same. 

To  Weed  lie  wrote: 

August  3.  v 

You  see,  now,  how  the  land  lies,  in  part.  The  “  Omnibus’’  scheme  is  ex¬ 
ploded,  California  is  before  the  Senate,  as  a  separate  measure.  We  have  at 
least  thirty-three  votes  for  it,  unchanged;  and  for  passing  it  first,  and  as  soon 
as  possible.  It  is  a  question  which  will  not  be  postponed.  The  Southern  gen¬ 
tlemen  will  probably  seek  to  stimulate  resistance,  in  the  House,  by  hindering 
and  delaying  our  bill  in  the  Senate. 

The  President  and  Mr.  Webster  were  distressed  by  the  loss  of  the  “  Omni¬ 
bus.’’ 

I  have  your  letter  about  the  New  Mexico  debate,  and  I  thank  you  for  it.  It 
turned  out  well.  Among  ourselves,  and  in  the  midst  of  “  dough-faceism  ” 
all  around  us  and  among  us,  I  was  willing  to  seem  to  go  farthest. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  lie  wrote: 

August  3. 

We  have  taken  up  the  California  Bill  alone;  and  we  must  pass  it.  The 
Southern  Senators  threaten  deadly  resistance  to  its  passage.  We  have  spent 


153 


A  DAY  AT  MOUNT  VERNON. 


[1850. 


two  days  upon  it;  and  we  do  not  know  whether  we  are  to  pass  it  in  one  more 
day,  or  in  thirty.  The  Senate  adjourned  over  to-day.  I  am  desirous  to  find 
some  place  of  refuge  from  the  monotonous  scene  of  the  Capitol. 

August  4. 

Yesterday  morning,  we  set  off,  Frederick,  Caroline,  and  I,  in  one  of  Cor¬ 
nelius’  carriages,  to  Mt.  Vernon.  The  road  was  long,  and  most  of  the  way 
rough,  and  the  weather  intensely  hot.  But  we  were  in  the  country,  and  for 
long  and  pleasant  hours  in  the  woods;  and  we  were  away  from  the  haunts  of 
men,  from  their  cares,  and  their  speeches.  I  came  home  fatigued,  but  with 
my  mind  set  on  subjects  entirely  different  from  those  which  had  absorbed  it. 

Mt.  Vernon  is  beautiful,  but  mournfully  beautiful,  far  more  touchingly  so, 
than  when  we  saw  it  together  in  1835.  You  may  recollect  that  it  wTas  entered 
by  a  gate,  on  each  side  of  which  w’as  a  porter’s  lodge.  The  lodges  are  there, 
but  falling  into  ruin ;  the  gate  is  there,  but  the  wall  between  the  gate  and  the 
lodges  is  down ;  and  you  drive  over  the  heaps  of  stone,  unchecked  and  un¬ 
reproved.  The  spacious  brick  tenements  that  lined  the  avenue  to  the  man¬ 
sion  are  crumbling  down;  the  roofs  have  fallen  in;  and  the  woodbine  and 
trumpet-creeper  are  growing  over  the  desolate  walls.  The  alleys,  passages,, 
and  ways  are  littered  with  fallen  trees ;  and  the  whole  place  bears  evidence  of 
coarse,  careless  husbandry.  The  house  has  lost  its  bright  and  cleanly  air;  and 
the  great  dining  hall,  that  was  so  beautiful,  has  now  the  air  of  a  deserted 
country  ball-room.  Coarse,  ill-clad  negroes  were  the  only  occupants  we  saw. 
Fallen  trees  and  bushes  choke  up  the  way  to  the  vault.  We  went  to  the  river 
side;  spread  our  collation  on  the  rocks;  and  after  a  ramble  on  the  beach,  we 
made  our  way  home  again.  I  send  you  a  sprig  of  evergreen  from  the  tombs, 
and  to  Fanny  a  little  tiger  lily  that  we  found  growing  profusely  on  the  banka 
of  the  river. 

Avgust  5. 

Sunday  has  brought  me  no  incident  worthy  of  note.  At  church,  we  sat,  of 
course,  with  the  Washingtons.  I  attended  old  Mrs.  Lee  home.  She  seems  a 
very  kind  and  good  old  lady,  and  she  entertained  me  with  many  anecdotes  of 
General  Washington,  whom  she  knew  well. 

Our  street  now  shows  us  an  illustration  of  life  in  Washington.  Mr.  Hall,  of 
the  Republic ,  has  just  moved  into  Mr.  Burke’s  house,  while  the  auctioneer’s 
Hag  is  displayed  from  Mr.  Crawford’s  parlor  windows. 

August  6. 

The  Southern  members  are  intent  on  preventing  the  admission  of  California. 
But  I  have  learned  to  yield  little  heed  to  their  menaces.  They  seem  rather 
like  petulant,  than  seditious  partisans.  I  wish  I  knew  how  much  of  the  gossip 
of  the  day  reaches  you.  There  is  enough  of  it  to  amuse  you,  as  it  does  me. 
I  was  buried,  below  low-water  mark,  by  the  advent  o|  Mr.  Fillmore;  and  now, 
according  to  the  same  authorities,  lam  disturbing  the  world  again;  having 
been  raised  from  the  deep,  by  the  fall  of  the  “  Omnibus.” 

August  7. 

It  almost  vexes  me  to  see  how  grave  men  trifle  with  great  responsibilities. 
Here  are  men  who  have  defeated  the  “Compromise,”  and  thus  assumed  a 


1850.] 


MOBS  AND  ABOLITIONISTS. 


153 


great  responsibility  to  the  public,  and  who  are  strong  enough  to  carry  the 
California  Bill  through  the  Senate,  any  day,  hindered  since  last  Friday  from 
doing  so,  because  three  or  four  of  our  number  cannot  consent  to  stay  in  their 
places,  one  or  two  hours  later  than  the  usual  hour  of  adjournment.  Two  are 
absent  from  the  city,  and  at  such  a  time!  Two  paired  off  yesterday;  and  we 
were  obliged  to  adjourn  for  want  of  a  quorum. 

I  had  a  visit  last  night  from  an  extraordinary  man,  a  mulatto  gentleman, 
who  has  resided  in  Hayti  twenty  years,  and  is  now  on  a  visit  to  this  country. 
He  is  a  highly-educated  man,  and  intelligent.  He  gave  me  more  insight  into 
the  condition  of  things  in  San  Domingo  than  I  had  ever  before  enjoyed.  He 
says  his  mother  belonged  to  his  father;  and  he,  with  four  other  children, 
were  emancipated.  What  a  condition  of  society  does  this  not  indicate! 

August  9. 

After  three  or  four  days  direct  sailing  toward  port,  the  California  flag¬ 
ship  has  been  capriciously  put  back;  and  the  ensign  transferred  to  the  “  Texan 
Bargain”  ship;  which  is  now  crowded  forward  by  the  combined  forces  that 
carried  the  “  Omnibus”  so  long  over  seas,  to  its  wreck  on  the  breakers.  This 
Texas  Bargain  Bill  has  the  direct  countenance  and  urgent  favor  of  the  Admin¬ 
istration.  It  gives  to  Texas  20,000  square  miles  of  New  Mexico  (an  area 
larger  than  that  of  Massachusetts)  and  pays  Texas  ten  millions,  as  a  bonus 
for  taking  it,  and  dropping  the  bayonet,  or  the  brag,  just  as  it  may  be  re~ 
garded.  I  cannot  vote  for  it;  but  I  shall  not  speak.  Its  demerits  are  all 
exposed,  in  the  arguments  I  have  heretofore  submitted.  Besides,  I  feel  satis¬ 
fied  that  the  public  mind  wants  relief  from  parliamentary  rhetoric,  and  I 
should  speak  to  a  country  as  listless  as  the  Senate.  I  still  hope  that  we  may 
see  the  California  Bill  passed. 

August  10. 

Mr.  Conrad  is  to  be  Secretary  of  War.  He  takes  Mr.  Crawford’s  house. 
Mr.  Hall,  the  new  Postmaster-General,  takes  Judge  Collamer’s  house. 

The  Merediths  leave  for  Philadelphia  on  Monday.  Sir  Henry  Bulwer  takes 
their  house.  He  has  surrendered  his  Staten  Island  cottage.  Lady  Bulwer  is 
said  to  prefer  Washington. 

The  Senate,  yesterday,  passed  the  Texas  Boundary  Bill,  by  which  one-third 
of  New  Mexico  was  surrendered  to  Texas,  with  a  purse  of  ten  millions  of  dol¬ 
lars,  to  make  peace.  What  remains,  is  the  California  Bill,  and  the  New  Mexico 
Bill. 

August  11. 

All  calculation  upon  legislative  action  is  uncertain.  We  have  a  prospect  of 
a  vote  on  California  to-morrow,  but  the  wind  may  blow  us  off  the  coast  aggin. 

The  whole  of  the  under  stratum  of  society  here  has  been  in  a  high  state  of 

excitement,  for  two  or  three  days,  produced  by  the  mad  effort  of  a  New  York 

Abolitionist  to  carry  two  slaves  of  Messrs.  Toombs  and  Stephens  to  a  free 

country.  The  attempt  failed  after  a  severe  but  fortunately  bloodless  contest. 

The  mob,  of  course,  threatened  the  Era  office,  and  there  were  intimations  of  a 

design  to  insult  me.  How  hard  it  is  for  communities  to  retrace  downward 
© 

ways ! 


154 


EMANCIPATION  IN  THE  DISTRICT. 


[1850. 


There  is  now  time  on  my  hands.  I  employ  it  by  reading  some  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  classics  —  Swift  and  Beaumont  and  Fletcher.  Half  a  dozen  tragedies, 
really  beautiful,  make  up  all  that  is  tolerable  of  the  latter;  but  Swift  is  admir¬ 
able  throughout.  I  do  not  wonder  at  the  “inferior  state  ”  of  your  sex  now, 
when  I  see  how  much  lower  it  was  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher  wrote  plays  for  the  fashionable  and  intelligent  world, 
and  of  course  suited  its  tastes,  since  they  were  successful  and  eminent.  Yet 
they  had  no  idea  of  a  woman,  except  that  which  degrades  both  sexes. 

California  was  at  last  granted  admission,  though  not  till  after  vari¬ 
ous  attempts  had  been  made  to  remand  her  to  a  territorial  condition, 
to  remit  her  Constitution  to  a  new  convention,  and  to  divide  her  by 
the  line  of  36°  30'.  Seward  had  the  pleasure  of  recording  his  vote  in 
her  favor,  and  soon  after  of  welcoming  her  Senators,  Dr.  Gwin  and 
Colonel  Fremont,  to  seats  in  the  Chamber. 

September  found  the  “Compromise”  leaders  elated  with  evident 
increase  of  strength.  The  debates  were  drawing  to  a  close,  favorable 
to  the  “Compromise.”  On  the  11th,  Seward  made  a  last  effort  for 
emancipation  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  moved  to  amend  the 
pending  bill  by  substituting  for  it  one  setting  free  all  the  slaves  in  the 
District,  but  compensating  their  owners  for  whatever  damages  they 
might  incur  thereby.  Sharp  and  acrimonious  attacks  upon  him  fol¬ 
lowed.  He  briefly  rejoined: 

Opposition  to  emancipation  in  the  District  of  Columbia  seems  to  me  a  bad 
cause,  and  it  is  in  the  nature  of  a  bad  cause  to  betray  itself.  I  did  not  mistake 
in  supposing  that  the  opposition  which  my  proposition  would  encounter  wrould 
prove  its  best  vindication. 

The  measure  I  have  submitted  is  either  right  or  wrong.  If  right,  no  un¬ 
worthiness  of  motive  of  mine  can  detract  from  its  virtues;  if  wrong,  no  purity 
of  motive  can  redeem  it. 

To  those  who  thought  it  was  “not  the  time”  to  consider  such  a 
cpiestion,  he  replied: 

I  think  it  wrong  to  hold  men  in  bondage  at  any  time  and  under  any  circum¬ 
stances.  I  think  it  right  and  just,  therefore,  to  abolish  slavery,  when  we  have 
the  power,  at  any  time,  at  all  times,  under  any  circumstances.  Now,  sir,  so 
far  as  the  objection  rests  upon  the  time,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  if  the  present 
is  not  the  right  time,  then  there  must  be  some  other  time.  Will  gentlemen 
oblige  me,  and  the  country,  by  telling  us  how  far  down  in  the  future  the  right 
time  lies?  Judging  for  myself,  I  am  sure  the  right  time  has  come.  Past  the 
middle  age  of  life,  it  has  happened  to  me  now,  for  the  first  time,  to  be  a  legis¬ 
lator  for  slaves,  I  believe  it  to«be  my  duty  to  the  people  of  this  District,  to 
the  country,  and  to  mankind,  to  restore  them  to  freedom.  For  the  perform¬ 
ance  of  such  a  duty,  the  first  time  and  the  first  occasion  which  offers  is  the 
right  one. 


1850-’ 51.  J 


FINALLY  SETTLED. 


155 


But,  of  course,  the  amendment  was  promptly  voted  down.  Though* 
the  “Omnibus  Bill"  had  failed  in  its  first  shape,  it  was  now  to  tri¬ 
umph  in  another.  The  measures  composing  it  were  separately  passed, 
through  both  Houses.  New  Mexico  and  Utah  were  organized  into 
territories  open  to  slave-holders.  Slavery  was  left  undisturbed  in  the 
District,  except  that  the  slave  trade  was  restricted  there.  The  “  Texas 
Boundary  Bill”  was  passed,  taking  $10,000,000  from  the  treasury  to 
pay  at  par  the  discredited  “Texas  scrip,”  large  amounts  of  which 
were  said  to  be  in  the  pockets  of  members  of  Congress  and  their  inti¬ 
mate  friends. 

The  “Fugitive  Slave  Law”  was  “rushed  through”  as  the  closing 
step  of  the  “great  settlement.”  On  the  day  when  the  final  vote  on 
it  was  taken  in  the  House,  many  Northern  members  were  absent  from 
their  seats,  and  aimlessly  strolling  about  the  lobbies  and  the  library, 
unwilling  to  vote  for  it  and  yet  afraid  to  oppose  it.  When  the  vote 
had  been  taken,  Thaddeus  Stevens  rose  and  ironically  moved  “  that 
the  Speaker  send  one  of  his  pages  to  inform  the  members  that  they 
can  return  with  safety,  as  the  slavery  question  has  been  disposed  of!” 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1850-1851. 

■“Finality.”  The  Fall  Elections.  The  New  York  Whigs.  Enterprises  of  the  Day. 
The  Lull  after  the  Storm.  In  a  Minority.  French  Spoliations.  Homestead  Law. 
Cheap  Postage.  A  Lieutenant-General.  California  Measures.  The  Nashville  Con¬ 
vention.  Fugitive  Slave  Cases.  A  Plan  for  Emancipation.  Letters  to  a  Tennessee 
Whig.  Weed  as  an  Adviser. 

“Freedom’s  banner  trails  in  the  dust  at  Washington,”  said  Weed 
in  the  Albany  Journal.  Throughout  the  North,  anti-slavery  men 
were  depressed  and  discouraged.  “Free  Soilers”  were  confronted 
with  the  alternative  of  breaking  their  party  ties,  or  giving  up  their 
principles. 

Not  so  the  majority  of  both  the  great  parties.  “  The  slavery  ques¬ 
tion  is  settled  at  last!  ”  was  the  glad  exclamation.  Flags  were  hoisted, 
salutes  fired,  and  meetings  held  in  the  large  cities,  where  orators  vied 
with  drums  and  guns  in  loud  congratulations.  That  the  slavery  ques¬ 
tion,  which  had  threatened  to  disturb  the  national  peace,  was  finally  > 
laid  at  rest,  many  believed;  and  many  more,  who  did  not  believe, 
deemed  it  politic  and  prudent  to  affect  that  they  did.  Engravings 


15G  “  FINALITY  ”  A  POLITICAL  TEST.  [1850-’ 51. 

and  biographies  were  published,  testifying  public  gratitude  to  “the 
great  patriotic  men  who  had  saved  the  Union.”  Histories  were  writ¬ 
ten,  detailing  how  the  great  peril  of  disunion,  imminent  in  1850,  was 
in  that  year,  by  congressional  wisdom,  happily  ended  forever.  Some 
of  these  volumes,  still  extant,  were  for  years  used  in  schools,  teaching 
the  boys  lessons  that  they  afterward  unlearned  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet. 

It  was  not  enough  to  say  that  it  was  “settled.”  One  was  expected 
to  admit  that  it  was  “finally  settled.”  Phrases  about  that  “finality” 
became  a  test  between  political  orthodoxy  and  “  abolition  ”  heresy. 
When  the  Democratic  State  Convention  of  Hew  York  met,  to  nomi¬ 
nate  candidates  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor,  it  adopted 
resolutions  accepting  “the  recent  settlement  by  Congress  of  questions 
which  have  unhappily  divided  the  people  of  these  States,”  and  “  con¬ 
gratulating  the  country  upon  it.”  “Barn-Burners”  united  with 
“Hunkers”  in  this  declaration.  Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

The  drama  has  its  acts,  and  the  plot  is  no  plot  without  re-action.  I  look 
for  re-action  now.  The  “Free  Soilers  ”  proper  here  have  behaved  with  great 
fidelity,  and  are  shocked  by  the  surrender  of  their  brethren  in  New  York. 

Mr.  Fillmore  hopes  that  there  will  be  no  approval  of  my  course  by  the  State 
Committee.  He  wants  the  Whigs  to  be  a  national  party.  I  cordially  agree 
with  him  in  deprecating  an  indorsement  at  such  a  time  and  under  such  circum¬ 
stances.  A  hard  blow  from  the  South  will  make  the  temperate  and  bracing 
winds  of  the  North  more  acceptable  to  us  all. 

Such  “bracing  airs”  came  from  Vermont  .and  other  parts  of  New 
England.  But  in  the  fall  conventions,  in  many  States,  Whigs,  as  well 
as  Democrats,  made  haste  to  enroll  themselves  on  the  side  which  had 
won.  When  the  New  York  State  Convention  met,  resolutions  reiter¬ 
ating  the  “Free  Soil”  doctrines  of  the  Whigs  of  1848,  and  approving 
the  course  of  Seward,  were  resisted.  When  the  latter  resolution  was 
adopted,  by  a  vote  of  76  to  40,  the  Administration  members  “bolted” 
and  withdrew  to  another  hall.  There  they  organized,  calling  Francis 
Granger  to  the  chair,  and  formally  indorsed  President  Fillmore  and 
the  Compromise. 

Meanwhile,  at  Washington,  Congressmen  of  all  parties  were  im¬ 
patient  to  get  home  to  their  affairs,  and  to  the  political  campaigns  in 
their  respective  districts.  Business  was  hurried  through,  and  bills 
hastily  disposed  of.  The  only  matters  of  special  importance  on  which 
Seward  spoke  were  those  relating  to  the  new  State  of  California.  He 
urged  the  opening  of  a  dry-dock  and  establishment  of  a  navy  yard  at 
San  Francisco,  and  advocated  all  possible  help  to  the  growing  com- 
riierce  of  the  Pacific.  He  opposed  those  restrictions  upon  pre-emption 


1850— *51 .  J 


HISTORIC  EVENTS. 


157 


rights  and  mining  privileges  which  would  deny  them  to  immigrants 
from  abroad. 

As  the  clock  struck  noon,  on  the  last  day  of  September,  Congress 
finally  adjourned.  Seward  returned  home,  and  a  few  days  later  went 
with  his  family  to  Geneva,  to  attend  the  wedding  of  his  nephew, 
Clarence,  to  Miss  Caroline  de  Zeng.  The  rest  of  the  brief  interval 
before  reassembling  of  the  Senate  was  devoted  to  his  business  affairs 
at  Auburn  and  at  Goshen. 

The  newly-adopted  Compromise  did  not  enter  into  the  November 
elections  as  an  issue  between  the  two  parties.  The  leaders  of  both  in 
Congress  united  in  its  support.  In  most  of  the  States,  acquiescence, 
if  not  approval,  was  the  favorite  line  of  action.  In  others,  where  the 
anti- slavery  Whigs  had  control  of  party  organization,  they  were  con¬ 
tent  to  renew  affirmance  of  their  principles  without  insisting  upon 
separate  candidates.  In  Massachusetts,  the  “Free  Soilers”  made  a 
coalition  with  the  Democrats,  the  latter  naming  the  Governor,  the 
former  hoping,  as  Henry  Wilson  expressed  it,  to  “send  a  Senator  to 
Washington,  to  stand  side  by  side  with  Hale,  Seward,  and  Chase,  to 
fight  the  battles  of  liberty  for  the  next  six  years.”  In  New  York,  Ad¬ 
ministration  Whigs  voted  with  the  “Weed  and  Seward”  men  for 
Washington  Hunt,  and  he  was  elected  Governor  by  a  small  majority. 

There  were  some  events  of  historical  importance  during  the  year, 
which,  however,  hardly  attracted  the  attention  they  deserved,  so  en¬ 
grossed  were  all  minds  by  the  change  of  Administration  and  the  vary¬ 
ing  phases  of  the  “Compromise”  struggle.  The  seventh  census  was 
completed,  and  showed  the  United  States  to  have  a  population  of 
23,000,000.  The  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  was  proclaimed.  The  Nica¬ 
ragua  canal  was  pronounced  feasible,  at  a  cost  of  $100,000  per  mile. 
The  Panama  railroad  was  pushed  with  vigor.  California  continued 
the  shipment  of  gold  dust  by  the  million.  The  Lopez  Cuban  expedi¬ 
tion  led  to  diplomatic  discussions  of  the  “Right  of  Search.”  The 
Grinnell  Arctic  expedition  departed  on  its  benevolent  errand.  The 
New  York  Legislature  adopted  a  general  railroad  law,  and  the  Hud¬ 
son  River  road  was  opened  as  far  as  Poughkeepsie.  The*  “Free 
School  ”  State  Convention  upheld,  and  the  fall  election  confirmed,  the 
new  system.  Preparations  were  going  on  in  England  for  a  great 
international  exhibition  in  1851.  Mysterious  rappings,  betokening 
“ spirits,”  continued  at  Rochester.  “Table  Rock ”  fell  at  Niagara 
Falls.  Washington’s  head-quarters  at  Newburgh  were  formally  ac¬ 
cepted  and  dedicated  by  the  State.  The  arrival  of  Jenny  Lind  and 
her  enthusiastic  reception;  the  trial  of  Professor  Webster  for  the  mur¬ 
der  of  Dr.  Parkman;  the  death  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  the  mobbing 


158 


THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 


[1850-’ 51. 


of  Haynau  by  the  London  brewery  men,  were  among  the  incidents  of 
this  busy  year. 

Seward  was  in  his  seat  at  the  opening  of  Congress.  It  was  the  short 
session  and  a  quiet  one  —  the  lull  after  the  great  storm,  and  before 
the  coming  of  another.  Both  Houses  were  in  the  control  of  the  sup¬ 
porters  of  the  “  Compromise.”  The  anti-slavery  men  were  a  power¬ 
less  minority.  He  wrote  to  Weed: 

December  4 

I  have  waited  to  discover  signs  before  writing  to  you.  It  is  quite  clear, 
from  the  message,  that  the  Whig  party  is  required  to  occupy  the  Castle  Gar¬ 
den  platform.  I  can  see  that  the  party  in  the  North  cannot  and  will  not  go  on 
that  platform,  because  it  has  a  trap  device  to  let  it  fall.  Nevertheless,  the 
Administration  believes  nothing  more  easy  than  this,  and  nothing  else  so  safe. 
They  are  for  conciliation  everywhere,  and  at  all  times.  I  have  seen  the 
President,  and  he  asks  for  it.  I  meet  these  demands  kindly,  but  do  not  suffer 
myself  to  negotiate,  when  negotiation  would  be  so  unavailing. 

The  “Free  Soil  ”  Democrats  will  introduce  a  bill  to  repeal  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  Whigs  will  wait  and  forbear,  but  will  vote  according  to  their 
alliances.  This  question,  however,  seems  to  hold  in  itself  the  cloud  that  will 
overwhelm  every  thing. 

At  this  session  the  debates  were  chiefly  in  regard  to  measures  involv¬ 
ing  no  political  question.  Seward  took  active  part  in  the  legislative 
business.  Upon  the  bill  in  regard  to  indemnities  for  French  spolia¬ 
tions  he  made  an  elaborate  speech,  narrating  the  history  and  explain¬ 
ing  the  character  of  the  question  —  one  which  had  been  handed  down 
from  the  days  of  President  Washington.  A  month  later,  he  made  a 
speech  in  regard  to  the  public  domain,  advocating  the  granting  of 
lands  to  actual  settlers,  and  the  exemption  of  such  homesteads  from 
seizure  for  debt.  In  this  speech  he  laid  down  this  doctrine: 

I  clo  not  say  that  the  land  in  this  or  any  other  country  ought  to  be,  or  ever 
could  be,  divided  and  enjoyed  equally.  I  assert  no  such  absurdity.  But  I  do 
say  with  some  confidence,  that  great  inequality  of  landed  estates,  here  or  else¬ 
where,  tends  to  check  population,  enterprise,  and  wealth,  and  to  hinder  and 
defeat  the  highest  interests  of  society.  Every  State  in  the  Union  recognizes 
this  principle,  and  guards  against  undue  aggregation  of  estates. 

He  advocated  liberal  grants  of  public  lands  for  education  and  inter¬ 
nal  improvement. 

When  Congress  was  discussing  the  subject  of  cheap  postage  he  made 
some  practical  suggestions,  which  ten,  twenty,  and  thirty  years  later 
were  carried  out,  as  matters  of  course.  But  in  regard  to  postage,  as 
in  regard  to  slavery,  he  was  thought  too  “  radical  ”  to  be  a  safe  guide. 
It  seems  strange  now  that  Congress  should  have  voted  down  such  sug- 


1850-’  51.] 


THE  “SILVER  GRAYS.” 


159 


gestions  as  “a  uniform  rate  of  postage  of  two  cents,”  and  “  pre¬ 
payment  and  the  use  of  stamps.”  He  said: 

I  am  satisfied  that  we  shall  come  to  this  system,  sooner  or  later.  The  people 
are  entitled  to  cheap  postage.  They  will  have  it,  because  it  is  their  right;  and 
it  will  turn  out  ultimately  that  cheap  postage  will  be  the  most  profitable  to 
the  government. 

Another  debate  was  over  the  resolution  to  confer  the  rank  of  Lieu¬ 
tenant-General  on  General  Scott.  Seward  advocated  this,  saying 
“  that  it  was  in  the  line  of  safe  and  well-timed  precedents,  and  well 
deserved.” 

A  question  of  somewhat  similar  character  was  that  of  reimbursing 
Captain  Paulding  (who  afterward  became  Admiral)  for  his  expendi¬ 
tures  in  behalf  of  the  Government.  This  Seward  presented  and 
warmly  advocated. 

A  debate  also  arose  over  the  question  of  surrendering  to  California 
the  customs  collected  there  during  the  Mexican  War.  He  pointed  out 
that  “California”  was  left  without  a  government,  in  a  state  of  an¬ 
archy  ;  and  was  obliged  to  furnish  a  government  for  herself,  at  a 
heavy  expense.  Meanwhile  she  had  collected  and  paid  those  revenues 
into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  He  asked:  “Is  it  not  just, 
that  out  of  that  sum  we  should  pay  over  to  her  the  amount  she  has 
expended  ?  ” 

There  were  other  questions,  in  regard  to  senatorial  terms,  the  im¬ 
provement  of  rivers  and  harbors,  tariff  rates,  military  and  naval 
officers,  which  called  out  more  or  less  discussion.  But  after  all,  there 
was  one  great  underlying  question,  which  persistently  forced  itself  on 
men’s  thoughts,  even  when  they  had  agreed  not  to  talk  about  it. 
Though  Congress  was  inculcating,  and  practicing  cessation  of  “sla¬ 
very  agitation,”  yet  it  still  remained  a  disturbing  element,  at  North 
and  South.  Bowen  and  McNamee,  silk  merchants  of  New  York, 
when  threatened  with  loss  of  patronage,  if  they  did  not  support  the 
“Compromise,”  gained  popularity,  and  customers,  by  saying,  “Our 
goods  are  for  sale,  but  not  our  principles.”  In  Charleston,  at  public 
gatherings,  threats  of  “disunion”  and  “plans  of  resistance,”  with 
help  from  Georgia  and  Mississippi,  were  loudly  applauded.  One  un¬ 
fortunate  candidate,  for  city  alderman  there,  was  hotly  denounced,  for 
having  “  once  been  a  client  of  Seward’s  in  a  patent  case.”  At  Nash¬ 
ville  the  Southern  Convention  had  adjourned  sine  die  after  a  sharp 
debate  over  the  “Compromise.”  In  New  York  the  Whigs  who  sup¬ 
ported  it  were  called  “  Silver  Grays,”  and  those  who  opposed  it  were 
stigmatized  as  “  Woolly  Heads.”  At  Albany,  after  the  failure  of  a 
scheme  to  compel  Whig  harmony,  by  resolutions  “  approving  the 


160 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW. 


[1850-’  51. 


Peace  Measures  of  Congress/’  a  long  legislative  contest  took  place, 
over  Dickinson’s  vacant  seat  in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  ending  only  in 
March,  by  the  election  of  ex-Governor  Hamilton  Fish.  At  Boston, 
a  still  more  protracted  contest  ensued  over  Webster’s  seat,  which  was 
not  terminated  until  April,  when  Charles  Sumner  was  chosen. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  now  put  in  force,  as  “  a  law  of  the 
land,  to  which  every  good  citizen  owes  obedience.”  Hardly  was  the 
ink  dry  with  which  it  had  been  signed,  when  slave-holders  on  the 
border,  who  knew  the  whereabouts  of  their  former  “chattels,”  began 
to  invoke  its  aid  for  their  recapture.  There  was  a  fugitive  slave  case 
in  New  York,  in  which  the  poor  man  was  seized  while  at  work  at  his 
trade,  hurried  into  a  back  room,  and  tried  in  haste,  delivered  to  the 
agent,  handculfed,  and  carried  off  to  Baltimore,  without  opportunity 
even  to  say  good-bye  to  his  wife  and  children.  There  was  a  similar 
case  in  Philadelphia  and  another  in  Indiana.  Then  came  the  spec¬ 
tacle  of  Henry  Long,  a  captured  fugitive,  marched  down  to  Jersey 
City  Ferry  under  guard  of  two  hundred  policemen,  amid  a  crowd  of 
thousands.  Ten  days  later  it  was  announced  “  that  he  had  been  sold 
at  auction  in  Kichmond  for  $750,  to  a  Georgia  trader,  to  be  taken 
further  South,”  and  that  “  there  was  great  applause  at  the  sale.”  In 
another  case  in  Philadelphia,  a  woman  who  had  been  twenty-two  years 
free,  and  had  five  children,  was  arrested  as  a  fugitive  slave.  At  Co¬ 
lumbia,  in  Pennsylvania,  William  Smith  was  seized  as  a  fugitive,  and 
while  endeavoring  to  escape,  was  shot,  dying  instantly.  A  kidnapper 
seized  a  free  colored  girl  in  Nottingham,  and  carried  her  off  to  a  Bal¬ 
timore  slave-pen.  A  colored  man  who  went  on  there  to  testify  to  her 
having  been  born  free,  and  never  a  slave,  was  found  next  day  hanging 
dead,  on  a  tree  by  the  roadside. 

If  the  statesmen  who  adopted  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  as  a  panacea 
to  repress  the  “agitation  of  slavery,”  had  been  seeking  instead  for  one 
to  inflame#that  "agitation”  to  its  highest  pitch,  they  could  hardly 
have  found  a  more  effective  instrument.  It  went  through  the  land 
like  the  flaming  war-torch  of  the  Highlands,  summoning  clansmen  to 
battle.  It  roused  even  the  apathetic  and  the  lukeVarm.  It  brought 
the  slavery  question  home  to  every  Northern  man’s  hearthstone.  Cler¬ 
gymen  and  lawyers  who  counseled  “  obedience  to  the  law  because  it 
was  a  law,”  did  not  feel  enthusiasm  when  asked  to  take  a  hand  in  its 
enforcement.  It  was  one  thing  to  tacitly  acquiesce  in  slavery,  as  an 
inheritance  from  Biblical  times;  it  was  quite  another  to  personally  turn 
slave-catcher.  It  was  one  thing  to  stand  and  declaim  about  “the 
Compromises  of  the  ’Constitution,”  and  quite  nother  to  deny  the 
prayer  of  the  trembling  fugitive  at  the  door  for  food,  shelter,  and  es- 


1850-’51 . 


A  PLAN  FOR  EMANCIPATION. 


161 


cape.  But  the  “Great  Peace  Measure  ”  was  relentless  on  this  point. 
It  commanded  “every  good  citizen ”  to  assist  the  deputy-marshal  in 
his  slave-catching  whenever  called  upon,  and  imposed  fine  and  im¬ 
prisonment  on  him  who  refused  to  obey.  Experience  of  the  working 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  the  first  thing  that  opened  the  eyes  of 
many  to  the  discovery,  that,  possibly,  Seward  might  be  right  in  think¬ 
ing  there  was  some  higher  law  to  be  obeyed  than  this  brutal  statute. 

At  the  capital,  where  all  interests  were  on  the  side  of  the  Union, 
the  “adjustment/’  which  was  supposed  to  insure  its  perpetuity,  was 
generally  popular.  A  declaration  and  pledge  to  “maintain  the  settle¬ 
ment  inviolate/’  and  to  “  oppose  agitation,”  was  circulated  among 
members  of  Congress,  and  signed  by  many,  among  whom  were  eight 
New  Yorkers.  Seward,  of  course,  continued  to  present  the  anti-slav¬ 
ery  petitions,  which  continued  to  come  to  him  by  every  morning’s  mail. 
But  he  raised  no  new  issue.  When  opposition  was  made  to  their  re¬ 
ception,  he  remarked: 

Whether  these  petitions  are  now  referred  and  considered,  or  whether  they 
shall  be  allowed  to  accumulate,  as  they  will,  in  my  humble  judgment,  continue 
to  accumulate  from  session  to  session,  the  result  will  be  that  those  who  flatter 
themselves  that  they  have  arrested  agitation  will  find  that  they  have,  by  this 
very  course,  increased  the  agitation  which  it  wras  their  object  to  allay. 

He  wrote  to  Christopher  Morgan: 

January  11. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  is  the  worst  experiment  ever  made  by  Government 
here,  to  compel  confederated  States  under  a  General  Government,  differing  in 
domestic,  social,  and  civil  economy  and  discipline  to  agree. 

How  shall  we  treat  it?  Here  are  petitions  accumulating  for  repeal  and  for 
nothing  less.  Here  are  resolutions  of  Southern  States,  denouncing  even  amend¬ 
ment  as  ground  of  separation.  It  is  no  time  now  to  move  in  the  matter,  and  yet 
silence  must  not  be  carried  to  the  end  of  the  session.  What  would  our  wise 
men  say  to  a  proposition  at  the  right  time,  to  amend  by  a  proviso  that  on  the 
fugitive  being  ascertained  to  be  such,  he  may  redeem  himself  or  be  redeemed 
by  any  other  person,  corporation,  or  the  State  where  he  is  arrested? 

With  this,  a  proposition  for  a  plan  of  emancipation.  That  whenever  any 
person  wishing  to  redeem  himself  from  slavery,  shall  show  to  any  court  of  the 
United  States  that  the  laws  of  his  State  permit,  and  his  master  consents,  he 
shall  be  paid  by  a  warrant  on  the  Treasury.  This  would  work  slow  and  sure. 
First  Delaware,  then  Maryland  and  Kentucky.  No  State  could  object,  because 
they  have  the  power  to  prevent  it.  It  would  not  invade  private  property,  for 
the  master  would  have  a  veto.  It  would  not  create  a  great  debt,  because  the 
process  is  slow.  It  would  be  a  gradual  emancipation  with  compensation  and 
consent. 

Talk  of  this  with  Mr.  Weed,  the  Governor,  if  you  think  best,  Hunt,  Doug¬ 
las  etc.,  and  say  what  they  think  of  either,  or  both. 

11 


162 


SCATTERING  SPEECHES. 


[1850-’ 51. 


Very  early  in  his  senatorial  career  Seward  found  there  was  a  grow¬ 
ing  demand  for  pamphlet  copies  of  his  speeches.  Letters  were  con¬ 
stantly  coming,  asking  not  only  for  single  copies,  but  for  dozens  or 
hundreds,  for  distribution  in  different  and  distant  localities.  As  the 
cost  of  printing  the  pamphlets  was  defrayed  by  himself,  this  was  an 
expense  which  increased  year  by  year.  Deeming  that  no  better  or 
simpler  method  of  inculcating  anti-slavery  principles  among  the  people 
could  well  be  devised,  he  cheerfully  paid  it.  Some  years  the  editions 
ran  up  into  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  the  amount  he  expended 
upon  them  was  greater  than  the  amount  he  received  as  salary.  He 
used,  in  later  years,  to  say  that  he  neither  expected  nor  desired  to  “let 
the  American  people  put  a  dollar  in  his  pocket that  he  never  re¬ 
ceived  one  from  them  that  he  did  not  expend  in  their  service,  supple¬ 
menting  it  with  as  many  more  as  he  could  afford  out  of  his  own  means. 
The  mere  manual  labor  of  franking  this  immense  amount  of  printed 
matter  was  very  great.  He  would  frequently  devote  hours  to  it. 
Sometimes  he  would  call  together  at  his  house,  a  “franking  bee,'v  of 
members  of  Congress.  Then  they  would  spend  the  evening  in  en-' 
deavoring  to  reduce  the  piles  of  printed  speeches  which  always  stood 
around  the  room,  and  the  result  of  their  labors  would  fill  one  or  more 
mail  bags. 

On  the  4th  of  March  came  the  final  adjournment  of  Congress.  A 
special  session  of  the  Senate,  for  executive  business,  followed. 

Answering  a  letter  from  Mr.  Homberger,  a  Tennessee  Whig,  asking 
for  information  as  to  the  relative  positions  of  the  two  parties  at  the 
North  on  the  slavery  question,  he  said: 

Since  the  debates  on  the  subject  in  the  last  Congress,  they  have  divided  into 
two  classes.  One  of  these  justifies  and  approves  the  acts  of  Compromise,  as 
having  been  expedient  and  reasonable  under  the  circumstances  which  then 
existed.  The  other  disapproves  those  Compromises,  as  having  been  alike  un¬ 
necessary,  unwise,  and  unjust.  The  one  class  insists  that  the  Compromise 
shall  be  maintained  in  all  its  parts,  inviolate.  The  other  insists  that  such  acts 
of  Compromise,  as  are  in  their  nature  repealable,  shall  be  regarded  as  subject 
to  review,  modification,  and  repeal.  Inasmuch  as  I  belong  to  that  class  myself, 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  expressing  my  belief,  that. they  constitute  a  decided 
majority  in  each  of  the  parties  in  this  State,  and  in  several  other  free  States. 

A  confidential  letter  to  Weed  said: 

March  3. 

The  words  spoken  of  the  President  were  the  spontaneous  response  to  an  un¬ 
expected  call  to  speak  for  him,  and  the  only  idea  that  I  recollect  as  having 
come  up  was,  that  I  could  show  how  little  personal  jealousy  or  rivalry  entered 
into  the  motives  of  my  political  action. 

We  have  parts  to  act,  which  seem  to  me  more  difficult  than  ever  were  as¬ 
signed  to  political  actors,  within  our  time.  To  cherish  and  secure  the  devel- 


1851.] 


ERIE  RAILROAD  CELEBRATION. 


103 


opment  of  this  great  principle  of  freedom,  so  that  it  may  heal  and  bless  a  great 
nation,  requires  boldness  and  constancy,  which  put  me  upon  a  kind  of  heroism 
quite  likely  to  mislead ;  and  it  requires  also  sagacity  and  prudence  for  which 
I  rely  upon  you  alone.  By  the  rest  of  mankind,  I  am  either  flattered  beyond 
my  sense  of  appreciation,  or  cursed  outright.  It  is  natural  and  inevitable  that 
it  should  be  so.  They  depend  on  me  or  on  my  adversaries  to  think  for  them. 
You  can  hardly  judge  how  lonesome  it  is  here  for  me,  because  I  find  no  advis¬ 
ers  around  me.  But  I  pray  you  not  to  think  that  I  am  either  so  opinionated 
or  so  vain  as  to  know  that  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  times,  your  counsels 
are  wiser  than  my  own, while  the  sincerity  and  devotion  from  which  they  spring 
make  me  distrust  my  own  conclusions  always  when  they  differ  from  your  own. 

Weed,  in  one  of  his  letters,  remarked: 

You,  out  of  all  whom  I  have  known,  allow  friendship  to  fulfill  all  its  obli¬ 
gations.  Others  whom  I  have  desired  to  serve  could  not  bear  with  my  plain 
speech,  while  you  allow  me  to  say  the  most  ungracious  things,  in  the  most 
ragged  way.  You  know  how  loyally  all  is  intended.  God  grant  that  your 
destiny  may  not  be  baffled,  nor  its  glory  dimmed  by  act,  word,  or  thought  of 
mine. 

The  growing  sentiment  against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  found  ex¬ 
pression  in  a  convention  of  its  opponents  held  in  Massachusetts.  Re¬ 
plying  to  them,  Seward  said: 

Christendom  might  be  searched  in  vain  for  a  parallel  to  the  provisions  which 
make  escape  from  bondage  a  crime,  and  which,  under  rigorous  penalties,  com¬ 
pel  freemen  to  aid  in  the  capture  of  slaves.  Nor  do  I  find  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  growing  in  my  favor,  on  the  ground  of  the  already  falsified  promise  of 
the  end  of  the  agitation  of  slavery,  an  agitation  which,  whether  beneficent  or 
otherwise,  is  as  inseparable  from  our  political  organization  as  the  winds  and 
clouds  are  from  the  atmosphere  that  encircles  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1851. 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Celebration.  The  Special  Election.  Canal  Enlargement.  A 
Summer  at  Detroit.  The  Railroad  Conspiracy  Trials.  General  Cass.  A  Canadian 
Visit.  “  The  New  Creed.’ 

Early  in  May,  the  New  York  and  Erie  railroad  had  been  completed 
to  Dunkirk.  Its  opening  was  to  be  celebrated  with  imposing  cere¬ 
monies,  in  which  members  of  the  State  and  National  Governments  had 
been  invited  to  participate.  Seward  had  been  one  of  the  earliest 


164 


[1851. 


‘‘THE  DOWRY  OF  NEW  YORK.” 

friends  of  the  enterprise.  The  directors  were  especially  desirous  that 
he  should  be  one  of  the  party  which  was  to  proceed  from  New  York 
to  Dunkirk.  He  wrote  home: 

Goshen,  May  11,  1851. 

I  shall  go  with  the  great  company  who  are  to  make  the  tour  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  railroad  on  Wednesday,  and  on  reaching  Dunkirk  I  shall  part 
with  them  and  go  home  to  Auburn  for  a  day  or  two.  We  are  likely  to  have  a 
very  “  silvery  gray  ”  party  on  the  railroad,  but  I  have  not  thought  it  would  be 
becoming  in  me  to  avoid  the  celebration  on  that  account. 

The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  is  an  enterprise  in  the  success 
of  which  I  have  a  better  right  than  most  to  exult,  having  periled  more  for  it 
than  any  other  public  man.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  not  avoid  this  occa¬ 
sion  without  seeming  to  be  affected  by  the  persevering  efforts  of  that  portion 
of  our  party,  which  opposes  me,  to  throw  me  out  of  the  line  of  policy  and 
action  I  have  pursued. 

The  progress  of  the  train  up  the  Rockland  hills  and  through  the 
Orange  county  valleys,  up  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and  the  Susque¬ 
hanna,  and  over  the  plains  and  through  the  forests  of  the  western 
counties,  was  a  series  of  ovations.  Each  town  and  hamlet  vied  with 
its  neighbors  in  its  display  of  flags,  decorations,  salutes,  and  such 
oratory  as  the  brief  stops  of  the  locomotive  would  permit.  On  board 
were  President  Fillmore;  his  Secretary  of  State,  Daniel  Webster;  his 
Attorney-General,  John  J.  Crittenden,  and  other  men  of  note,  who 
were  repeatedly  summoned  to  the  platform  of  their  car  to  acknowledge 
the  enthusiastic  greetings  of  the  assembled  crowds.  At  Dunkirk,  a 
great  banquet  terminated  the  celebration,  and  the  toasts  and  speeches 
lasted  until  a  late  hour.  When  Seward  was  called  upon,  he  gave,  in 
the  course  of  his  remarks,  “the  secret  of  New  York’s  commercial 
supremacy.  ” 

What  is  that  secret?  Here  it  is!  Here  is  Lake  Erie.  Stretching  away  for 
thousands  of  miles  to  the  west  lies  the  continent.  There,  almost  at  your  feet, 
is  the  Atlantic,  the  key  of  that  continent.  Far  away  in  the  east  is  the  Old 
World,  famishing  for  the  supplies  which  that  new  country  can  send.  Here 
are  the  lakes  which  receive  these  supplies,  and  bear  them  in  schooners,  brigs, 
ships,  and  steam  vessels  and  deposit  them  here  on  this  isthmus,  some  three  or 
four  hundred  miles  wide,  over  which  or  through  which  they  must  be  carried 
to  the  banks  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  where  other  ships  and  steamships  are  wait¬ 
ing  to  take  them  to  Liverpool  and  London.  The  Erie  canal,  the  Central  rail¬ 
road,  the  Northern  railroad,  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  this  great  southern 
railroad,  all  together,  contribute  to  form  that  one  great  channel,  which  New 
York  lias  opened  across  the  isthmus,  enlarging  it  continually  with  the  growing 
exactions  of  commerce.  This  command  of  the  commerce  of  this  continent  is 
the  dowry  of  New  York. 

This  secret  revealed  itself  to  Washington  in  1783,  when  he  had  made  his  way, 


1851.] 


A  SUMMER  IN  DETROIT. 


165 


at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  up  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk,  and  along 
Wood  creek  and  Oneida  lake  and  the  Mad  river,  to  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario 
at  Oswego.  The  sea  was  behind  him,  the  lakes  stretched  away  before  him, 
his  feet  were  on  the  isthmus.  The  secret  broke  upou  him,  and  he  gave  utter¬ 
ance  to  it  at  once  in  a  letter  to  the  Marquis  of  Chastellux. 

This  “Erie  Railroad  Jubilee”  was  a  long- remembered  event  in  the 
region  where  it  took  place.  On  his  way  home  from  it,  Seward  was 
called  out  to  address  the  people  at  one  of  the  villages  he  was  passing 
through.  He  began: 

I  have  been  to  the  wedding  —  the  wedding  where  blue-eyed  Lake  Erie  was 
the  bride  and  the  old  salt  sea  was  the  groom.  They  tried  for  a  long  time  to 
forbid  the  bans,  but  the  ring  was  put  on  at  last  and  can  never  be  taken  off 
again.  The  ring  was  not  of  beaten  gold,  but  of  tough  wrought-iron.  Do  you 
want  to  see  it?  You  have  only  to  look  down  under  the  wheels  of  this  car. 

Proceeding  in  this  vein,  he  sketched  the  reasons  why  all  their  neigh¬ 
bors  ought  to  exchange  congratulations  over  what  promised  to  be  a 
long  and  happy  union. 

A  special  State  election  was  to  be  held  on  the  27th  of  May.  One  of 
the  measures  that  had  been  pending  in  the  Legislature  was  a  law  au¬ 
thorizing  a  loan  of  $9,000,000  to  complete  the  enlargement  of  the 
Erie  canal.  Twelve  of  the  opposing  Senators  had  resigned  in  a  body, 
thus  defeating  the  bill  and  breaking  up  the  session.  This  election 
was  to  fill  their  places,  and  its  result  would  be  regarded  as  the  decision 
of  the  people  upon  the  enlargement  policy.  The  Whigs  favored  that 
policy;  the  Democrats  were  divided  in  opinion.  The  election  resulted 
in  the  success  of  the  canal  enlargement. 

A  few  days  later,  he  wrote  to  Weed,  congratulating  him  on  the  vic¬ 
tory,  and  adding: 

Nothing  could  be  more  “express  and  admirable ”  than  the  great  skill  you 
have  practised  in  carrying  the  party  through  this  important  yet  intricate  affair. 
You  have  reason  to  be  satisfied  and  gratified. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  summer,  Seward  spent  at  De¬ 
troit,  where  he  had  been  called  for  professional  service.  Much  excite¬ 
ment  prevailed  there,  and  a  conflict  of  public  opinion,  in  regard  to 
some  pending  trials.  The  railroad  companies  were  prosecuting  nu¬ 
merous  persons  for  complicity  in  an  alleged  conspiracy  to  destroy 
buildings  and  other  property  belonging  to  those  corporations.  While 
there  was  plenty  of  evidence  as  to  crimes  that  had  been  committed, 
and  others  in  contemplation,  there  were  grave  doubts  as  to  whether 
all  the  accused  had  really  taken  part  in  them.  The  sweeping  charge 
of  conspiracy  often  arraigns  the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty. 


106 


A  WALK  IK  CANADA. 


[1351. 


Seward  had  been  retained  to  defend  some  who  protested,  not  only 
their  innocence,  but  their  entire  ignorance,  of  all  the  transactions  in 

which  they  were  charged  to  have  participated.  He  wrote  home: 

* 

Detroit,  June  4,  1851. 

Detroit  has  grown  larger.  I  have  seen  several  of  the  citizens,  but  learned 
nothing  except  that  parties  divide  here,  just  as  in  New  York.  My  cause 
comes  off  this  morning.  From  what  I  learn  of  the  case,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
it  will  turn  out  to  be  a  conspiracy  against  most  of  the  defendants.  Two  or 
three  State  prison  convicts  committed  depredations,  and  laid  the  crimes  at 
the  doors  of  unsusjjecting  parties,  to  screen  themselves,  and  to  secure  double 
rewards.  This  is  what  I  am  told.  We  shall  see. 

June  7. 

We  are  fairly  launched  upon  the  great  trial,  and  that  keeps  me  a  close  pris¬ 
oner,  at  hard  labor.  What  there  is  of  the  “Free  Soil  ”  or  Liberty  feeling  in 
this  State  and  city,  is  mingled  with  much  personal  kindness  to  me.  I  am  not 
suffered  to  be  alone,  either  in  my  room  or  at  my  meals.  I  am  declining  in¬ 
vitations  to  go  into  the  country  to  address  the  people.  General  Cass  called 
yesterday,  and  invited  me  to  dine  with  him  next  week,  an  invitation  which  I 
accepted,  of  course. 

.  June  8. 

I  returned  General  Cass’  call  last  evening,  and  found  him  living -like  a  pa¬ 
triarch,  surrounded  by  a  wife  and  four  daughters.  The  circle  was  pleasant, 
and  they  are  intelligent  and  accomplished  ladies. 

After  court,  and  after  dinner,  Schoolcraft  and  I  crossed  the  river,  which  is 
a  mile  wide,  and  strolled  along  the  banks,  from  Windsor  to  Sandwich.  Upon 
the  grassy  banks  it  was  pleasant  walking,  and  the  road  was  full  of  objects  of 
pleasant  interest.  The  population  are  Catholic  French  and  fugitive  negroes. 
We  visited  an  old  church,  which  was  built,  eighty  years  ago,  for  a  missionary 
station  among  the  Hurons.  Now,  not  a  native  is  fonnd  within  two  or  three 
hundred  miles.  There  was  a  district  school  kept  in  two  departments,  one 
teaching  in  English,  and  the  other  in  French. 

I  accosted  two  negroes,  who  boldly  avowed  that  they  had  fled  from  Ken¬ 
tucky  and  defied  their  masters.  They  asked  whether  any  one  was  in  pursuit 
of  them.  Well-looking  colored  families  were  riding  from  the  ferry-boat,  in 
comfortable  market  carts.  Very  respectable  looking  black  preachers  were 
seen  enjoying  all  the  respect  paid  even  to  Catholic  priests  of  fairer  hue. 

I  read  the  papers  with  less  interest  here  than  at  home.  Politics  are  less  in¬ 
teresting.  I  notice  that  the  Herald  is  rapidly  letting  Mr.  Fillmore  and  Mr. 
Clay  down,  and  preparing  to  let  Mr.  Webster  down,  so  as  to  come  out  for 
Scott.  So,  at  last,  the  tide  begins  to  turn.  Are  we  to  win  another  victory,  to 
be,  for  aught  I  know,  useless  to  the  party,  the  country,  and  the  cause  of  hu¬ 
manity  ?  Well,  as  O'Connell  said  on  reaching  Genoa,  “It  is  God’s  will  that 
I  shall  not  see  Rome.  I  am  content.’’  I  shall  be  contented  to  see  the  progress, 
not  the  end. 


1851. 7 


THE  RAILROAD  TRIALS. 


167 


July  16. 

I  went  with  Mr.  Miller  last  night  to  the  Hutchinson’s  concert.  They  had  a 
very  full  house,  and  I  was  pleased  with  the  discovery,  that,  first,  they  had  im¬ 
proved  much;  and,  second,  that  they  had  maintained  their  independence.  In 
the  midst  of  this  agitation  and  commotion,  they  still  sing  forth  with  their 
melodious  voices,  the  songs  of  freedom.  No  oue  dared  to  hiss,  although  there 
'was  a  holding  in  of  the  breath,  more  than  there  should,  or  perhaps  once 
would,  have  been  on  the  part  of  the  audience. 

You  have  the  advantage  over  me  quite,  in  politics.  I  never  see  the  Journal 
nor  the  Tribune.  I  do  not  know  what  either  paper  says.  As  for  the  new 
creed,  the  Whig  party  never  gave  to  you  or  to  me  the  political  creed  we  pro¬ 
fessed.  It  has  been  unwilling,  half  the  time,  not  merely  to  receive  any  creed 
from  me,  but  even  to  allow  me  liberty  to  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk 
humbly  in  my  own  way.  I  hate  creeds  and  articles;  but  I  love  and  honor 
fidelity  to  associates,  party,  and  country.  We  can  go  along  very  well.  After 
trying  this  new  creed  and  wearing  it  out,  they  wont  blame  you  and  me  for  it. 

August  10. 

This  everlasting  trial,  like  revolution,  seems  to  have  almost  banished  Sun¬ 
days.  We  have  examined  more  than  three  hundred  witnesses,  indeed  nearer 
four  hundred,  and  the  nights,  adjourned  days,  and  Sundays,  have  afforded  too 
little  time  to  post  up  the  multifarious  details  of  the  evidence,  and  arrange 
them  for  use.  We  shall  close  the  testimony  for  the  defense  to-morrow  morn¬ 
ing.  We  have  impeached  the  prosecuting  informer,  by  one  hundred  and 
twenty  witnesses.  We  have  contradicted  the  testimony  given  by  him  upon 
the  vital  points  of  the  case. 

We  shall  close  the  testimony  this  week,  and  some  time  next  week  the  argu¬ 
ments. 

September  4. 

At  last,  we  are  at  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Van  Arman  is  arguing  the  case 
for  the  people;  seven  or  eight  counsel  (on  both  sides)  are  to  follow. 

We  are  in  a  vast  room,  with  a  vast  audience  gathering.  Public  sympathy 
is  doing  its  work.  Public  meetings  are  gathering  in  the  country.  The  city 
is  moved  and  the  prosecution  is  alarmed.  Greeley’s  reporter  is  here ;  and  we 
are  preparing  ourselves  as  well  as  we  can.  If  I  can  seem  forgetful  of  you,  re¬ 
member  that  I  am  doing  my  professional  service  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 


168 


greeley’s  European  tour„ 


[1851. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1851. 

European  Events.  Greeley’s  Trip.  Free  Schools.  Fugitive  Slave  Cases.  The  “Jerry 
Rescuers.”  The  “  Underground  Railroad.”  Chautauqua  Affairs.  Charlotte  Cushman 
in  Buffalo.  The  State  Election.  Death  of  Judge  Miller. 

At  home  again,  after  the  long  trial,  Seward  had  opportunity  to 
learn  what  had  transpired  in  the  world  at  large  during  the  summer. 
The  “World’s  Fair”  at  London  was  attracting  thousands  of  visitors. 
Gold  discoveries  in  Australia  were  drawing  thousands  of  immigrants. 
Lopez’s  expedition  had  landed  in  Cuba,  but  had  been  overpowered 
and  defeated.  He  and  several  of  his  followers  were  executed,  the 
rest  in  prison.  Louis  Napoleon  was  creating  uneasiness  and  forcing 
ministerial  resignations  by  measures  looking  to  prolongation  of  his 
term  of  office.  Austria  and  Russia  had  demanded  the  detention  of 
Kossuth  for  two  years.  Turkey  had  refused,  and  the  great  exile  was  on 
board  the  United  States  steamer  Mississippi.  Boston,  New  York,  and 
Baltimore  were  engaged  in  a  laudable  rivalry  in  building  “clipper 
ships.”  New  Yorkers  were  debating  whether  to  enlarge  the  Battery, 
or  to  have  “a  great  up-town  park.”  Raymond  had  started  the  New 
York  Times,  and  was  conducting  it  with  energy  and  skill.  Greeley 
had  returned  from  his  European  tour.  A  characteristic  letter  re¬ 
ceived  from  him  said: 

I  am  very  glad  to  find  myself  at  home.  Ruins  and  antiquities  are  well 
enough  when  taken  in  moderate  doses;  but  a  daily  paper  with  breakfast  is 
preferable  as  an  every-day  matter.  I  grew  weary  of  the  passport  system  of 
Southern,  and  the  sullen  skies  of  Northern  Europe,  and  was  right  glad  to  come 
home.  I  am  sure  my  travels  cannot  nauseate  any  reader  as  much  as  the  mari¬ 
time  portion  did  me.  I  presume  they  will  be  printed  this  fall  if  I  can  ever 
find  time  to  revise  them.  The  letters  were  written  in  a  great  hurry,  but  they 
contain  truthful  pictures  of  what  I  saw,  and  that  is  a,  view  quite  commonly 
neglected. 

Meanwhile  the  New  York  Legislature  had  held  its  extra  session 
and  authorized  the  Canal  Enlargement  Loan.  The  new  School  Law, 
once  more  confirmed  by  the  popular  vote,  had  gone  into  successful 
operation.  The  Evening  Journal  said  of  it: 

t  I 

In  1840,  Governor  Seward  recommended  a  change  in  the  School  System. 
That  recommendation  was  grossly  misrepresented  at  the  time,  and  is  still  both 
misrepresented  and  misunderstood.  That  plan  is  now  so  universally  popular 
that,  nothing  could  induce  any  essential  modification  of  it.  Time  is  the  honest 
man’s  best  vindication. 


1851.] 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW. 


1G9 


But  of  all  these  topics,  none  stirred  the  popular  heart  so  deeply  as 
the  attempts  which  the  Administration  was  making  to  execute  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  At  Boston,  early  in  the  year,  Shadrach,  a  col¬ 
ored  waiter,  was  seized,  taken  before  the  Commissioner,  and  duly 
remanded  to  custody,  when  a  crowd  of  colored  men  rescued  him  and 
sent  him  off  to  Canada.  Thereupon  the  President  issued  a  proclama¬ 
tion  commanding  all  public  officers  and  calling  on  all  citizens  to  “aid 
in  quelling  this  and  similar  combinations,”  and  to  “assist  in  captur¬ 
ing  the  above-named  persons;”  in  which  business  the  Secretaries  of 
War  and  of  the  Navy  directed  the  army  and  the  navy  to  help.  Later 
came  the  case  of  Sims,  who,  though  defended  by  some  of  the  best  legal 
talent  in  Boston,  was  surrendered  to  his  master,  marched  to  the  Long 
Wharf  in  a  hollow  square  of  three  hundred  armed  policemen,  while  the 
militia  were  posted  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  the  church  bells  were  tolling 
as  for  a  funeral.  Then  there  was  the  romantic  story  of  William  and 
Ellen  Craft,  escaped  slaves  from  Georgia.  Ellen,  whose  complexion 
was  light,  had  dressed  herself  to  personate  a  young  planter  going  north 
for  his  health,  attended  by  William,  who  personated  a  family  servant 
greatly  devoted  to  his  young  master.  When  the  slave-catchers  tracked 
them  to  Boston,  Rev.  Theodore  Parker  gave  them  refuge  in  his  house. 

’  He  said,  “  For  two  weeks  I  wrote  my  sermons  with  a  sword  in  the 
ojien  drawer  under  my  ink-stand,  and  a  pistol  in  the  flap  of  the  desk, 
loaded  and  ready  for  defense,  until  they  could  be  put  on  board  a  ves¬ 
sel  for  England.” 

There  was  a  case  at  Chicago,  another  at  Poughkeepsie,  another  at 
Westchester,  and  another  at  Wilkesbarre,  each  attended  with  circum¬ 
stances  more  or  less  calculated  to  awaken  popular  detestation  of  what 
the  newspapers  called  “Man  Hunting  on  the  Border.”  In  one  case 
at  Philadelphia,  a  free  negro  was  kidnapped,  proved  by  hired  witnesses 
to  be  a  slave,  and  sent  to  Maryland;  only  escaping  because  the  planter 
to  whom  he  was  delivered  had  the  honesty  to  acknowledge  he  was  not 
his  “lost  property.” 

At  Buffalo,  Judge  Conkling  granted  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  an 
alleged  fugitive.  His  counsel,  Talcott  and  Hawley,  moved  his  dis¬ 
charge  for  lack  of  evidence.  It  was  granted,  and  in  a  few  moments 
he  was  on  his  way  to  Canada.  At  Syracuse,  Jerry  McHenry  was 
seized  and  carried  before  the  Commissioner,  but  a  crowd  surrounded 
the  court-room,  broke  in  the  doors,  rushed  in,  overpowered  the  offi¬ 
cers,  and  rescued  the  prisoner.  Among  those  who  participated  in 
this  riot  were  Gerrit  Smith,  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  and  other  leading 
citizens.  Eighteen  of  them  were  indicted  and  summoned  to  appear 
at  Auburn,  to  answer  for  their  offense.  They  were  escorted  by  a 


170 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD. 


[1851. 


a 


?> 


hundred  of  the  prominent  people  of  the  place.  Being  required  to 
give  sureties,  Seward  headed  the  list,  which  was  soon  filled  with  well- 
known  names. 

At  Christiana,  in  Pennsylvania,  when  the  officers  and  slave-owners, 
with  the  Commissioners  warrant,  came  to  a  house  where  a  fugitive 
was  concealed,  they  fired  into  it.  The  fire  was  returned,  the  owner 
killed,  his  companions  put  to  flight,  and  the  fugitive  escaped. 

The  news  of  these  seizures  and  conflicts  alarmed  all  fugitives,  some 
of  whom  had  been  for  years  residing,  in  supposed  security,  in  “free 
States/’  Canada  was  the  only  place  of  refuge,  and  they  began  to 
pour  into  it.  They  crossed  at  Detroit,  and  at  Niagara,  and  at  Ogdens- 
burg.  Of  those  in  New  England,  some  went  up  through  Vermont, 
some  fled  to  Maine  and  crossed  over  into  New  Brunswick.  Settle¬ 
ments  sprang  up  in  Canada,  composed  of  negroes  escaped  from  sla¬ 
very.  The  one  at  Chatham  was  especially  well  known,  and  was  a 
favorite  point  for  those  fled  from  Kentucky,  through  Ohio  and  Michi¬ 
gan. 

It  is  to  the  credit  of  human  nature  that  few  men  were  zealous  in 
executing  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  except  those  who  were  paid  for  it. 
Even  those  who  thought  it  ought  to  be  obeyed  did  not  hurry  them¬ 
selves  to  obey  it.  Many  such  would  give  food  and  shelter  to  a  casual 
colored  man,  and  even  point  out  the  road  leading  north,  while  pru¬ 
dently  refraining  from  asking  any  questions  that  might  prove  embar¬ 
rassing  to  both  parties.  Others  devoted  their  time  and  money  to  help 
the  fugitives.  Free  colored  people  in  the  Northern  cities  were  especi¬ 
ally  active  in  this  work.  The  mysterious  rapidity  with  which  fugitive 
slaves  were  smuggled  through  the  States  and  “across  the  line,”  soon 
gained  for  the  system  the  name  of  “The  Underground  Railroad.” 
The  passengers  on  that  road  increased  every  month,  and  its  managers 
devised  new  facilities  for  travel.  A  poor  wretch,  with  his  little 
bundle,  knowing  nothing  of  his  route,  save  that  he  must  hide  by  day 
and  follow  the  North  Star  by  night,  would  find  himself  urged  and 
helped  forward  by  friendly  hands,  until  he  stood,  without  knowing 
how,  on  British  soil.  Sometimes  they  came  in  squads  of  four  or  five, 
or  even  a  dozen.  Stories  almost  incredible  were  told.  One  man  es¬ 
caped  in  a  hogshead.  One  woman  had  come  on  in  a  box,  and  was 
nearly  suffocated  when  it  was  piled  among  the  merchandise  on  a 
wharf.  One  had  come  in  the  straw  of  a  farm  wagon,  another  by 
hanging  on  underneath  the  cars,  several  in  the  holds  of  coasting  ves¬ 
sels.  But  the  majority  had  fled  on  foot,  looking  hourly  behind  them 
for  the  master  and  his  hounds,  and  before  them  for  the  North  Star  and 
liberty. 


lbM,] 


IN  CHAUTAUQUA. 


171 


At  Syracuse,  in  September,  were  held,  the  Whig  and  Democratic 
State  Conventions.  Botli  avoided  any  “  slavery  agitation,”  and  both 
invited  Compromisers  and  Anti-Compromisers  to  unite  in  support  of 
the  party  ticket.  Each  nominated  its  candidates  for  State  officers. 
Among  the  Whig  nominations  were  Forsyth,  Patterson,  Cook,  Ullman, 
Seymour,  Fitzhugh,  and  Wells.  Among  the  Democratic  ones,  Ran¬ 
dall,  Wheaton,  Chatfield,  and  Welch.  The  campaign  was  not  an  ani¬ 
mated  one,  for  no  great  question  was  at  issue.  But  it  began  to  be 
evident  that,  although  the  Compromise  had  been  proposed  by  Whigs, 
it  was  likely  to  inure  to  the  benefit  of  the  Democrats.  It  was  not 
illogical  for  voters  to  conclude  that,  since  concession  to  the  South  was 
to  be  the  accepted  policy  on  both  sides,  such  work  would  be  best 
accomplished  by  the  party  which  already  enjoyed  Southern  support 
and  confidence. 

Seward  devoted  the  fall  chiefly  to  his  affairs  in  Orange  and  Chau¬ 
tauqua  counties.  His  heavy  investments  in  lands  in  the  latter  had 
entailed  a  fifteen  years’  struggle  with  debt.  But  at  last  this  was  over. 
Settlers  had  come  in,  lands  were  salable,  and  instead  of  a  yearly  drain 
upon  his  pocket,  Chautauqua  now  began  to  return  him  an  income. 
With  reasonable  prudence  he  would  now  have  an  assured  competence 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

He  wrote  to  Weed,  who  had  inquired  if  he  would  like  to  have  one 
of  his  sons  become  a  journalist: 

Auburn,  October  3,  1851. 

I  hoped  to  go  to  Albany  to-day  to  see  you,  but  business  deranged  by  four 
months’  absence  keeps  me  fast.  Tallman  hurries  a  settlement  of  the  Chautauqua 
matter,  and  I  have  written  to  Patterson  to  come  here  as  early  next  week  as  he 
can. 

Frederick,  having  got  his  lawyer’s  diploma,  on  surveying  the  whole  ground, 
inclines  to  try  the  editorial  life,  for  which  literary  tastes  and  habits  and  gen¬ 
erous  principles  qualify  him  in  some  respects.  He  will  go  down  on  Monday  to 
offer  himself  to  do  any  thing  for  you,  while  and  so  long  as  you  shall  be  abroad, 
and  by  the  result  of  that  trial,  if  you  take  him,  he  will  decide  what  course  of 
life  to  adopt. 

The  Chautauqua  business  now  called  him  to  Westfield.  On  the  way 
he  "wrote  from  Buffalo: 

You  see  that  we  make  slow  progress.  We  arrived  here  last  night  at  eight 
o'clock,  and  after  a  comfortable  sleep  and  breakfast,  left  the  wharf  this  morn- 
ins:  at  nine  for  Barcelona  in  the  steamer  Fashion.  The  sea  was  in  a  swell,  the 
passengers  were  sick  and  fearful.  After  going  twenty  miles  the  captain  con¬ 
sulted  his  barometer,  prognosticated  a  gale,  and  turned  the  vessel  about.  We 
returned  to  the  wharf  at  three  o’clock,  and  here  we  are  waiting  for  the  seas 
to  be  stilled.  It  is  provoking,  tantalizing,  but  nevertheless  we  feel  grateful 


MISS  CUSHMAN  AT  BU/FFALO. 


[1851. 


1  ^9 

1  4 

for  what  may  prove  to  have  been  the  salvation  of  our  lives.  We  hope  the 
storm  will  release  us  to-morrow  mornin 

Finding  himself  in  Buffalo  to  remain  over  night,  he  noticed  by  the 
placards  that  Miss  Charlotte  Cushman  was  playing  at  the  theater.  He 
went  there  and  found  the  house  crowded,  but  with  a  strange  audience. 
Owing  to  the  storm,  lake  and  canal-boats  were  detained  in  port,  and 
hundreds  of  boatmen  filled  pit  and  galleries,  and  even  overflowed  into 
the  boxes.  The  play  was  “  Romeo  and  Juliet,”  Miss  Cushman,  with 
her  inimitable  skill,  personating  the  impassioned  lover,  and  her  sister 
taking  the  part  of  the  heroine.  It  was  in  the  highest  vein  of  dramatic 
art,  but  a  trifle  too  high  for  the  uncultivated  taste  of  the  boatmen. 
They  had  discovered  that  the  lover  was  represented  by  a  woman,  and 
the  glowing  metaphors  and  hyperbole  of  Shakespeare  struck  them  as 
excellent  burlescpie.  They  laughed,  they  applauded,  they  whistled, 
they  shouted,  at  such  capital  fun.  Every  tender  sentiment  in  the  bal¬ 
cony  scene -was  greeted  with  a  roar  from  the  pit.  Never  was  “  Romeo 
and  Juliet”  so  much  enjoyed.  Miss  Cushman  played  on  apparently 
unconscious  of  her  audience.  But  Seward  rose,  and  went  home  at  the 
end  of  the  third  act  —  the  only  time  in  his  life  when  he  was  ever  will¬ 
ing  to  leave  Miss  Cushman’s  acting,  for  the  audience  marred  all  en¬ 
joyment  of  it  that  night. 

Westfield,  1851. 

After  putting  back  into  Buffalo  and  waiting  there  for  the  storm  to  abate,  we 
went  at  eleven  o’clock  on  Wednesday  morning  on  board  the  steamboat  Ohio , 
but  were  detained  in  the  harbor  by  the  winds,  until  eight  o’clock  on  Thursday. 
We  arrived  at  Dunkirk  at  two,  and  came  over  by  land  to  this  place.  But 
next  day,  Friday,  we  spent  in  a  journey  to  French  Creek,  in  the  south-west 
part  of  the  county.  It  stormed  all  day  on  Saturday.  On  Sunday  the  Land 
Office  was  shut.  Mr.  Tallman  came  in  last  night.  Our  papers  are  being  pre¬ 
pared,  and  we  may  sign  them  to-morrow  and  leave  for  home.  The  business 
closes  about  as  well  as  we  expected  —  perhaps  a  little  better. 

At  the  fall  elections  some  of  the  Whig  nominees  for  State  officers, 
and  some  of  the  Democratic  ones,  were  successful.  So  far  as  the  result 
indicated  popular  feeling,  it  seemed  to  show  that  those  candidates 
were  strongest,  who  favored  the  enlargement  of  the  canals  in  the 
State,  and  were  for  “Free  Soil”  in  the  territories. 

In  November,  Judge  Miller,  Mrs.  Seward’s  father,  after  a  protracted 
illness,  was  gradually  sinking  to  his  end.  He  was  in  his  eighty-first 
year,  but  had  retained  his  mental  vigor  to  the  last.  After  the  funeral 
Seward  wrote  to  Weed,  who  was  now  preparing  for  a  European  trip 
with  his  daughter. 


1851-’52.] 


THE  NEW  CONGRESS. 


173 


Auburn,  November  17,  1851. 

Judge  Miller’s  death  was  sublime.  The  homage  paid  to  his  memory  was 
touching  and  soothing.  I  am  detained  here  a  few  days  by  the  new  cares  of 
administration. 

I  am  glad  you  are  going  away  for  Harriet’s  sake,  and  for  your  own.  Much 
as  I  want  Fred  with  me,  I  will  send  him  down  to  receive  your  instructions  and 
your  wishes,  in  due  time.  He  will  be  faithful,  as  Grinnell’s  clock,  to  both. 

A  word  about  politics.  We  are  always  ruined  by  our  own  errors,  and  salva¬ 
tion  and  restoration  come  only  through  the  errors  of  our  adversaries.  Things 
are  on  a  poise.  No  party  can  long  retain  power  in  this  crisis.  Responsibilities 
crush  any.  After  General  Taylor’s  death,  and  the  change  of  policy  by  his 
successor,  the  Whig  party  could  not  go  through  to  any  triumph,  unless  it  could 
change  back.  I  feel  assured  that  we  are  right,  and  that  the  right  will  come 
up  again,  I  know. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

1851-1852. 

The  New  Congress.  Fish,  Wade,  and  Sumner  Entering  the  Senate.  Linn  Boyd  Speaker. 
Arrival  of  Kossuth.  Enthusiastic  Welcome  in  New  York.  Debates  and  Doubts  at 
Washington.  Weed  in  Europe.  Louis  Napoleon’s  Coup  d’ Etat.  Reception  of  Kos¬ 
suth.  The  Hungarian  Question.  “  Intervention  and  Non-Intervention.”  Irish  Pat¬ 
riots.  Kossuth  at  Mount  Yernon.  Pulszky.  The  Japan  Expedition.  Ocean  Com¬ 
merce.  The  Kossuths  at  Auburn. 

Arrived  at  Washington,  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  another  session, 
he  wrote: 

Well !  here  I  am  again,  after  a  vacation  that  has  been  busier  than  even  the 
session  of  Congress,  which  it  followed. 

Our  house  is  here,  and  not  a  thing  in  it  has  been  disturbed.  Even  the  rats 
and  mice  have  been  forbearing.  Yet  who  could  believe  that  this  thick  dust, 
that  has  buried  every  thing,  and  is  as  dense  as  the  covering  of  the  streets, 
has  been  scattered  in  through  the  windows  and  doors  ? 

We  had  a  hurried  and  uncomfortable  journey  from  New  York.  They  have 
come  at  last  to  check  baggage  there,  for  the  through  passage.  But,  as  yet, 
they  have  not  a  through  train  by  daylight.  So  we  were  obliged  to  come  by 
night.  We  left  at  five,  p.  m.,  and  arrived  at  nine  yesterday  morning. 

Of  the  people,  or  of  politicians,  I  have  seen  none.  The  Democrats  are  in 
power  in  Congress,  the  Silver  Greys  in  the  Administration.  I  am  out  of  com¬ 
munication  and  out  of  sympathy  with  both ;  and  I  feel,  in  the  very  air 
around  me,  that  I  am  to  enjoy  quiet,  repose,  I  had  alpiost  said,  dignity;  but  if 
I  had  used  the  word,  I  should  have  used  it  in  the  popular  sense,  not  in  my  own; 
for  I  have  had  the  dignity  of  real  independence.  Independent  thought, 
speech,  and  action  in  the  midst  of  passion,  and  in  a  season  of  the  decline  of 


174 


ARRIVAL  OF  KOSSUTH, 


[1  Sol — ’ 52 . 


political  virtue.  There  are  indications  of  disagreement  and  contention  among 
our  political  adversaries;  but  I  do  not  yet  know  whether  the  breach  will  come 
soon,  and  be  wide  enough  to  give  us  any  hope  for  the  cause  of  truth  and  jus¬ 
tice. 

On  the  morning  when  Congress  met,  and  as  soon  as  the  Chaplain 
had  finished  his  opening  prayer,  Seward  rose  and  presented  the  cre¬ 
dentials  of  his  new  colleague,  Governor  Fish.  He  was  followed  by 
Chase,  who  presented  those  of  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  just  elected  from 
Ohio.  Afterward,  General  Cass  presented  those  of  Charles  Sumner, 
who  had  been  chosen  by  Massachusetts.  The  morning  was  spent  by  the 
Senate  in  discussion  over  a  contested  seat  from  Florida.  Presently 
news  came  from  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol  that  the  House  of  Repre¬ 
sentatives  had  elected  Linn  Boyd,  Speaker,  by  a  large  majority.  The 
Whigs,  being  in  a  minority,  and  hopelessly  divided  in  sentiment  on 
the  Compromise  question,  had  scattered  their  votes  between  Edward 
Stanley,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Joseph  R.  Chandler,  and  others.  Efforts 
had  been  made,  in  the  caucuses  of  both  political  parties,  to  bind  their 
members  to  support  the  Compromise  measures.  Resolutions  indors¬ 
ing  them  were  adopted  by  the  Whig  caucus.  But  half  the  Whig 
members  stayed  away  and  refused  to  concur.  The  Democrats  mus¬ 
tered  in  greater  force  in  their  caucus;  but  ended  by  laying  the  dis¬ 
turbing  question  on  the  table.  Resolutions  of  similar  purport  were 
introduced  in  both  Houses,  and  led  to  some  debate.  Meanwhile,  the 
President  sent  in  his  message,  which  congratulated  Congress  and  the 
country  on  the  general  acquiescence  in  these  measures  of  “  conciliation 
and  peace.  ” 

On  the  night  of  the  5th  of  December,  Kossuth  arrived  by  the 
Humboldt,  at  the  Quarantine,  in  New  York  harbor.  Rockets,  salutes, 
music,  delegations,  and  committees  greeted  him;  and,  though  he  went 
on  shore  with  his  family  and  suite  to  rest  till  morning,  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  Dr.  Doane,  rest  for  him  there  was  none.  The  next 
dav  he  was  taken  to  New  York,  in  a  steamer  decorated  with  the  Stars 
and  Stripes,  the  Hungarian  tricolor,  and  the  Turkish  crescent.  His 
landing  and  progress  up  Broadway  was  an  ovation.  Cannonades, 
steam  whistles,  brass  bands,  and  enthusiastic  shouts  greeted  him  at 
every  step.  There  was  a  military  escort,  a  reception  by  the  city 
authorities,  and  a  crowd  that  blocked  the  whole  of  Broadway  and  the 
Bowery,  till  he  reached  the  Irving  House.  And  there,  for  several 
days,  deputations  were  calling  upon  him  to  proffer  welcome.  His  apt 
replies  and  eloquent  speeches  were  the  chief  topics  of  newspaper  com¬ 
ment  and  general  conversation. 

While  New  York  was  thus  unequivocal  in  its  welcome,  Washington 


!S51-’52.] 


KOSSUTH. 


175 

was  beginning  to  think  the  welcome  might  go  too  far.  A  reso¬ 
lution  proposing  a  formal  reception  was  offered  in  the  Senate,  it  was 
understood  with  the  approval  of  the  Administration.  Then  it  was 
withdrawn.  Thereupon  Seward  immediately  offered  another,  “  Re¬ 
solved,  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  the  name  and  behalf 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  give  to  Louis  Kossuth  a  cordial 
welcome  to  the  Capitol  and  to  the  country,  and  that  a  copy  of  this 
resolution  be  transmitted  to  him  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States/’  In  the  debate  that  ensued,  various  objections  were  made, 
their  chief  ground  being  that  the  proposed  reception  might  “ compli¬ 
cate  our  relations  with  European  powers,”  might  lead  to  “entangling 
alliances”  or  “intervention”  in  European  wars. 

Seward  replied  that  he  was  a  “lover  of  peace”  and  should  never 
freely  give  consent  to  any  measure  tending  “to  involve  this  nation  in 
the  calamities  of  a  foreign  war.”  He  said  that  he  believed  that  “  our 
mission  is  a  mission  of  republicanism,”  best  executed  “  by  maintaining 
peace  at  home  and  with  all  mankind.”  He  added: 

But  I  see  no  danger  in  doing  a  simple  act  of  national  justice  and  magnanim¬ 
ity.  And  this  is  all  that  we  have  done  and  all  that  we  propose  to  do.  We 
have  invited  Kossuth,  we  procured  his  release  from  captivity,  we  have  brought 
him  here,  and  we  propose  to  say  to  him,  standing  upon  our  shores,  with  his 
eyes  directed  to  us,  and  while  we  know  that  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world 
are  fixed  upon  him  and  us:  “Louis  Kossuth,  in  the  name  of  the  American 
people,  we  bid  you  welcome.” 

Later  in  the  debate  he  inquired: 

Are  you  prepared  to  give  to  the  world  evidence  that  you  cannot  receive  the 
representative  of  liberty  and  republicanism  whom  England  can  honor,  shelter, 
and  protect? 

This  republic  is,  and  forever  must  be,  a  living  offense  to  despotic  powrer 
everywhere.  The  days  of  despotism  are  numbered.  We  do  not  know  whether 
its  end  is  to  come  this  year,  or  next  year,  or  the  year  after,  in  this  quarter  of 
a  century,  or  in  this  half  of  a  century.  But  there  is  to  come,  sooner  or  later,  a 
struggle  between  the  representative  and  the  arbitrary  systems  of  government. 
Europe  is  the  field  on  which  that  struggle  must  take  place.  True  wisdom 
dictates  that  we  lend  to  European  nations  struggling  for  civil  liberty  all  pos¬ 
sible  moral  aid  to  sustain  them. 

The  resolution  was  finally  adopted,  and  the  welcome  was  duly  ten¬ 
dered.  Seward,  in  his  letters  home,  said: 

December  7. 

The  slave-holders  of  the  South  and  the  “Hunkers”  of  the  North  agree  in 
their  alarm  about  Kossuth.  You  see  wdiat  I  did  in  the  Senate.  I  have  more¬ 
over  tendered  Kossuth,  by  letter,  the  hospitalities  of  our  house  here  and  of 
our  house  in  the  country. 


176 


WELCOME  TO  KOSSUTH. 


[1851-  52.. 


To  Weed,  who  was  now  in  Europe,  he  wrote: 

December  2G. 

I  was  here  at  the  beginning  of  the  session.  Asperities  were  worn  off  by 
political  triumphs.  I  weut  into  the  caucus  and  found  no  enemies.  I  had  all 
that  I  desired  arranged  in  the  committees.  Mr.  Webster  had  taken  Foote 
into  close  confidence,  and  they  had  arranged  to  anticipate  me  (as  they  thought) 
on  Kossuth.  Foote  introduced  his  resolution;  slavery  took  alarm.  Webster 
advised  Foote  (he  says)  to  withdraw.  I  supplied  a  new  resolution,  and  after 
all  manner  of  contrivance  to  displace  it,  the  Democrats  were  obliged  to  vote 
for  it.  Our  Southern  Whigs  came  to  the  rescue  to  prevent  them  from  stealing 
it  after  the  battle  was  won. 

Meantime  Kossuth  came  to  New  York;  and,  instead  of  appealing  in  general 
terms,  proposed  details,  “  Hunkerism,”  “  Silver  Grayism,”  “  Slavery,”  all  took 
alarm,  and  now,  even  before  he  has  reached  here,  he  is.  repudiated  by  all  the 
interests  except  odious  “Sewardism.”  No  resolutions  can  be  got  through 
Congress  to  provide  even  apartments  for  him.  He  comes  next  week  to  feast 
on  disappointment. 

The  “Finality”  Compromise  Resolution  produced  an  explosion  by  the 
Secessionists;  and  as  we  have  all  kept  out  of  the  melee,  the  resolution  is  se¬ 
verely  denounced  by  the  Northern  press. 

You  left  revolution  behind  you  to  encounter  it  in  front.  This  usurpation  of 
Louis  Napoleon  is  frightful.  We  are  all  disheartened  for  the  cause  in  Europe. 

European  affairs  were  arresting  American  attention.  The  news  of 
Louis  Napoleon’s  coup  d’etat,  its  details  and  its  probable  results  in 
France,  and  throughout  Europe,  were  eagerly  studied.  Kossuth’s  arrival, 
his  eloquence,  and  his  enthusiastic  reception  in  the  great  cities,  was 
earnestly  discussed.  He  was  felt  to  be  a  representative  of  European 
republicanism,  and  the  demonstrations  in  his  honor  were  expressive, 
not  merely  of  sympathy  for  the  Hungarians,  but  of  protest  against 
despotism  everywhere.  He  was  greeted  and  entertained  at  Phila¬ 
delphia  and  Baltimore  on  his  way  to  Washington.  He  wras  formally 
received  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Webster,  and  presented  to  the 
President.  Monday,  the  5th  of  January,  was  appointed  for  his  recep¬ 
tion  by  the  Senate.  On  the  morning  of  that  day,  galleries  and  lobbies 
were  crowded,  Ladies  were  admitted  to  the  floor,  and  they  soon  occu¬ 
pied  every  available  seat.  Among  the  throng  who  stood  in  the  lobbies 
and  aisles  were  Cabinet  Officers  and  members  of  the  foreign  legations. 
At  one  o’clock,  Kossuth  appeared  at  the  door,  escorted  by  the  com¬ 
mittee  appointed  by  the  Senate  to  introduce  him,  General  Shields, 
General  Cass,  and  Seward.  Kossuth’s  grave  and  handsome  counte¬ 
nance  and  erect  figure,  in  his  fur-trimmed  coat,  attracted  all  eyes. 
His  suite,  in  military  uniform,  were  grouped  below  the  bar.  The 
Senators  rose  as  he  entered.  The'  presiding  officer  formally  welcomed 
him.  He  was  then  conducted  to  a  seat.  Business  was  given  over  and 


DR.  NOTT. 


KOSSUTH 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIf 


] 851 -’52.]  THE  HUNGARIAN  QUESTION.  17? 

the  Senate  adjourned;  and  then  the  Senators  were  individually  intro¬ 
duced  to  the  distinguished  exile,  who,  for  an  hour  or  more,  held  an 
informal  levee  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  Two  days  later  there  was  a 
similar  scene  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  a  public  dinner  was  given  him  by  the  members  of  Congress, 
at  which  speeches  were  made  by  Webster,  Cass,  and  Douglas,  and 
Kossuth  replied  with  appropriate  allusions  to  American  history. 

A  week  later  he  was  welcomed  at  Annapolis  by  the  Maryland  State 
authorities,  and  then  proceeded  on  his  tour  through  the  different 
States,  pleading  the  cause  of  the  Hungarian  Republic.  Popular  inter¬ 
est  followed  him  everywhere  he  went,  and  enthusiasm  was  kindled  by 
his  oratory.  But  “sympathy  ”  having  been  expressed  and  “  welcome  ” 
extended,  public  opinion  began  to  divide  and  differ  upon  the  grave 
question  of  “  intervention. v  Varying  theories  in  regard  to  it  found 
expression  through  the  press  and  the  public  debates. 

Seward,  replying  to  an  invitation  to  Philadelphia,  wrote: 

Give  him,  gentlemen,  a  welcome  worthy  of  Philadelphia  to  give,  worthf  of 
Kossuth  to  receive  —  a  welcome  for  his  own  great  military  and  greater  civic 
deeds,  although  he  disclaims  them  —  a  welcome  for  the  glorious  but  mournful 
memories  of  his  far-off  native  land,  although  she  caunot  lift  her  head  from 
the  dust  to  thank  you  for  it  —  a  welcome  for  his  indomitable  zeal  in  her  ser¬ 
vice  and  his  almost  spiritual  hopefulness  of  its  successful  results  —  a  welcome 
for  the  sake  of  our  own  country,  for  her  own  liberties  will  be  in  danger  when 
she  shall  have  forgotten  her  desire  to  extend  them  to  other  nations. 

The  conservative  press  of  both  parties,  however,  soon  began  to  throw 
out  intimations  that  there  was  danger  in  becoming  embroiled  in  Euro¬ 
pean  wars,  if  any  governmental  action  should  be  taken.  Then  it  was 
found  that  the  South  was  not  quite  so  enthusiastic  toward  the  Hun¬ 
garian  guest  as  the  North  had  been.  While  he  had  carefully  abstained 
from  saying  any  thing  in  favor  of  “free  soil  ”  or  “abolition/'  it  was 
instinctively  felt  that,  with  his  views  about  liberty,  he  could  not  be  in 
favor  of  slavery.  Seward,  in  writing  home,  remarked: 

The  Hungarian  question  here  has  settled  down  into  the  old  worn  channel  of 
politics.  Whoever  has  faith  in  me,  is  for  a  protest;  whoever  has  none,  is 
against  it.  So  it  will  be  throughout  the  States. 

The  change  of  congressional  temper  on  the  subject  was  manifested  in 
a  senatorial  debate  before  the  close  of  February.  Kossuth,  who  was 
in  Ohio,  had  written  a  letter  in  acknowledgment  of  the  courtesies  he 
had  received  at  the  hands  of  Congress.  On  a  motion  to  print  this, 
sprang  up  a  discussion  in  which  one  Senator  spoke  of  him  as  “a  po¬ 
litical  agitator/’  Another  said  he  was  in  hopes  “after  the  military 
•  12 


178  “FREEDOM  IN  EUROPE/’  [1&51-52. 

appearance  which  Mr.  Kossuth  made  in  this  hall,  some  time  ago,  that 
lie  would  not  be  presented  again  here  in  his  literary  character.”  An¬ 
other  thought,  “we  have  paid  him  all  the  respect  he  deserved;  yes, 
more  than  a  hundred  such  men  deserve.”  Another  criticised  Kos¬ 
suth’s  speaking  of  himself  as  “the  humble  representative  of  my  coun¬ 
try,”  and  said:  “I  did  not  intend  by  any  vote  of  mine  to  recognize 
him  as  a  representative,  or  that  he  had  any  country  contra-distin¬ 
guished  from  the  one  that  exists  under  the  Government  of  Austria.” 
Seward  came  to  Kossuth’s  aid,  recalling  to  the  memory  of  Senators 
that  “Congress  had  sent  a  National  ship  to  bring  him  from  Europe; 
that  Congress  had  hade  him  welcome  and  formally  received  him  in 
the  Capitol,  and,  having  received  him  as  a  guest,  was  only  performing 
an  ordinary  act  of  hospitality  in  receiving  his  respectful  letter  of 
thanks.”  When  the  vote  was  taken,  the  motion  to  print  was  adopted, 
but  only  by  a  majority  of  one. 

“Intervention”  and  “non-intervention”  continued  for  some  months 
to  be  themes  for  public  discussion.  Sympathy  and  aid  to  European 
Revolutionists  was  urged  on  one  hand,  and  met  by  ridicule  or  abuse 
of  them  on  the  other. 

Early  in  March,  Seward  made  an  elaborate  speech  on  “  Ereedom  in 
Europe.”  This  was  in  advocacy  of  his  resolutions  making  solemn 
protest,  in  behalf  of  the  United  States,  against  the  invasion  of  Hun¬ 
gary,  and  the  subversion  of  her  national  independence.  In  this  he 
sketched  the  history  of  the  Hungarian  people,  and  of  their  struggle  for 
liberty.  Then  turning  to  the  history  of  the  U nited  States  he  showed  how, 
on  repeated  occasions,  similar  manifestations  of  sympathy  had  been 
made  —  how  Washington  had  said,  on  receiving  the  news  of  the  French 
Revolution,  that  “  his  sympathetic  feelings  and  his  best  wishes  were 
irresistibly  excited  whenever  he  saw,  in  any  country,  an  oppressed  na¬ 
tion  unfurl  the  banner  of  freedom  ”  —  how  the  Senate,  on  that  occa¬ 
sion,  declared  that  they  “united  with  Washington  in  all  the  feelings 
he  had  so  ardently  and  sublimely  expressed  ”  —  how  Clay  had  pro¬ 
posed  recognition  of  the  South  American  provinces  in  revolt  against 
Spain,  asking:  “  If  ive  do  not,  who  will?”  And  how  President  Monroe 
had  not  only  expressed  sympathy  with  the  republics,  but  protested 
against  armed  intervention  from  Europe.  He  reminded  the  Senate  of 
the  active  manifestations  of  sympathy  for  the  Greeks,  and  remarked 
that  “  even  while  this  slow  and  languid  debate  has  been  going  on,  we 
have  interceded  —  not  formally  —  informally  indeed,  but  nevertheless 
we  have  interceded  —  with  Great  Britain,  for  clemency  to  imprisoned 
Irish  patriot^.” 


1851— *  52 . J 


KOSSUTH  AT  MT.  VERNON-. 


179 


Finally  he  said  : 

Senators  and  Representatives  of  America,  if  I  may  borrow  the  tone  of  that 
sturdy  Republican,  John  Milton,  I  would  have  you  consider  what  nation  it  is 
of  which  you  are  governors  —  a  nation  quick  and  vigorous  of  thought,  free  and 
bold  in  speech,  prompt  and  resolute  in  action,  just  and  generous  in  purpose  — 
a  nation  existing  for  something,  designed  for  something  more  than  indiffer¬ 
ence  and  inertness.  I  would  have  you  remember  that  the  love  of  liberty  is  a 
public  affection  which  this  nation  has  deeply  imbibed,  and  has  effectually  dif¬ 
fused  throughout  the  world.  She  cannot  now  suppress  it  nor  smother  her  de¬ 
sire  to  promote  that  cause,  for  it  is  her  own.  It  is  righteousness,  not  greatness, 
thatexalteth  a  nation,  and  it  is  liberty,  not  repose,  that  renders  national  exist¬ 
ence  worth  possessing. 

In  April,  Kossuth  returned  to  Washington  for  a  brief  visit.  A  letter 
from  Mrs.  Seward  to  her  sister  described  his  social  experiences  at 
Washington,  and  a  trip  made  with  him  to  Mount  Vernon.  Neglected 
grounds  and  dilapidated  buildings  and  fences  there,  were,  at  that  period, 
beginning  to  call  for  public  attention,  but  no  governmental  action  had 
yet  been  taken  for  their  preservation. 

Washington,  April  17. 

The  Kossuths  have  come  and  gone.  When  they  left  us  before,  Kossuth 
was  the  orator  who  won  our  hearts  by  his  genius.  He  was  surrounded 
with  a  large  suite  of  followers,  who  seemed  to  regard  him  as  a  supe¬ 
rior  being.  He  had  hope  and  confidence  in  the  professions  of  men  who  had 
power  to  assist  him;  his  rich  habiliments  attracted  the  gaze  of  the  multitude; 
he  was  going  to  make  new  friends  and  did  not  know  that  our  attachment  was 
more  reliable  than  that  which  he  might  meet  elsewhere.  He  returns  from  the 
South,  where  he  has  met  little  favor,  to  the  politicians  of  Washington,  whose 
favor  has  grown  cold;  with  his  hopes  diminished,  his  followers  reduced  from 
seventeen  to  four,  his  own  dress  even  changed,  with  the  change  of  prospects. 
The  Kossuth  who  has  left  us  to-day  is  a  gentle,  brave  man,  who  returns  with 
warmth  the  affection  which  he  feels  to  be  true  and  enduring.  Though  sub¬ 
dued,  he  is  not  utterly  cast  down,  and  will  toil  on  for  Hungary.  I  need  not 
tell  you  how  Henry  has  appeared  throughout  these  changes.  I  would  you  could 
have  seen  them  yesterday,  as  I  did,  standing  together,  two  slight  forms  among 
a  crowd  of  large  and  strong  men,  talking  of  their  hopes  for  the  ultimate  tri¬ 
umph  of  liberty.  “If  we  do  nothing  more,”  said  Henry,  “we  can  make  a 
bridge  for  others  to  cross.”  “  Yes,”  said  Kossuth,  “and  by  me  it  may  be 
made  over  a  sea  of  blood.” 

Monday  Evening. 

When  we  came  home  at  ten  Kossuth  was  here;  we  all  went  in  and  spoke  to 
him,  then  left  him  alone  with  Henry.  He  engaged  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  our 
dinner  party  of  Thursday,  and  said  the  ladies  would  come  and  see  me  the 
next  morning.  The  next  morning  Mesdames  Kossuth  and  Pulszky  came. 
They  said  they  had  thought  a  great  deal  about  us,  while  at  the  South,  and 
Madame  Pulszky  added  in  a  whisper,  “we  think  you  are  right  about  slavery.” 


180 


KOSSUTH  AT  MOUNT  VERNON. 


[1851-’52. 


They  engaged  to  come  that  evening  and  take  tea  with  me  —  very  glad  that  I 
was  to  have  no  other  company.  Another  vacancj'  having  occurred  in  our  dinner 
party,  Mr.  Pulzsky  was  invited.  Thursday  evening  I  went  to  the  table.  We 
had,  as  usual,  a  singular  combination  of  ultra-Southern  men,  “  Free  Soilers  ”  and 
Democratic  members  of  Congress,  Messrs.  Mangum  and  Hale  of  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Fisher,  editor  of  the  Southern  Press,  Mr.  Morehead  of  North  Carolina, 
New  York  members,  etc.  A  very  sociable  time  they  had.  Kossuth  sat  at  my 
right  and  Mr.  Morehead  on  my  left.  Kossuth  did  not  talk  much,  and  when 
he  did,  addressed  his  conversation  chiefly  to  me.  Mr.  Fisher,  who  is  called  a 
“  disunionist,”  and  who,  I  believe,  is  honestly  opposed  to  human  freedom,  said 
across  the  table:  “  Governor  Kossuth,  don’t  you  think  that  some  portion  of  the 
human  family  is  decidedly  inferior  to  the  other?”  Kossuth  replied,  with  his 
usual  gentle  gravity:  “  If  that  is  the  case,  I  think  it  should  teach  us  humility 
and  make  us  more  strenuous  in  our  endeavors  to  assist  the  weaker  portion.” 
Mr.  Fisher  then  alluded  to  the  African  race.  Kossuth  disclaimed  any  particu¬ 
lar  allusion  to  them,  but  said  he  spoke  for  the  oppressed  generally.  It  was 
nearly  eleven  o’clock  when  our  guests  departed,  previous  to  which  Henry  had 
arranged  that  he  and  Mr.  Fisher  should  accompany  the  Governor  to  Mount 
Yernon  the  next  day. 

As  the  children  were  to  be  of  the  party,  I  concluded  to  go  too.  So,  at  nine 
o’clock,  we  all  met  at  the  wharf,  with  nearly  a  hundred  other  persons  going  in 
the  same  direction.  Madame  Pulszky,  who  is  a  very  charming  person,  was 
not  well  enough.  Madame  Kossuth  summoned  up  resolution  to  go  once  with¬ 
out  her  interpreter.  I  was  glad  to  see  her  once  alone.  She  has  learned  a 
little,  very  little,  English,  which,  with  the  little  French  I  could  command, 
enabled  us  to  have  some  conversation;  besides,  we  could  both  understand 
more  than  we  could  talk.  She  looked  very  pretty  with  her  white  muslin  bon¬ 
net  and  green  veil.  We  went  to  Fort  Washington.  I  sent  a  card  to  Lieuten¬ 
ant  Wilcox,  who  soon  appeared  in  military  costume,  happy  to  be  introduced 
to  Kossuth;  he  very  politely  explained  all  the  Governor  wished  to  know  about 
the  fortifications  and  munitions  of  war.  He  was  particularly  inquisitive  about 
the  dress  and  quarters  of  the  soldiers,  their  accoutrements,  etc.  We  stayed 
until  the  steamboat  bell  rang  for  the  third  time,  and  long  after  the  rest  of  the 
party  had  gone  to  the  boat.  We  soon  arrived  at  Mount  Yernon.  Mr.  Fisher 
went  up  to  the  house  to  propitiate  the  proprietor,  while  we  went  to  the  tomb. 
Kossuth  took  the  arm  of  his  wife  and  went  with  her  to  the  door  of  the  vault. 

They  were  considerably  in  advance  of  us,  and  when  we  came  up  they  were 
both  coming  away,  with  tears  streaming  from  their  eyes.  Henry  walked  with 
them  away  from  the  crowd.  When  I  joined  them  the  three  were  alone. 
Madame  was  more  excited  than  I  had  ever  seen  her;  she  caught  my  arm  and 
hurried  me  back  to  the  tomb,  talking  French  with  great  earnestness.  It  is  “  tres 
triste ,”  as  Madame  said.  I  must  say  I  felt  ashamed  of  my  countrymen.  I 
could  not  conceive  that  the  place  could  be  so  changed.  “  It  is  a  shame,”  said 
a  rough-looking  young  man,  “to  leave  him  in  such  a  place.” 

They  invited  our  party  into  one  room  in  the  house  wdiich  is  not  usually 
opened  to  visitors.  It  contains  the  library  of  Washington,  a  plaster  bust,  and 
some  family  pictures.  Washington’s  large  Bible  was  on  the  table;  the  books 


1851-  52.] 


ON  THE  COMMERCE  COMMITTEE. 


181 


were  mixed  up  with  many  others  of  modern  date.  I  could  not  but  remark 
that  most  of  the  old  library  was  the  counterpart  of  our  father’s.  It  seemed 
difficult  for  Kossuth  to  make  up  his  mind  to  go,  but  again  the  bell  summoned 
us  to  the  boat,  and  we  joined  the  other  passengers. 

Thomas,  who  had  all  this  time  been  perambulating  the  grounds  with  a  bas¬ 
ket  of  provisions,  which  we  brought  from  home,  now  spread  some  napkins  on 
some  chairs  and  jiroduced  the  cold  ducks,  bread  and  butter,  oranges  and 
champagne.  As  there  were  only  plates  sufficient  for  the  ladies,  Kossuth, 
Henry,  and  Mr.  Fisher  took  theirs  in  their  lingers,  so  we  made  a  picnic  for  the 
edification  of  numberless  spectators.  We  were  joined  in  this  by  young  Cal¬ 
houn,  son  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  a  very  gentlemanly  and  agreeable  person,  who 
was  one  of  the  passengers.  Had  not  the  Kossuth  party  absorbed  us  so  much, 
we  should  have  found  other  interesting  company.  There  was  Dr.  Bellows  of 
New  York  and  his  sister  and  Grace  Greenwood.  We  parted  at  the  wharf,  in¬ 
tending  to  go  and  see  Mrs.  Pulszky  in  the  evening. 

We  went  to  the  National  in  the  evening;  found  Kossuth  had  gone  out  with 
the  intention  of  coming  to  our  house.  Three  or  four  gentlemen  came  in,  and 
I  took  my  leave,  promising  to  go  to  the  cars  this  morning  to  say  good-bye. 
Madame  Pulszky  was  still  too  ill  to  travel,  I  thought,  but  we  found  her  at  the 
depot  this  morningf,  looking  very  ill,  but  going  on,  notwithstanding.  We  had 
only  time  to  take  a  hurried  leave,  a  kiss  from  the  ladies,  and  a  warm  grasp  of 
the  hand  from  the  gentlemen,  and  they  were  gone.  When  and  where,  if  ever, 
shall  we  meet  again?  Mrs.  Horace  Mann,  who  had  walked  over  to  the  depot 
with  her  little  boys,  was  the  only  other  person  who  came  to  pay  them  the 
compliment  of  taking  leave. 

Except  in  our  own  house  and  the  day  at  Mount  Vernon,  Kossuth  has  always 
appeared  to  me  grave  and  reserved;  but  I  want  you  to  see  him,  because  he  is 
a  noble,  generous,  humane,  devoted  man,  ready  at  any  time  to  lay  down  his 
life  for  his  country. 

Seward  had  now  been  placed  on  the  Commerce  Committee.  The 
numerous  petitions  and  projects  thus  brought  to  his  attention  led  him 
to  new  studies  in  this  direction.  He  presented  resolutions  and  par¬ 
ticipated  in  debates  in  regard  to  improvement  of  light-houses;  methods 
of  measurement  of  tonnage;  the  registry  of  ships,  and  reduction  of 
duties;  introduced  a  bill  to  prevent  delays  in  discharging  cargoes; 
advocated  the  St.  Mary’s  ship  canal,  aid  to  the  Hamburg  and  Collins 
lines  of  ocean  steamers,  the  survey  of  the  China  seas,  the  expedition 
to  Japan,  etc.,  etc.,  and  made  a  speech  on  American  steam  navigation, 
urging  congressional  aid  to  its  development. 

He  wrote,  on  his  return,  to  Mrs.  Seward  at  Auburn: 

,  Washington. 

The  New  School  General  Assembly  is  here  m  great  force.  Di.  Barnes 
preached  the  opening  sermon,  and  gave  offense  by  maintaining  that  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Church  was  an  anti-slavery  body.  The  present  Moderator  balances 


182 


KOSSUTH  AT  AUBURN. 


[1851-52. 


the  account,  he  having  preached  against  the  heresy  of  consulting  the  “  Higher 
Law  ”  in  questions  of  political  duty  and  obligation.  A  large  number  of  the 
clergy  are  very  kind  and  courteous  to  me. 

It  gives  me  pain  to  record  that,  as  our  Convention  approaches,  there  is  a 
giving  way  among  our  best  men;  and  they  begin  to  talk  of  being  obliged  to 
submit  to  the  passage  of  Compromise  resolutions  of  some  sort.  It  makes  me 
sick  of  politics,  and  I  am  about  inclined  to  propose  to  Kossuth  some  far  off 
retreat,  where  we  can  look  out  upon  the  world,  not  in  anger  but  in  pity. 

I  perceive  that  Kossuth  went  to  Niagara  Falls.  I  suppose  you  will  have  a 
visit  from  them  on  their  way  eastward.  Assure  them,  if  they  need  it,  that  I 
was  faithful  and  hopeful.  The  tapering  down  about  Kossuth  is  painful  to 
think  of.  But  it  was  natural.  May  God  bless  and  save  him  and  his!  I  hope 
that  he  will  let  me  know  where  and  when  I  can  see  him  and  his  family.  I 
love  him  the  more  as  the  world  loves  him  less.  I  will  write  to  him  to-morrow. 

Here  is  a  beautiful  pink  rose,  from  which  I  drove  off  a  huge  bumble-bee,  and 
I  send  it  as  a  token  of  my  love  for  Fanny.  There  is  a  woman  waiting  on  busi¬ 
ness  below,  and  I  must  leave  you  for  her. 

May  26. 

This  morning  I  was  with  the  Committee  of  Commerce  at  an  early  hour,  then 
in  the  Senate.  Sumner  made  a  very  pretty  and  creditable  demonstration  on 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  by  way  of  promise.  Dawson  raved  at  him,  and  Man- 
gum  behaved  like  a  Christian.  Chase  attacked  the  Collins  Steamer  amendment,, 
and  I  replied.  No  question  was  taken. 

May  29. 

We  got  the  Collins  Steamers  through  the  Senate.  I  liad  Mr.  Fletcher  to 
dinner.  Went  from  table  to  saddle;  rode  till  nine;  found  a  note  from  Lord 
Wharncliffe  inviting  me  to  spend  the  evening  with  his  family;  went  out  with 
them  at  eleven  to  see  a  fire,  and  came  home  at  midnight. 

Sumner  reminds  me  that  it  is  on  their  place,  Wharncliffe  Park,  that  the  tale 
of  “Ivanhoe”  opens. 

May  30. 

This  being  what  I  call  a  summer  day,  I  have  spent  it  a  la  summer.  I  went 
first  to  church;  from  church  to  see  Governor  Fish,  who  is  quite  ill,  and  seems 
lonesome;  thence  to  dine  at  two  with  General  Scott.  He  is  happy,  hopeful, 
and  confident,  and  remains  fully  conscious  of  the  great  immodesty,  even  im¬ 
prudence  of  candidates  writing  letters;  thence  home,  at  four  o’clock,  under  a 
hot  sun.  I  have  slept  an  hour,  and  now  I  am  going  to  dine  en  famille  with  Mr. 
Crampton. 

Meanwhile  his  friends  and  neighbors  at  Auburn  gave  Kossuth  a 
hearty  welcome  when  he  arrived  there.  A  committee  went  to  Rochester 
to  meet  them.  Bells  rung,  cannons  fired,  while  a  procession  escorted 
them.  Mayor  Hall  made  a  speech  of  welcome,  to  which  Kossuth  re¬ 
plied.  Alluding  to  Seward,  he  said  he  had  wanted  “  to  spend  a  few 
hours  in  your  beautiful  city,  out  of  respect  to  the  distinguished  citizen 
who  had  shown  me  so  much  kindness,  in  setting  on  foot  the  movement 


1852.] 


THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS. 


183 


which  relieved  me  from  an  Asiatic  prison,  and  in  commending  me, 
since  my  arrival,  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  people.” 

He,  with  Madame  Kossuth  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pulszky,  then  went  to 
Seward’s  house,  where  they  received  a  throng  of  visitors  in  the  even¬ 
ing.  Madame  Pulszky,  in  her  diary,  wrote: 

To-day  we  are  at  the  pleasant  home  of  Gfovernor  Seward.  He  was  detained 
at  Washington  City,  but  Mrs.  Seward  has  welcomed  and  entertained  us  with 
her  own  amiable  cordiality.  The  mansion,  furnished  with  comfortable  sim¬ 
plicity,  is  adorned  by  the  elegant  neatness  which  pervades  it,  in  every  room, 
in  every  corner.  An  ample  and  carefully  selected  library,  family  portraits, 
with  a  striking  likeness  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  cover  the  walls.  Nothing  in 
this  house  is  luxurious,  nothing  superfluous;  but  every  want  is  provided  for 
with  good  taste,  and  every  object  offers  immediate  use,  or  presents  interesting 
associations.  The  foliage  of  ancient  trees  shades  our  windows,  and  allures  us 
to  step  down  into  the  garden,  whose  fragrance  fills  the  rooms.  Well-kept 
arbors  line  the  walks,  the  air  is  perfumed  with  narcissus,  hyacinths  and 
syringas,  around  which  cluster  rich  garlands  of  tulips  and  lovely  cupid-arrows. 
In  these  pleasant  grounds  we  meet  the  members  of  the  family  who  are  now 
staying  at  Auburn,  the  little  daughter  of  Mrs.  Seward,  and  her  nephew,  to  whom 
she  has  been  a  mother,  his  sweet  young  wife,  and  Mrs.  Worden,  Mrs.  Seward’s 
sister. 

Seward  wrote  from  Washington: 

The  Senate  has  adjourned  for  two  days  and  I  have  taken  my  arm-chair  to 
try  to  bring  up  my  arrears  of  labor  and  prepare  for  the  summer’s  work. 

I  gather  the  general  features  of  Kossuth’s  visit  from  the  Tribune ,  but,  of 
course,  shall  be  more  interested  in  your  details.  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart 
for  this  last  tribute  you  have  paid  to  justice  and  humanity,  in  his  person. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1852. 

The  National  Convention.  Pierce  and  King,  Scott  and  Graham.  Kossuth’s  Fund. 
Pulszky.  Lola  Montez.  Platforms  and  Principles.  Death  of  Henry  Clay. 

In  June  the  politicians  began  to  gather  again  in  Baltimore.  Both 
the  great  parties  had  called  their  National  Conventions  to  meet  there. 
Halls  were  swept  and  garnished  for  their  sessions,  and  hotels  were 
awaiting  their  arrival.  Seward  wrote: 

Washington,  June  2,  1852. 

I  am  alarmed  by  manifest  indications  of  indecision  among  our  Northern 
Whigs.  One  gentleman  has  a  pocket  full  of  letters,  from  among  which  he 


184 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONTENTION. 


[1852. 


claims  that  General  Scott  must  adopt  one,  or  something  like  it,  for  a  reply  to 
his  nomination.  Either  of  these  would  put  our  noble  cause  back,  and  I  would 
not  write,  print,  or  publish  it  on  any  account.  But  the  “  Barn-Burners  ”  and 
“Free  Soilers  ”  of  New  York  have  surrendered  and  are  now  following  Doug¬ 
las:  and  so  the  tone  of  a  large  mass  of  the  American  people  is  lowered.  I  fear 
that  the  demoralization  will  overcome  us. 

June  3. 

There  is  a  great  crowd  and  great  confusion,  at  Baltimore,  among  the  Demo¬ 
crats.  Slavery  is  exorbitant.  We  shall  soon  see  how  firm  the  resistance  of 
freemen  is. 

June  4. 

We  are  kept  on  the  qui  vive  by  Baltimore  Conventions.  There  is  reason  to 
fear  a  “  Silver  Gray  ”  explosion  of  the  Whig  Convention.  But  I  am  unmoved. 
The  Whig  party  cannot  just  now  bring  itself  to  rise  fully  up  to  the  position  I 
have  taken.  I  shall  take  care  not  to  go  down  from  it. 

June  5. 

Y'ours  of  Wednesday  supplies  what  I  wanted  —  information  of  the  private 
sentiments  and  feelings  of  Kossuth  on  the  present  position  of  his  affairs. 
Hungary  and  Kossuth  have  passed  from  the  memory  of  all  men  here,  except 
myself.  They  have  been  like  an  exciting  novel,  and  the  people,  like  the 
reader,  want  a  new  one,  not  a  reproduction  of  what  has  been  read.  I  shall  go 
to  meet  him  and  them  when  he  notifies  me  where.  Mr.  Pulszky  telegraphs 
that  he  will  be  here  next  Wednesday. 

The  Democratic  Convention  soon  concluded  their  labors.  They 
pledged  their  party  to  “  the  faithful  observance  of  the  Compromises 
of  1850,  including  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,”  and  “opposition  to  any 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question.”  The  “  Free  Soil  ”  element  was 
powerless  or  silent.  Numbers  of  those  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
Buffalo  movement  of  1848  were  now  “back  in  the  ranks,”  acqui¬ 
escing  in  what  they  had  then  denounced.  General  Franklin  Pierce 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  Senator  William  R.  King  of  Alabama,  were 
nominated  for  President  and  Vice-President.  That  the  candidate  for 
the  highest  place  was  little  known,  was  believed  to  be  a  great  element 
of  strength.  A  leading  statesman  has  followers  to  reward,  and  ene¬ 
mies  who  know  how  and  where  to  strike  at  him.  But  the  less  known 
has  no  record  to  explain.  Nobody  has  a  grudge  against  him,  and  all 
may  hope  for  favors  at  his  hands.  The  party  had  tried  this  policy 
once  with  Polk,  and  had  succeeded  in  1844.  They  would  try  it  again 
with  Pierce  and  succeed  in  1852.  Such  was  the  exultant  belief  among 
the  delegates,  as  they  dispersed  from  Baltimore.  Seward  wrote: 

June  6. 

The  Democratic  nomination  is  as  yet  imperfectly  understood.  Whether  it  is 
one  of  weakness  or  of  strength  cannot  be  seen  until  the  Whig  party  indicates 
the  antagonistic  leaders. 


1852.] 


MR.  AND  MRS.  PULSZKY. 


185 


Still,  the  change  made  in  the  attitude  of  that  party,  by  a  nomination,  is  full 
of  relief  to  me.  For  three  years,  I,  in  the  ditch,  have  been  struggling  with 
seven  or  eight  Presidents  in  full  armor.  All  of  the  Democratic  ones  are  reduced 
at  once  to  the  common  level,  and  I  think  all  the  Whig  ones  will  come  down 
to  that  level  next  week. 

To-day  I  was  favored  with  visits  for  consultation.  I  saw  General  Scott  yes¬ 
terday.  The  Whig  delegates  are  coming  in,  and  we  shall  have  a  busy  week  in 
studying  how  to  get  through  the  passes  of  the  Convention. 

Could  any  thing  be  more  pitiable  than  the  contemptuous  manner  in  which 
Cass,  Marcy,  Douglas,  and  Buchanan  are  thrown  aside?  All  except  one,  perhaps, 
thrown  aside  forever.  This  conclusion  has  taught  me  anew  the  absurdity  of 
living  and  working  for  the  Presidency.  These  gentlemen  have  given  up  every 
thing  and  got  nothing  in  return. 

Mr.  Pulszky  has  telegraphed  that  he  will  be  here  on  Wednesday,  and  Fred 
writes  that  Kossuth  says  that  Mr.  P.  will  arrange  an  interview  with  me,  before 
his  departure  to  England.  Kossuth’s  indomitable  spirit  is  seeking  new  means 
of  agitation. 

June  10. 

It  is  one  complete  whirl  here  this  week;  Governor  Fish  is  sick,  and  I  need 
to  visit  him  often.  Delegates  are  coming  here,  and  debates  and  wrangles  and 
consultations,  dragging  me  in,  are  around  me.  Mr.  Pulszky  has  come.  I  dined 
on  Tuesday  at  Mr.  Calderon’s  —  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Bell,  Dawson,  Gwin,  etc. 
We  left  at  eleven. 

Yesterday,  Wednesday,  I  had  delegates  and  others  with  General  Scott,  and 
we  rose,  after  very  long  stories,  at  eleven.  The  Southern  men  all  demand  a 
platform  of  “  finality  ”  of  the  Compromise,  and  Northern  men  are  preparing  to 
go  for  if  to  avoid  a  break  up  of  the  Convention.  If  I  advise  against  it  I  am 
denounced  as  a  Dictator.  If  I  listen  and  refer  the  subject  to  the  Convention, 
lo !  I  have  agreed  on  a  platform.  I  want  to  go  to  Auburn  and  be  out  of  the 
affair.  And  all  factious  protest  against  that.  They  can  neither  live  with  me 
nor  without  me.  They  have  found  out  Compromise  resolutions,  and  penned 
Compromise  letters,  and  tried  to  argue  me  into  approval,  privately,  while  they 
save  themselves  by  denouncing  the  very  idea  of  yielding  an  inch. 

June  12. 

It  is  a  Saturday,  a  day  of  rest,  and  the  politicians  are  everywhere,  but  in  my 
room,  at  this  moment.  I  improve  it  therefore.  Mr.  Pulszky  left  me  this  morn¬ 
ing.  He  stayed  with  me  while  here.  He  and  Hanick  came  here  to  submit  the 
accounts  of  Kossuth’s  Hungarian  fund  raised  in  the  United  States,  to  General 
Cass,  General  Shields  and  myself,  preparatory  to  Kossuth’s  departure  to  Eu¬ 
rope.  The  fund  amounted  to  $90,000,  and  of  it  only  $1,000  remains  in  Kos¬ 
suth's  hands.  The  rest  had  been  expended  in  the  chariest  personal  expenses, 
in  the  support  of  Hungarian  refugees,  until  .they  could  be  placed  in  employ¬ 
ment,  and  in  expenses  for  organizing  in  Hungary.  It  is  to  the  everlasting 
honor  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pulszky  that  not  a  cent  went  to  their  use.  She  supports 
them  by  her  books. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  P.  sail  next  Wednesday  to  London.  Kossuth  and  Madame  re- 


186 


LOLA  MONTEZ. 


[1852. 


main  until  his  mother  and  sisters  shall  have  arrived  and  been  placed  in  some 
suitable  way  of  living,  probably  in  the  West.  Then  he  goes  to  London  to  make 
influence  iu  Parliament;  and  then,  if  there  be  a  revolution,  to  go  to  Hungary, 
and  if  there  be  none,  to  return  to  America. 

Of  politics  I  will  say  nothing,  for  nothing  certain  is  known,  and  events  will 
travel  faster  than  speculations  and  predictions.  I  cannot  go  home ‘without 
subjecting  myself  to  misconstruction.  I  shall  try  to  work  next  week. 

Last  evening  I  went  with  Westcott  to  see  Lola  Montez  act  on  the  stage  her 
own  eventful  history.  It  was  new  to  me,  for  I  had  never  attended  to  the  de¬ 
tails  of  it  as  it  was  transpiring.  After  the  play  she  danced.  Artists  say  she 
does  not  excel  in  that  line,  but  I  could  not  detect  the  failure.  She  has  never 
been  an  actress,  and  her  performance  was  very  faulty,  yet  she  interested  me 
much,  for  her  acting  was  like  real  life  and  conversation.  After  the  performance 
ended,  I  went  behind  the  scenes  to  converse  with  her.  She  is  evidently  an 
intellectual  and  very  eccentric  woman.  Her  beauty  has  passed  away.  Her 
spirit,  her  ambition,  and  her  energy  remain.  She  seems  to  me  to  be  by  no 
means  a  sensual  person,  but  a  woman  of  high  ambition  to  mingle  in  and  con¬ 
trol  the  affairs  of  society,  a  politician,  and,  of  course,  now  a  disappointed  and 
restless  one.  Flattery  and  notoriety  have  made  her  egotistical. 

June  15. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  you  are  right  in  supposing  that  no  consent  of  mine 
will  attend  any  sacrifice  of  principle.  It  is  quite  another  thing  to  say  that  I 
shall  be  able  to  prevent  it.  I  look  for  some  humiliation  from  the  influences 
which  have  done  so  much.  Still  I  trust  that  we  shall  be  able  to  jjrevent  its 
going  far  enough  to  do  serious  injury  or  inflict  lasting  disgrace. 

All  is  confusion  here.  Delegates  from  everywhere  are  everywhere. 

June  17. 

Congress  has  adjourned  till  Saturday.  Mr.  Sumner  sends  to  you  the  Globe 
with  Mr.  Gentry’s  speech.  The  Whig  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
heard  it,  and  it  operated  favorably  toward  General  Scott.  My  house  is 
full  of  them,  from  morning  till  night.  I  can  do  nothing,  scarcely  write 
to  you.  General  Scott,  of  course,  is  badgered  out  of  patience  and  almost 
out  of  his  senses.  Everybody  has  schemes  for  compromise  and  harmony,  and 
everybody  thinks  everybody  else  wrong.  Everybody  is  jealous  of  everybody’s 
influence.  I  shall  be  thankful  when  it  is  all  over.  I  do  not  know  whether  he 
will  be  nominated  —  but  I  am  sure  that  prejudices  against  myself  are  giving 
way  under  this  intemperate  cannonade  against  me  by  the  factionists.  This 
city  has  sent  Scott  delegates  to  Baltimore.  It  is  useless  to  speculate  about 
what  will  be  done  there,  and  I  dare  not  trust  to  the  mail,  details  of  prelimina¬ 
ries,  which  would  interest  you. 

You  need  have  no  fear  of  my  being  compromised  in  this  affair  at  Baltimore. 
I  shall,  of  course,  be  overruled,  which  I  shall  regret,  but  I  shall  not  be  found 
consenting  to  any  sacrifice  of  principle.  It  cannot  appear  how  much  of  such 
sacrifice  I  may  be  able  to  prevent. 

The  Whig  Convention  met  on  the  16th.  Like  the  Democrats,  they 


1852.] 


GEN.  SCOTT  NOMINATED. 


187 


took  n  leaf  from  their  past  experience  to  guide  them  in  making  their 
nomination.  In  1S48  they  had  chosen  as  their  candidate,  the  victori¬ 
ous  General  of  the  “  Army  of  Occupation”  in  Mexico,  and  had  tri¬ 
umphantly  elected  him  President.  In  1852  why  should  they  not  take 
the  equally  victorious  General  of  the  “  Army  of  Invasion,”  who  was  also 
the  “  Hero  of  Lundy’s  Lane,”  and  elect  him?  So  they  nominated 
General  Scott  for  President,  and  with  him  William  A.  Graham  of 
North  Carolina,  for  Vice-President.  In  making  the  platform,  how¬ 
ever,  they  showed  less  wisdom.  The  “  Silver  Gray,”  or  “Adminis¬ 
tration  ”  delegates  were  strong  enough,  when  joining  with  the  South¬ 
ern  ones,  to  defeat  and  overrule  the  representatives  of  the  anti-slavery 
wing.  But  in  order  not  to  drive  these  off,  and  so  lose  their  votes,  the 
indorsement  of  the  compromise  was  more  cautiously  worded  than  the 
Democratic  one,  while  practically  amounting  to  the  same  tiling.  The 
result  was  a  platform  equally  distasteful  to  the  anti-slavery  men 
at  the  North,  while  less  satisfactory  to  pro-slavery  men  at  the  South. 
Seward  wrote: 


I  spent  yesterday  in  receiving  and  replying  to  communications  from  Balti¬ 
more,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  throng  of  anxious  friends.  The  North,  the  free 
States,  are  divided  as  usual,  the  South  united.  Intimidation,  usual  in  that 
quarter,  has  been  met,  as  usual,  by  concession,  and  so  the  platform  adopted  is 
one  that  deprives  Scott  of  the  vantage  of  position  he  enjoyed.  Even  those 
who  gave  way,  feel,  and  deplore  this,  while  all  our  enemies,  in  and  out  of  the 
party,  proclaim  it  with  exultation.  I  see  now  no  safe  way  through,  but  antic¬ 
ipate  defeat  and  desertion  in  any  event.  We  must  be  content  to  look  to  a 
distant  future  for  the  reaction.  For  myself,  I  shall  forbear  until  I  see  how  the 
party  takes  position,  and  then  when  all  is  known  I  shall  find  occasion  to  let 
those  know,  who  may  care  to  know,  how  far  I  am  overruled,  and  how  far 
responsible. 

To  Weed  the  same  day  he  said: 

June  18. 

I  received  your  note  this  morning,  and  am  glad  to  see  that  you  brought  back 
two  sound  legs  from  your  long  European  excursion.  I  shall  be  at  Albany  in 
July,  then  at  Saratoga.  We  can  there  talk  over  all  matters  affecting  the  can¬ 
vass.  But  I  wish  you  to  remember  that  I  am  entirely  weary  of  this  place,  and 
that  I  should  be  so  glad  to  get  out  of  it,  that,  personally,  I  should  hail  as  a 
pleasure,  what  others  would  regard  as  a  sacrifice,  the  necessity  of  giving  it  up 
for  any  reasons  of  party  or  of  public  good. 

I  see  the  outburst  of  a  spirit  that  comes  periodically  to  mar  the  hopes  of 
wise  men.  I  never  before  was  so  well  content  to  get  out  of  its  way,  and  cer¬ 
tainly  never  less  willing  to  compromise  with  it.  I  shall  say  nothing,  however, 
to  anybody  else.  But  it  seems  to  be  right  that  you  should  be  assured  of  it. 


188 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  CLAY. 


[1852. 


June  25. 

This  wretched  platform,  contrived  to  defeat  General  Scott  in  the  nomination, 
or  to  sink  him  in  the  canvass,  comes  to  him  like  the  order  of  a  superior  power, 
and  he  is  incapable  of  understanding  that  it  is  not  obligatory  on  him  to  exe¬ 
cute  it.  Honor,  he  thinks,  requires  that ;  and  you  know  that  freedom  and 
humanity  are  sentiments  which  the  soldier  subordinates  under  the  demand  of 
what  is  called  honor  and  duty.  I  am  yet  aloof. 

On  the  29 fch  of  June,  when  the  two  Houses  were  assembling  in  their 
respective  chambers,  news  came  that  Henry  Olay  had  just  breathed 
his  last  at  his  lodgings.  Both  Senate  and  House  immediately  ad¬ 
journed.  On  the  following  day,  the  anticipation  of  the  formal 
announcement  and  eulogies  brought  large  crowds  to  the  Senate  Oh  am¬ 
ber.  His  former  cotemporaries  and  associates,  Webster,  now  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State;  Crittenden,  now  Attorney-General;  Reverdy  Johnson, 
and  others  were  among  them.  Due  and  feeling  tributes  to  his  mem¬ 
ory  were  paid  by  Senators,  irrespective  of  party. 

Seward,  who  was  among  the  last  to  speak,  alluded  to  him  as  “  not 
merely  a  Senator  like  one  of  us,  who  yet  remain  in  the  Senate,  hut 
filling  that  character  which,  though  it  had  no  authority  in  law,  and 
was  assigned  with  no  suffrage,  Augustus  Caesar,  nevertheless,  declared 
above  the  title  of  Emperor,  “ Primus  inter  lllustres” — “the  Prince 
of  the  Senate/’ 

Adverting  to  his  long  career  of  fifty  years  in  the  public  service,  he 
remarked: 

Henry  Clay,  therefore,  shared  the  responsibilities  of  Government  with  not 
only  his  proper  contemporaries,  but  also  with  survivors  of  the  Revolution,  as 
well  as  with  many  who  will  now  succeed  himself. 

Alluding  to  his  influence  upon  the  character  of  the  Senate  itself: 

He  wrought  a  change  in  our  political  system,  that  I  think  was  not  foreseen 
by  its  founders.  He  converted  his  branch  of  the  Legislature  from  a  negative 
position,  or  one  of  equilibrium  between  the  Executive  and  the  House  of  Rep¬ 
resentatives,  into  the  active  ruling  power  of  the  Republic.  Only  time  can  dis¬ 
close  whether  this  great  innovation  shall  be  beneficent  or  even  permanent. 

The  honors  paid  in  the  Senate  were  echoed  throughout  the  land. 
Regret  at  Henry  Clay’s  death  was  general  and  sincere.  He  had  the 
respect  of  his  political  opponents,  the  love  and  admiration  of  thou¬ 
sands  who  found  in  “  Harry  of  the  West”  their  very  ideal  and  type 
of  a  party  leader.  Even  those  of  the  Whig  party  who  dissented  from 
and  opposed  his  “Compromise”  did  not  question  his  consummate 
skill  and  his  patriotic  intent. 


1852.] 


THE  FISHERIES. 


189 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

1852. 

Harbor  Defenses.  Catlin’s  Pictures.  Commerce  of  the  Pacific.  Sumner  in  Debate. 
Governing  the  Nation.  Theodore  Parker.  A  Steamboat  Disaster.  The  Presidential 
Canvass.  Official  and  Private  Life.  Rantoul.  Webster  and  the  Fisheries.  A  Politi¬ 
cal  Heresy.  Conflict  of  Freedom  and  Slavery.  Address  at  Rutland.  The  American 
Farmer.  George  E.  Baker.  “  Seward’s  Works.”  “  A  Waterloo  Defeat.” 

I.N  the  midst  of  the  political  turmoil  this  summer,  Seward  found 
time  to  debate  in  the  Senate  Chamber  various  commercial  and  scien¬ 
tific  questions.  One  was  a  bill  in  the  interest  of  American  inventors. 
Another  was  the  building  of  war  steamers  for  harbor  defense.  As 
this  had  not  yet  been  tried,  it  was  declared  to  be  “impossible.” 
Seward  replied: 

I  remember  that  all  the  scientific  men  in  England  maintained  that  it  was 
impossible  to  navigate  the  ocean  between  the  two  continents  with  steam. 
This  was  settled  as  an  established  principle  of  science,  by  the  savans  of  Europe, 
the  very  day  when  the  Sirius  and  Great  Britain  arrived  simultaneously  from 
England  in  the  harbor  of  New  York.  There  is  no  way  of  knowing  what  can¬ 
not  be  done  in  science  but  by  trying.  I  remember  to  have  met  a  gentleman 
who  told  me  that  in  the  year  1804,  1805,  or  1806,  when  he  was  visiting  Paris, 
at  a  dinner  party  at  the  American  Minister’s  there  was  a  young  man  exceed¬ 
ingly  loquacious  and  offensive,  because  he  engrossed  too  much  of  the  conversa¬ 
tion,  and  he  confined  his  remarks  to  a  single  topic  —  the  subject  of  navigation 
by  steam  power  alone.  He  was  voted  <£an  enthusiast.’’  That  young  man  was 
Robert  Fulton. 

Catlin’s  collection  bad  just  been  offered  to  the  Government.  Sew¬ 
ard,  in  advocating  its  purchase,  told  the  story  of  Catlin’s  adventurous 
career  among  the  savages  in  the  recesses  of  the  continent,  painting 
these  views  of  forest  and  prairie  scenes,  with  portraits  of  the  various 
characters  found  there,  and  illustrations  of  the  political,  social,  and 
religious  customs,  ceremonies,  and  costumes  of  the  race, — a  collection 
of  inestimable  value  as  an  aid  to  the  philosopher  and  historian. 

But  his  chief  and  most  important  speech  was  that  on  the  survey  of 
the  Western  coast,  and  the  examination  of  those  parts  of  the  Pacific 
and  Arctic  oceans  frequented  by  American  whalers  and  fishermen. 
He  narrated  the  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  this  branch  of 
American  industry  and  trade,  from  the  day  the  first  settlers  of  Nan¬ 
tucket  took  “  right  whales  ”  in  open  boats,  long  before  the  old  “  French 
War.” 

Summing  up  the  great  results,  he  said: 

Dr.  Franklin  cheered  the  fishermen  of  his  day  with  the  apothegm  that  who¬ 
ever  took  a  fish  out  of  the  sea  always  found  a  piece  of  silver  in  his  mouth,  and 


190 


COMMERCE  OF  THE  PACIFIC. 


[1852. 


our  experience  has  confirmed  its  truth.  We  are  the  second  in  rank  among 
commercial  nations.  Our  superiority  over  so  many  results  from  our  greater 
skill  in  ship-building,  and  our  dexterity  in  navigation,  and  our  greater  fru¬ 
gality  at  sea.  These  elements  were  developed  in  the  fisheries,  and  especially 
in  the  Northern  fishery.  We  think  we  are  inferior  to  no  nation  in  naval  war¬ 
fare.  The  seamen  who  have  won  our  brilliant  victories  on  the  ocean  and  on 
the  lakes  were  trained  and  disciplined  in  the  severest  of  all  marine  service. 

Arguing  that  commerce  would  quicken  activity  and  create  wealth 
and  power  in  California  and  Oregon,  as  it  liad  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
he  said: 

Who  does  not  see  that  this  movement  must  in  turn  develop  the  American 
opinion  and  influence,  which  will  remould  Constitutions,  laws,  and  customs  in 
the  land  that  is  first  greeted  by  the  rising  sun?  Commerce  is  the  great  agent 
of  this  movement. 

After  finishing  its  preparation,  he  wrote  home: 

July  28. 

I  breathe  again.  That  speech  was  near  being  the  death  of  me  before  it  got 
itself  ready  to  be  spoken.  I  don’t  know,  after  all,  when  I  shall  get  a  hearing. 
Sumner  tries  to-day,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  the  excitement  he  will  raise  will 
not  throw  every  thing  into  confusion  for  some  time. 

The  President  has  nominated  Judge  Conkling  for  Minister  to  Mexico,  and 
has  also  nominated  Humphrey  Marshall  for  Commissioner  to  China. 

July  30. 

You  will  see  my  speech  in  the  papers.  It  was  well  received.  There  was 
more  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  Whigs,  and  less  churlishness  on  the  part  of 
the  Democrats,  than  usual.  But  you  will  be  amazed  to  learn  that  this  defense 
of  a  measure  purely  and  eminently  national,  was  regarded,  by  the  latter,  as  a 
shrewd,  cunning ,  demagogical  argument  for  General  Scott’s  election ! 

When  will  there  be  a  North?  The  shutting  of  the  doors  against  Sumner 
wast  wicked  and  base.  Several  of  our  friends  voted  the  same  way,  and  yet 
they  all  said  they  would  have  voted  for  Sumner  if  their  votes  would  have  told. 
Indignation  pervaded  me  to  the  finger  ends.  I  thank  God  that  I  had  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  show  how  little  I  care  for  the  alarms  about  the  Union,  sounded 
by  the  Southerners,  or  for  the  platform  erected  by  the  Whigs!  Of  course, 
Sumner  is  mortified  and  dejected.  I  told  him  that  the  Tribune  and  the  Times 
would  denounce  the  wrong  done  him  by  the  Senate,  and  I  am  glad  to  find 
that  I  am  right. 

Ilis  speech  will  be  in  order  on  the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appropriation  Bill, 
and  he  will  then  speak  it.  It  will  be  worth  ten  times  more  by  reason  of  the 
baffled  attempt  to  suppress  it. 

August  1. 

Even  so,  this  is  August.  Near  a  year  has  been  spent  by  the  Congress  in  the 
service  of  the  wisest  and  best  people  on  earth,  and  one  of  the  greatest;  and 
yet  how  little  has  been  done,  or  even  attempted  to  be  done,  to  secure  and  per- 


1352.] 


OFFICE  HOLDING. 


191 


petuate  their  liberty,  or  enhance  their  welfare:  while  it  is  quite  manifest  that 
the  idea  that  those  who  wield  the  destinies  of  this  nation  ought,  in  any  degree, 
to  care  for  the  welfare  of  any  other,  has  been  scouted  at  and  repudiated. 

And  yet,  patriotism  has  a  more  real  life  in  this  capital,  I  suppose,  than  in 
any  other  in  the  world.  We  talk  of  ‘‘governing  the  nation,”  of  “self-govern¬ 
ment.”  But  it  is  also  manifest  that  nations,  like  individuals,  are  preserved 
by  laws  higher  than  those  of  their  own  making,  and  that  they  are  governed 
by  a  Providence  in  spite  of  themselves. 

Did  you  ever  know  any  thing  so  shocking,  so  horrible,  as  that  steamboat 
conflagration?  How  great  is  the  loss  we  sustain  in  the  death  of  Downing! 

The  life  he  led  was  one  of  dignity,  quiet,  and  usefulness,  with  elegance. 
Mr.  Speed  of  Baltimore,  who  was  lost,  studied  law  in  Mr.  Kellogg’s  office  at 
Skaneateles.  He  was  a  man  of  talent  and  principle.  Stephen  Allen  was  in 
the  Senate  of  New  York  when  I  was  a  member.  Mrs.  De  Wint  was  a  niece  of 
Mr.  John  Q.  Adams.  Mr.  Crist  was  a  lawyer,  and  before  that  time  an  editor, 
with  whom,  in  early  life,  I  was  intimate. 

August  5. 

I  am  hurried  with  sending  off  speeches  by  the  thousand.  I  depend  on  casual 
help,  and  I  have  not  yet  begun  to  think  for  Vermont.  Mr.  Webster  comes  back 
from  Marshfield  to-morrow.  Hale  wants  Chase  nominated  to  defeat  Pierce. 
T  think  Chase  does  uot  care  which  party  is  defeated. 

August  7. 

Your  “telegram”  (so,  I  think,  Fred  calls  it)  has  relieved  me  from  anxiety, 
and  now  comes  your  letter  of  the  3d.  Sumner  will  try  to  be  heard  on  the 
Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appropriation  Bill,  and  he  has  a  clear  right.  But  what 
are  rights  in  the  Senate  worth,  to  such  as  him  and  me,  in  this  period  of  de¬ 
moralization?  Yesterday,  the  Senate  raised  a  committee  to  investigate  frauds 
and  briberies.  Not  one  Northern  man,  of  either  party,  was  put  upon  it. 

General  Scott  has  returned.  I  have  not  seen  him,  and  shall  avoid  doing  so. 
He  is  pressed  by  the  Union  and  by  disaffected  Whigs  to  show  that  he  is  not 
under  my  dictation.  I  still  remain  strongly  inclined  to  give  up  this  place  and 
public  life.  If  the  Whig  Convention  in  New  York  adopt  the  platform,  I  think 
I  shall  be  justified  in  resigning  at  once. 

Seward  had  no  desire  for  long  continuance  in  office,  believing  that 
rotation  of  men  and  parties  in  power  was  not  only  an  inevitable  result 
of  the  Republican  system,  but  a  needful  and  proper  element  of  gov¬ 
ernment.  He  would  never  buy  a  house  at  Albany  or  Washington,  nor 
lease  one,  except  upon  the  terms  that  he  could  relinquish  it  as  soon  as 
he  was  out  of  office.  Auburn  was  always  spoken  of  as  “home,”  and 
all  arrangements  for  living  at  either  the  State  or  National  capital,  had 
in  them  the  proviso,  “until  we  go  home.”  The  house  at  Auburn  was 
kept  always  intact,  and  ready  to  return  to,  whenever  any  of  those 
events,  to  which  all  office-holders  are  liable,  should  bring  his  official 
life  to  a  termination,  nis  theory  was,  that  a  public  man,  while  in 
office,  is  inevitably  fostering  influences  that  tend  ultimately  to  turn 


192 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


[1852. 


him  out;  wearying  a  public  that  likes  change,  and  by  his  public 
course,  however  wise,  continually  strengthening  the  hands  of  those 
interested  in  opposing  him.  On  the  other  hand,  he  regarded  retire¬ 
ment  as  a  means  of  regaining  whatever  merited  esteem  had  been  lost 
during  the  turmoils  of  office.  But  by  “  retirement  ”  he  never  meant 
misanthropic  avoidance  of  a  citizen’s  duties. 

Theodore  Parker  was  now  a  leading  participant  in  the  religious  and 
political  discussions  at  Boston.  Seward  had  never  met  him,  but  a  cor¬ 
respondence  had  sprung  up  between  them.  Parker  wrote  to  him: 

I  have  watched  your  political  and  public  career  with  great  interest,  and, 
with  much  delight,  have  seen  that  you  stand  high  above  the  politicians  of 
your  State  and  the  Nation,  that  you  seem  to  endeavor  to  represent  justice  and 
the  Eternal  Laws  of  God,  in  their  application  to  the  social  and  political  affairs 
of  America. 

Acknowledging  the  letter,  Seward  said  he  regarded  its  opinions  as  a 
confirmation  of  the  hope“  that  the  principles  and  policy  I  have  main¬ 
tained  here,  would  abide  the  only  test  I  can  submit  to  — the  ultimate 
judgment  of  mankind.” 

Continuing  the  correspondence,  Seward  wrote  in  August  : 

I  am  glad  that  you  are  going  to  follow  up  your  labors,  by  so  timely  a  work 
as  you  propose.  You  seem  to  have  apprehended  things  which  the  anti-slavery 
men  are  too  slow  in  learning.  One-half  of  all  the  effort  of  anti-slavery  men 
is  lost,  because  it  consists  of  incrimination  6f  other  anti-slavery  men,  for  shades 
of  difference  of  opinion.  The  field  is  broad  enough  for  us  all,  of  all  parties 
and  of  all  positions. 

Writing  home  he  said: 

August  8. 

Here  is  Rantoul  suddenly  dead  —  destroyed  by  the  erysipelas.  Rantoul  was 
little  known  to  me,  yet  I  respected  him.  He  was  a  “  Democrat  ” —  but  then 
he  was  a  democrat.  He  was  earnest,  and  he  was  a  man  of  genius. 

See  how  despondingly  Theodore  Parker  pleads  for  Sumner  in  the  beautiful 
speech  which  I  send  you.  I  have  written  to  Parker. 

Yesterday  a  woman  came  here  to  solicit  help  to  buy  a  negress  and  children 
from  slavery.  She  said  that  Mrs.  Cox  gave  her  $2,  and  told  her  to  come  to  me. 
She  told  me  that  my  fame  was  abroad  throughout  the  whole  city,  for  the  best 
man  in  it.  Only  think  of  that!  But  do  not  be  jealous.  The  woman,  though 
honest  and  a  lady,  was  nearly  old  enough  for  my  mother. 

Congratulate  me,  that  yesterday  I  saw  the  bottom  of  my  letter-box.  Hence 
this  long  free  note  to  you. 

Sumner  came  to  me  last  night  in  great  spirits  over  his  eulogy  on  Rantoul, 
and  over  a  private  message  from  the  President  announcing  the  pardon  of 
Drayton  and  Sayer.  Sumner’s  eulogy  was  fine.  Horace  Mann’s  was  still  better. 


1852.] 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


193 


It  was  very  great.  I  regretted  that  illness  prevented  my  adding  some  words 
to  the  memory  of  Rantoul. 

I  am  studying  to  defend  the  Administration  and  Mr.  Webster  about  the 
Fisheries. 

An  attempt  had  been  made,  presumably  for  party  effect,  to  censure 
the  Administration  and  Secretary  of  State  for  not  duly  caring  for  the 
rights  of  American  fishermen  in  Northern  waters.  Seward,  opposed 
though  he  was  to  their  views  on  the  “  Compromise,”  came  promptly 
to  their  defense  against  unjust  attack.  He  made  a  speech  in  which  lie 
remarked,  that  the  statesman  thus  impeached  for  want  of  boldness 
and  firmness  in  defending  his  country’s  maritime  rights,  was  he 
who  replied  to  Great  Britain  when  claiming,  for  the  last  time,  the 
right  to  “  search  ”  American  vessels:  “  The  ocean  is  the  sphere  of  the 
law  of  nations;  every  vessel  on  the  seas  is,  by  that  law,  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  laws  of  her  own  nation.”  “  In  every  American  merchant 
vessel,  the  crew  who  navigate  it  will  find  their  protection  in  the  flag 
which  is  over  them.”  He  denounced  this  uncalled-for  assault  on  Web¬ 
ster  as  one  of  “  the  Vagaries  of  the  Presidential  Election.”  Mr.  Web¬ 
ster  cordially  appreciated  Seward’s  course  in  this  matter,  and  by  a 
note  thanked  him  heartily  for  his  “magnanimity.” 

As  the  preceding  letters  show,  the  dominant  party  in  the  Senate  had 
refused  Sumner  an  opportunity  to  speak  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
But  they  could  not  prevent  his  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Appro¬ 
priation  Bill,  and  so  getting  the  floor.  When  he  thereupon  delivered 
his  speech,  denouncing  the  “slave-catching”  enactment,  a.  torrent  of 
abuse  broke  forth  that  would  have  been  discreditable  to  Billingsgate, 
much  less  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  His  speech  was  styled 
“the  ravings  of  a  maniac,”  and  “the  barking  of  a  puppy.”  He  was 
charged  with  not  only  “  panting  for  the  experiment  of  black-skinned, 
flat-nosed,  and  woolly-headed  Senators,”  but  “  making  inflammatory 
harangues,”  and  “counseling  forcible  resistance  to  law.”  “Blood¬ 
shed  and  murder  were  inevitable”  from  such  teachings,  and  “upon 
your  hands,  sir,  must  rest  the  blood  of  the  murdered  men,”  etc.  He 
was  remanded  by  one  Senator  to  “isolated  infamy,”  and  by  another 
to  “  the  nadir  of  social  degradation  ” —  pronounced  the  “  scorn  of  all,” 
“  the  sneaking,  sinuous,  snake-like  poltroon,”  etc.,  etc. 

Seward  came  in  for  a  share  of  this  outburst.  It  had  been  discovered 
by  this  time  that  he  had  once  made  even  a  more  appalling  speech  than 
the  one  referring  to  the  “  Higher  Law,”  that  he  had  told  the  people 
of  the  Western  Reserve  in  Ohio,  in  1848: 

There  are  two  antagonistical  elements  of  society  in  America  —  Freedom  and 
Slavery.  Freedom  is  in  harmony  with  our  system  of  government  and  with 
13 


194 


IN  VERMONT. 


[1852. 


the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  is,  therefore,  passive  and  quiescent.  Slavery  is  in  con¬ 
flict  with  that  system,  with  justice,  and  with  humanity,  and  is,  therefore,  or¬ 
ganized,  defensive,  active,  and  perpetually  aggressive. 

This  passage  was  solemnly  read  out  with  tones  of  horror  and  ges¬ 
tures  of  disgust  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  Seward  listened  with  a 
smile,  placidly  remarking  to  a  bystander,  “  I  thought  it  was  a  good 
speech  at  the  time,  and  I  think  it  reads  very  well  now.” 

The  close  of  the  session  was  now  at  hand.  He  wrote: 

Even  my  friends  in  Boston  complain  of  my  having  praised  Mr.  Webster. 
They  cannot  see  that  I  can  afford  it.  How  much  of  the  misery  of  human  life 
is  derived  from  the  indulgence  of  wrath!  How  one  can  allow  the  triumph  of 
such  a  man  in  a  political  question  to  render  him  unhappy  is  what  I  cannot 
understand. 

August  4. 

Solomon  Foot  says  you  must  meet  me  at  Troy  on  Wednesday  evening,  next 
week,  and  we  will  go  to  Rutland  by  railroad  on  Thursday  morning  —  the  day 
I  speak  there.  Bring  along  as  many  as  you  please.  We  will  rest,  and  travel 
a  little. 

There  was  barely  time  when  the  adjournment  came  for  him  to 
hasten  to  Vermont,  to  fulfill  Ins  engagement.  This  was  to  deliver  an 
address  at  the  State  Agricultural  fair  to  be  held  at  Rutland.  It  was  a 
relief  from  long  confinement,  and  a  change  of  scene  that  brought  him 
among  a  people  of  congenial  sympathies. 

“ Longer  than  I  can  recollect,”  he  said,  in  opening  his  address, 
“  my  hopes  for  my  country  and  mankind  have  had  their  anchorage  in 
the  ever- widening  prevalence  of  those  maxims  of  political  justice  and 
equal  liberty,  which  have  been  always  maintained  with  unyielding  con¬ 
stancy  in  this  State,  the  Tyrol  of  America.”  Taking  for  his  text  the 
query  of  Horace,  “Whether  my  farm  or  I  be  cultured  best  ?”  he  made 
the  improvement  of  farms  and  farmers  the  theme  of  his  discourse.  He 
combated  at  some  length  the  prejudice,  which,  at  that  time,  was  still 
strong  among  farmers,  against  “  book-learned”  farmers  or  agricultu¬ 
ral  science  and  schools.  Then  pointing  out  the  essentially  important 
part  which  the  American  farmer  has  to  play,  he  said  : 

In  nearly  all  civilized  States,  those  who  cultivated  the  soil  have  constituted 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  population.  The  chief  control  of  government,  it 
would  seem,  should  have  been  vested  in  them.  Yet  in  truth,  they  have  never, 
since  the  age  of  patriarchs,  attained  such  control,  except  just  here  and  just  now. 
In  Great  Britain  they  are  overbalanced  by  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  priv¬ 
ileged  classes.  In  France  they  are  ruled  alternately  by  the  city  population 
and  the  army.  In  Germany  by  the  army.  In  parts  of  Italy  by  the  Church;  and 
in  Russia  they  are  slaves.  It  has  always  been  otherwise  here.  Farmers  planted 
these  colonies,  all  of  them,  and  organized  their  governments.  They  were  the 


1852.] 


195 


“  FREE  SOIL”  DEMOCRATS. 

farmers  who  reorganized  the  several  States  and  the  Federal  Government,  and 
established  them  all  on  the  principles  of  equality  and  affiliation.  In  every 
State,  and  in  the  whole  Union,  they  constitute  the  broad  electoral  faculty,  and 
by  their  preponderating  suffrages,  the  vast  and  complex  machine  is  perpetually 
sustained  and  kept  in  regular  motion.  The  more  intelligent  and  patriotic  they 
become,  the  more  effective  will  be  their  control,  and  the  wiser  their  direction 
of  the  Government. 

Returning  home  he  found  a  letter  from  George  E.  Baker  of  Wil- 
liamsburgh,  saying  : 

__  * 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  a  great  service  to  the  cause  of  truth,  as  well  as 
to  your  reputation,  might  be  done  in  bringing  out  a  volume  containing  a  se¬ 
lection  of  your  speeches,  etc.  I  do  not  suggest  this  publication  for  any  politi¬ 
cal  or  partisan  objects.  My  object  in  addressing  you  on  the  subject,  at  the 
instance  of  some  friends,  vTas  to  ascertain  whether  you  would  have  any  serious 
objections  to  having  such  a  compilation  published. 

Having  some  leisure  at  command,  I  'would  willingly  take  the  responsibility 
and  labor  of  preparing  and  superintending  the  publication.  I  would  have  it 
simply  a  compilation  without  comment,  and  but  a  brief  introduction.  I  should 
design  it  for  service  in  the  cause  of  justice,  humanity,  and  truth,  and  nothing 
else. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  series  of  volumes  of  “Seward’s 
Works,”  preceded  by  a  memoir,  which,  with  Mr.  Baker,  was  a  labor 
of  love  and  patriotism. 

When  the  Presidential  nominations  were  made  in  June,  some  hope 
was  entertained  by  the  Whigs  of  success  in  the  campaign.  But  as  the 
election  drew  near,  this  hope  grew  less  and  less.  General  Scott,  the 
Whig  nominee,  was  the  choice  of  the  anti-compromise  Whigs.  But 
he  was  handicapped  by  the  platform,  which  unequivocally  pledged  the 
party’s  approval  and  support  of  that  “Great  Adjustment.”  Both 
wings  of  the  party  had  acquiesced  in  the  result  at  Baltimore.  But 
the  anti-slavery  Whigs  were  disgusted  with  the  platform,  and  the 
Administration  Whigs,  having  secured  an  indorsement  of  their  “Com¬ 
promise,”  cared  little  about  the  candidates. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Democrats  were  manifestly  gaining  in 
popular  favor  as  their  prospects  of  success  improved.  At  the  South, 
they  claimed  to  be  more  reliable  than  Whigs  could  be  in  defense  of 
the  rights  of  slave-holders.  At  the  North,  the  great  bulk  of  the 
“Free  Soil”  organization  had  melted  away.  Some  of  the  “men  of 
’48”  stood  firm  in  their  doctrines,  and  held  a  “Free  Soil  Democratic 
Convention  ”  at  Pittsburgh  in  August,  where  they  denounced  the  Com¬ 
promise,  declared  slavery  to  be  “a  sin  and  a  crime,”  and  nominated 
John  P.  Hale  for  President,  with  George  W.  Julian  for  Vice-Presi- 


196 


A  WATERLOO  DEFEAT. 


[1852-’ 53. 


a 


dent.  But  they  could  count  on  only  a  small  following  in  tlie  North, 
and  none  at  all  in  the  South. 

Election  day  came  and  passed  off  quietly.  The  next  morning’s 
news  showed  that  the  Whigs  had  encountered  what  Weed  called  a 
“Waterloo  defeat.”  Twenty-seven  States  had  given  majorities  for 
Pierce  and  King.  Only  four  —  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee  —  had  gone  for  Scott  and  Graham.  It  was  said,  with 
truth  as  well  as  wit,  that  the  Whig  party  had  “died  of  an  attempt  to 
swallow  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.” 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1852-1853. 

The  Interregnum.  Honors  to  the  Memory  of  Webster.  Clayton  and  Taylor.  Adams. 
The  “Monroe  Doctrine.”  American  Commerce.  A  Prediction.  Inauguration  of 
President  Pierce.  Everett  in  the  Senate.  Mrs.  Fillmore.  Cabinet  Discords. 

Washington,  November  28,  1852. 

On  arriving  here,  we  found  and  took  up  our  lodgings  at  the  National.  This 
great  caravansary  is  quiet  as  a  watering  place  out  of  season.  We  went  to 
church  this  morning  and  heard  Dr.  Butler  preaching  a  very  sensible  discourse. 

At  Philadelphia,  I  called  on  Mrs.  James  Watson  Webb,  who  was  visiting  a 
sister  there,  and  paid  my  long-deferred  debt  of  attention  to  my  young  name¬ 
sake. —  a  beautiful,  bright  boy  he  is,  comely  to  look  upon,  and  modest  and 
gentle  like  his  mother. 

Raymond  wrote  him  from  New  York: 

Was  there  ever  such  a  deluge  since  Noah’s  time!  I  can  see  no  resurrection 
for  the  Whig  party  as  such. 

I  am  surprised,  but  gratified,  to  hear  you  say  that  you  like  any  thing  in  the 
Times  since  the  election,  because  I  greatly  feared  that  my  conviction  of  the*’ 
actual  state  of  facts  might  not  jump  with  either  the  judgmeut  or  wishes  of  my 
friends.  I  shall  seek  now  to  navigate  the  Times  into  a  position  of  independent 
thought  and  speech,  being  moderate  and  conservative,  but  making  progress 
always,  as  I  hope,  toward  beneficent  ends.  I  think  it  quite  likely  I  shall 
often  need  the  charitable  constructions  of  my  friends,  and,  therefore,  bespeak 
yours  in  advance. 

Once  in  four  years  comes  a  pause  in  the  political  system.  The 
interval  between  the  election  of  a  President  in  November  and  his 
inauguration  in  March  is  a  sort  of  interregnum.  The  issues  which 
have  stirred  the  popular  heart  during  four  years  are  settled;  those 


lS52-’53.] 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


197 


that  are  to  come  during  the  next  four  have  not  jet  been  developed. 
So  there  is  a  lull  in  debate,  a  truce  after  strife.  The  outgoing  Presi¬ 
dent  has  more  peace  and  leisure;  the  incoming  one  is  already  be¬ 
leaguered  by  office-seekers.  The  press  describes  to  eager  readers  his 
house,  his  home,  his  history,  his  habits,  and  surroundings,  and  specu¬ 
lates  boldly  in  regard  to  his  probable  policy.  Washington  society  is 
tinged  with  a  shade  of  regret  at  parting  with  old  friends,  and  moved 
with  pleasurable  excitement  in  welcoming  new  ones.  “The  King  is 
dead  —  long  live  the  King!  ” 

No  grave  questions  came  up  in  the  Senate  at  its  opening  in  Decem¬ 
ber,  1852.  There  were  two  contested  seats,  those  of  Dixon  of  Ken¬ 
tucky  and  Yulee  of  Florida.  Decisions  upon  them  would  establish 
precedents  for  future  action.  Seward  participated  in  the  debates  on 
each.  The  event  of  chief  interest  in  December  was  the  day  of  funeral 
honors  to  Webster,  tie  died  in  October,  at  Marshfield,  and  Edward 
Everett  had  been  appointed  to  succeed  him  as  Secretary  of  State. 
The  tributes  to  his  memory  in  the  Senate  were  feeling  and  eloquent. 
The  Senators  of  both  parties  realized  that  this  was  the  last  of  those 
three  who  for  twenty  years  htld  been  “giants  in  debate'” — Calhoun, 
Clay,  and  Webster. 

Seward’s  remarks  embraced  a  sketch  of  Webster’s  character  that 
may  be  in  part  reproduced  here: 

Daniel  Webster  was  a  man  of  warm  and  earnest  affections  in  all  domestic 
and  social  relations.  His  conversation,  letters,  and  speeches  have  made  us 
familiar  with  the  very  pathways  about  his  early  mountain  home.  Nor  are  we 
strangers  at  Marshfield.  We  know,  almost  as  well  as  we  know  our  own,  the 
children  reared  there,  fondly  loved  and  early  lost;  the  servants  bought  from 
bondage  and  held  by  the  stronger  chains  of  gratitude;  the  careful  steward, 
always  active,  yet  never  hurried;  the  reverent  neighbor,  always  welcome,  yet 
never  obtrusive ;  and  the  ancient  fisherman,  ever  ready  for  the  sports  of  the 
sea;  and  we  meet  on  every  side  the  watchful  friends  whom  no  frequency  of 
disappointment  can  discourage,  and  whom  even  the  death  of  their  great  patron 
cannot  all  at  once  disengage  from  efforts  which  know  no  balancing  of  proba¬ 
bilities  nor  reckoning  of  cost  to  secure  his  elevation  to  the  first  honors  of  the 
republic. 

They  err  who  sajr  that  Daniel  Webster  was  cold  and  passionless.  It  is  true 
that  he  had  little  enthusiasm,  but  he  was  nevertheless  earnest  and  sincere,  as 
well  as  calm;  and,  therefore,  he  was  both  discriminating  and  comprehensive  in 
his  affections.  He  was  cheerful  and,  on  becoming  occasions,  joyous,  and  even 
mirthful;  but  he  was  habitually  engaged  in  profound  studies  on  great  affairs. 
He  was,  moreover,  constitutionally  fearful  of  the  dangers  of  popular  passion  and 
prejudice;  and  so,  in  public  walk,  conversation,  and  debate,  he  was  grave  and 
serious,  even  to  solemnity,  yet  he  never  desponded.  He  seemed  to  have  acquired 
a  philosophy  of  his  own,  and  to  have  made  it  the  rule  and  guide  of  his  life. 


198 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


[1852-’53. 


That  philosophy  consisted  in  improving  his  powers  and  his  tastes  so  that  he 
might  appreciate  whatever  was  good  and  beautiful  in  nature  and  art,  and  attain 
to  whatever  wTas  excellent  in  conduct.  He  had  accurate  perceptions  of  the 
qualities  and  relations  of  things.  He  overvalued  nothing  that  was  common, 
and  undervalued  nothing  that  was  useful  or  even  ornamental.  His  lands,  hi& 
cattle,  and  equipage,  his  dwelling,  and  apparel,  his  letters,  arguments,  and 
orations  —  every  thing  that  he  had,  every  thing  that  he  made,  every  thing  that 
he  did,  was  as  far  as  possible  fit,  complete,  perfect.  He  thought  decorous 
forms  necessary  for  preserving  whatever  was  substantial  or  valuable  in  politics, 
in  morals,  and  even  in  religion.  In  his  regard  order  was  the  first  law  and 
peace  the  chief  blessing  of  the  earth  as  they  are  of  Heaven.  Therefore,  while 
he  desired  justice  and  loved  liberty,  he  reverenced  law  as  the  first  divinity  of 
States  and  society. 

Daniel  Webster  was  ambitious,  but  his  ambition  was  generally  subordinate 
to  conventional  forms,  and  always  to  the  Constitution.  He  aspired  to  place 
and  preferment,  but  not  for  mere  exercise  of  political  power,  and  still  less  for 
pleasurable  indulgences,  and  only  for  occasions  to  save  or  serve  his  country, 
and  for  the  fame  which  such  noble  actions  might  bring. 

Whatever  else  concerning  him  has  been  controverted  by  anybody,  the  fifty 
thousand  lawyers  of  the  United  States  conceded  to  him  an  unapproachable 
supremacy  at  the  Bar.  Where  others  studied  laboriously,  he  meditated  in¬ 
tensely.  Where  others  appealed  to  the  prejudices  and  passions  of  courts  and 
juries,  he  addressed  only  their  understandings.  He  studied  no  art  and  practiced 
no  action.  Nor  did  he  form  himself  by  any  admitted  model.  He  had  neither 
the  directness  and  vehemence  of  Demosthenes,  nor  the  fullness  and  flow  of 
Cicero,  nor  the  intenseness  of  Milton,  nor  the  magnificence  of  Burke.  It  was 
happy  for  him  that  he  had  not.  The  temper  and  tastes  of  his  age  and  country 
required  eloquence  different  from  all  these,  and  they  found  it  in  the  pure  logic, 
and  the  vigorous  yet  massive  rhetoric,  which  constituted  the  style  of  Daniel 
Webster. 

Daniel  Webster,  although  a  statesman,  did  not  aim  to  be  either  a  popular  or 
a  parliamentary  leader.  He  left  common  affairs  and  questions  to  others,  and 
reserved  himself  for  the  great  and  infrequent  occasions  which  seemed  to  in¬ 
volve  the  prosperity  or  the  continuance  of  the  republic.  His  proper  and 
highest  place  was  here,  where  there  was  field  and  scope  for  his  philosophy  and 
his  eloquence — here,  among  the  equal  representatives  of  equal  States,  which 
were  at  once  to  be  held  together,  and  to  be  moved  on,  in  the  establishment  of 
a  constitutional  power. 

Seward’s  remarks  brought  him  a  letter  from  Theodore  Parker,  to 
whom  he  wrote  in  reply: 

He  was  for  justice  and  for  freedom,  but  above  all  for  law ,  for  authority. 
While  he  was  for  “Liberty  and  Union,”  he  was  for  Union  more  than  for 
Liberty.  In  conflict  with  him  always,  and  yet  always  or  generally  having  his 
respect  or  kindness,  I  was  determined  while  he  lived  to  bear  with  his  im¬ 
patience;  and  I  could  not  consent,  after  the  death  of  the  Lion,  to  seem  willing 
to  be  ungenerous  to  his  memory. 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE. 


199 


'l  852-’  53.] 


Among  the  debates  in  January,  1853,  was  one  on  the  Clayton- Bul- 
wer  Treaty.  Some  Senators  had  accused  General  Taylor  and  his 
Secretary  of  State  of  misrepresenting  the  character  of  that  treaty. 
Seward,  in  refutation  of  the  charge,  pointed  to  documentary  evidence 
on  the  files  of  the  Senate,  and  closed  by  saying: 


Whatever  else  might  have  been  the  error^  or  misfortunes  of  that  Adminis¬ 
tration,  want  of  mutual  confidence  between  the  Secretary  of  State  and  his 
distinguished  chief  was  not  one  of  them.  They  stood  together  firmly,  undi¬ 
vided,  and  inseparable  to  the  last. 

Those  who  have  profited  by  political  changes  consequent  on  that  sad  event, 
may  listen  unmoved  to  the  censures  which  for  two  years  past  have  howled,  and 
still  are  howling  equally  around  the  Secretary  of  State  in  his  retirement,  and 
over  the  veteran  and  war-exhausted  President  in  his  grave.  Let  me,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  had  some  humble  portion  of  their  confidence,  and  knew  their 
fidelity  to  each  other,  and  to  their  country,  perform,  though  it  may  be  alone, 
the  duty  of  vindicating  them  against  the  clamors  of  prejudice  and  error. 


A  few  da}Ts  later  brought  an  occasion  for  a  similar  defense  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  a  tribute  to  his  memory.  His  position  on  the 
‘‘Monroe  Doctrine”  having  been  questioned,  Seward  proceeded  to 
show  what  the  “  Monroe  Doctrine,”  much  talked  about,  but  little 
understood,  really  was: 


There  are  two  propositions  arising  out  of  our  interests  in  and  around  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  which  are  admitted  by  all  our  statesmen.  One  of  them  is,  that 
the  safety  of  the  Southern  States  requires  a  watchful  jealousy  of  the  presence 
of  European  powers  on  the  American  continent;  and  the  other  is,  that  the 
tendency  of  commercial  and  political  events  invites  the  United  States  to  assume 
and  exercise  a  paramount  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  nations  situated  in  this 
hemisphere  against  the  possible  combinations  of  Europe. 

Ho  then  quoted  from  Monroe’s  message  of  December,  1823,  the 
memorable  passage: 

“  The  American  continents,  by  the  free  and  independent  condition  which  they 
have  assumed  and  maintain,  are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for 
future  colonization  by  any  European  power.  And  while  existing  rights  should 
be  respected,  the  safety  of  the  United  States  requires  them  to  announce  that 
no  future  colony  or  dominion  shall,  with  their  consent,  be  planted  or  estab¬ 
lished  in  any  part  of  the  North  American  continent.” 

This  is  what  is  called  here  and  elsewhere  “the  Monroe  Doctrine.”  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  John  C.  Calhoun  were  then  members,  chief  members,  of 
Monroe’s  Administration.  John  Quincy  Adams  afterward  acknowledged  that 
he  was  author  of  that  doctrine  or  policy;  and  John  C.  Calhoun,  on  the  15th 
of  May,  1848,  in  the  Senate  fully  testified  on  that  point. 

Passing  from  the  historical  to  the  prospective  question,  he  outlined 
his  own  ideas  of  a  fitting  continental  policy: 


200 


A  PACIFIC  RAILWAY. 


[1852-’ 53. 


You  are  already  the  great  continental  power  of  America.  But  does  that 
content  you?  I  trust  it  does  not.  You  want  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
which  is  the  empire  of  the  world.  This  is  to  be  looked  for,  not  on  the  Ameri¬ 
can  lakes,  nor  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  nor  on  the  Caribbean  sea,  but  on  the 
Pacific  ocean  and  its  islands  and  continents.  Open  up  a  highway  through 
your  country  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco.  Put  your  domain  under  cul¬ 
tivation,  and  your  ten  thousand  wheels  of  manufacture  in  motion.  Multiply 
your  ships  and  send  them  forth.  The  nation  that  draws  most  from  the  earth, 
and  fabricates  the  most,  and  sells  the  most  to  foreign  nations,  must  be,  and 
will  be,  the  great  power  of  the  earth. 

Among  other  measures  for  the  advancement  of  commerce,  were  re¬ 
visions  of  the  tonnage  duties;  the  increase  of  mail  facilities  with 
Europe;  protection  to  inventors;  the  registry  of  American  ships;  the 
ship  canal  at  Niagara;  protection  of  American  citizens  abroad;  im¬ 
provement  of  the  warehousing  system;  inspection  of  steamboats  and 
their  life-saving  appliances,  and  the  construction  of  telegraph  and  rail¬ 
way  to  the  Pacific. 

The  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  had  offered  resolutions,  im¬ 
pliedly  threatening  Mexico  for  an  alleged  breach  of  faith  in  regard  to 
Tehuantepec.  Seward,  commenting  upon  these  resolutions,  said  they 
were  “  vague  in  their  language.  But  they  look  toward,  although 
they  do  not  distinctly  point  at,  some  measure  of  hostility,  of  reprisal, 
or  of  war.”  He  proposed,  as  a  substitute  for  the  resolutions,  one  de¬ 
claring  that  “the  United  States  cannot  suspend  diplomatic  negoti¬ 
ations  with  Mexico,  without  tendering  that  power,  or  waiting  a  reason¬ 
able  time  to  receive  from  it,  an  offer  of  arbitration,  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo.” 

Adverting  to  the  fact  that  “the  country  needed  communication 
with  the  Pacific,”  he  said: 

You  want  first  and  most  a  communication  which  shall  bind  New  Orleans 
and  Washington  and  New  York  on  the  Atlantic  with  San  Francisco  on  the 
Pacific.  The  safety  of  our  country,  the  safety  of  its  Pacific  possessions,  de¬ 
mands  such  a  communication;  not  over  oceans  and  through  a  foreign  territory, 
but  inland  and  altogether  through  your  own  country.  This  is  the  communi¬ 
cation  across  the  continent  which  you  want. 

A  noticeable '  prediction,  at  this  session,  was  that  in  his  speech 
against  the  proposal  to  suspend  the  duty  on  foreign  railroad  iron. 
After  showing  how  the  reckless  railway  extension  needed  check,  rather 
than  encouragement,  he  said: 

What  happened  in  England  on  a  like  occasion?  A  great  railway  king  pro¬ 
jected  railroads  all  over  the  island,  and  much  capital  was  invested  in  them.  All 
at  once  the  bubble  was  pricked,  and  the  whole  enterprise  collapsed,  bringing 
on  general  stagnation  and  bankruptcy.  This  is  the  tendency  of  things  here 


1 852-’ 53.]  INAUGURATION  OF  PIERCE.  201 

now.  I  am  not  by  habit  a  croaker,  but  I  can  see  that,  unless  the  National 
Government  shall  act  so  as  to  restrain,  rather  than  encourage  and  stimulate, 
this  excessive  spirit  of  speculation  in  railroad  investments,  just  such  a  collapse 
will  happen  here. 

This  prediction  was  verified  when  the  inflation  was  brought  to  a 
sudden  stop  by  the  financial  crash  of  1857. 

Among  the  measures  to  which  he  gave  hearty  support  was  the  ap¬ 
propriation  asked  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  water  to  Washington 
from  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Potomac.  It  was  his  constant  habit  to 
favor  measures  for  the  improvement  and  embellishment  of  the 
national  capital.  He  deemed  it  a  duty  Congress  owed  to  the  country 
at  large,  since  the  whole  country  had  a  common  interest  and  pride  in 
its  seat  of  government.  The  feeling  was  unmixed  with  any  personal 
interest,  for  he  never  owned  a  foot  of  real  estate  in  the  District. 

Two  days  before  the  close  of  the  session,  he  took  the  floor  on  the 
Texas  Debt  question.  Opposed  always  to  any  thing  like  repudiation, 
he  advocated  its  settlement.  His  speech  was  a  resume  of  the  history 
of  the  debt,  its  origin,  the  action  of  Congress,  and  the  present  obliga¬ 
tions  resting  respectively  upon  Texas  and  the  United  States. 

On  the  same  day  came  up  a  question,  deemed  at  the  time  of  minor 
importance,  but  destined  subsequently  to  convulse  the  country.  A 
bill  had  been  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Territories  for  the  organ¬ 
ization  of  a  Territorial  Government  in  what  was  known  as  “the 
Platte  Country,”  to  be  called  the  Territory  of  Nebraska.  Mr.  Doug-  , 
las  made  an  unsuccessful  motion  to  proceed  to  its  consideration.  The 
next  day  he  again  proposed  it,  but  the  motion  was  laid  on  the  table  by 
a  majority  of  six.  It  was  defeated  by  the  votes  of  Southern  Senators, 
whose  ground  of  opposition  was  understood  to  be  that  they  appre¬ 
hended  such  a  Territory  might  ultimately  become  a  free  State. 

Now  came  the  4th  of  March.  With  it  came  the  expiration  of  the 
Thirty-second  Congress,  and  of  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Fillmore. 
The  new  Democratic  Administration  was  duly  inaugurated,  Franklin 
Pierce  taking  the  oath  of  office  in  the  presence  of  assembled  thousands 
of  eager  and  enthusiastic  partisans.  Washington  was  full  to  overflow¬ 
ing.  All  the  offices  of  the  Government  were  now  at  the  disposal  of 
the  dominant  party,  and  applicants  for  all  of  them  flocked  to  the 
capital.  For  a  few  days  it  seemed  as  if  no  public  business  could  be 
transacted.  The  White  House  and  the  departments  were  overborne 
by  the  tremendous  rush.  A  special  session  of  the  Senate  was  called, 
in  order  to  take  action  on  the  President’s  nominations.  Among  the 
new  Senators  who  now  took  their  seats,  were  two  of  the  ex-Secretaries 


202 


DEATH  OF  MRS.  FILLMORE. 


[1 852-’ 53. 


of  State  —  Massachusetts  haying  sent  Edward  Everett  and  Delaware 
John  M.  Clayton. 

Seward  wrote  : 

March.  17. 

This  morning  I  have  read  Clayton’s  speech.  It  is  a  powerful  one.  I  think 
that  Clayton  would  have  done  wisely  by  leaving  the  whole  subject  until  next 
session.  But  I  shall  say  no  such  thing  here.  I  have  seen  enough  of  fault-find¬ 
ing  to  be  well  cured  of  it. 

Mr.  Baker  brought  me  his  last  proofs  in  New  York,  and  I  have  revised  them. 
It  is  a  fine  book.  The  view  of  the  house  is  admirable,  and  so  is  the  memoir, 
as  revised  by  Mr.  Ripley.* 

March  18. 

The  blue  birds  are  gathering  the  seeds  and  crumbs  in  our  court-yard,  and 
we  are  in  the  very  burst  of  spring. 

I  have  not  yet  seen  President  or  Cabinet,  nor  have  I  seen  the  Whig  here  that 
has.  The  pressure  of  office-seekers  is  reported  as  crushing  Mr.  Pierce’s  health. 
To-day  Mr.  Everett  speaks,  and  he  will  speak  well,  of  course. 

March  30. 

Mrs.  Fillmore  died  of  pneumonia  this  morning.  Within  her  circle  at  Wil¬ 
lard’s,  this  was  apprehended  several  days.  But  the  intelligence  broke  upon 
the  public  with  surprise.  So  soon  are  even  the  tenants  of  the  White  House 
forgotten  by  society-at-large,  when  they  have  given  place  to  new-comers.  I 
heard  of  the  event  on  the  street,  and  went  immediately  to  Willard’s,  where  I 
sent  my  card  to  Mr.  Fillmore.  They  told  me  Mrs.  Fish  was  there  doing  all 
that  she  could.  I  went  to  the  Senate  Chamber  and  examined  the  records  to 
ascertain  what  custom  or  propriety  required  to  be  done. 

I  found  the  proceedings  on  the  death  of  Mrs.  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  I 
moved  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  in  words  nearly  the  same  with  those  on 
that  other  occasion.  Meantime  Mr.  Fish  came  in  and  informed  me  that  he  had 
been  at  Willard’s.  Mr.  Fillmore’s  wishes  were  that  there  might  be  no  parade 
or  ostentation,  but  that  the  friends  of  the  family  would  gratify  them  by  at¬ 
tending  their  departure  with  the  remains  from  Willard’s  to  the  depot  at  six 
to-morrow  morning. 

I  went  from  the  Capitol,  taking  Sumner  along,  to  introduce  me  to  Presi¬ 
dent  Pierce,  who  graciously  condescended  to  receive  us,  on  our  names  being 
taken  up  by  Edward,  as  an  exceptional  case  and  on  his  own  responsibility.  I 
shall  say  at  once  that  the  President  has  a  very  winning  way  in  his  manners. 
And  when  I  reach  home  I  shall  tell  you  what  else  I  think  of  him.  I  will  barely 
say  now  that  Sumner  is  by  no  means  sure  that  there  is  not  a  deep  depth  under 
the  graceful  exterior.  The  President  gave  us  the  agreeable  information  that 
we  should  be  detained  here  all  next  week. 

April  1. 

The  troubles  within  begin  to  leak  out  and  confirm  what  was  expected  about 
Cushing  and  Marcy  —  that  the  relations  between  those  two  members  are  those 

*  The  first  three  volumes  of  “  The  Works  of  William  H.  Seward,”  edited  by  George  E. 
Baker,  and  published  by  Redfield,  are  here  alluded  to. 


1853.] 


SUMMER  LIFE. 


203 


of  rivalry  and  ill-will.  I  was  slow  to  believe  that  a  Cabinet  could  have  been 
constructed  with  a  certainty  of  such  division  to  occur  so  soon.  Yet  what  else 
could  we  expect?  The  quarrel  begins  to  reach  Senators. 

April  3. 

The  President  is  intent  on  fusing  all  the  factions  of  his  party,  and  the  Sen¬ 
ate,  after  a  brief  struggle  of  opponents,  has  concurred.  It  leaves  our  “  Silver 
Grays”  in  a  forlorn  condition.  They  are  now  the  only  faction  who  stand  on 
the  principle  of  proscribing  men  for  having  disapproved  the  compromises.  I  K 
think  it  will  result  in  opening  anew  and  wider  than  before  the  strife  between 
the  “  Hunkers  ”  and  the  “  Barn-Burners  ”  in  New  York. 

When  the  “Free  Soilers”  were  assailed  in  the  Senate,  and  Dix  sought  to  be 
proscribed,  they  had  not  a  word  for  him.  I  spoke  for  his  confirmation.  The 
debate  may  be  published. 

Mr.  Pulszky  is  here  yet,  wanting  to  see  Marcy  and  the  President.  He  will  get 
soothing  words,  but  nothing  else.  The  Administration  will  go  on  in  the  way 
of  its  predecessor. 

* 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

1853. 

Summer  Life  at  Auburn.  Colonel  Bowen.  A  Visit  to  Scenes  of  Andre’s  Capture  and 
Execution.  The  Crimean  War.  Address  at  Columbus.  “  The  Destiny  of  America.” 
Letters  to  Theodore  Parker.  Address  before  the  American  Institute.  “  The  True  Basis 
of  American  Independence.”  Democratic  Factions.  “Hards”  and  “Softs.”  Rise 
of  the  “Know-Nothing”  Party.  “Have  You  Seen  Sam?” 


After  the  winter’s  confinement  at  Washington,  Seward  found  the 
summer  life  at  Auburn  especially  enjoyable.  He  rose  usually  at  six,  and 
liked  either  a  walk  in  the  garden  or  a  canter  on  horse-back  of  a  mile 
or  two  before  breakfast.  Then  meeting  the  family  at  table  he  would 
tell  them  what  new  flower  was  in  bloom,  what  fruit  had  ripened, 
what  birds  had  come,  and  how  they  were  occupied,  what  change  or 
improvement  he  found  in  the  village  streets  or  on  the  country  roads. 
After  a  cigar  and  the  morning  paper,  he  would  go  to  his  old  writings 
chair  in  the  bay-window  of  the  tower,  and  here  write  his  letters  and 
study  law-cases  or  public  addresses.  When  visitors  called,  they  were 
shown  in  here.  If  the  day  was  raw  and  cool,  there  would  be  an  open 
fire  to  sit  by.  If  it  was  bright  and  warm,  he  would  invite  them  to  walk 
with  him  to  the  vine-covered  seat  at  the  end  of  the  long  garden  walk 
and  continue  the  conversation  there.  Sometimes  the  visitors  would  be 
so  frequent,  and  the  visits  so  long,  that  he  would  find  it  necessary  to 


204 


SUMMER  LIFE  AT  AUBURN. 


[1853. 


supplement  his  day’s  work  bv  continuing  his  studies  till  late  at  night. 
The  papers  in  his  cases  would  be  sent  to  the  law-office  to  be  copied. 
His  personal  correspondence  he  would  conduct,  sometimes  with  his 
own  hands,  sometimes  with  the  aid  of  a  copvist  or  secretary. 

He  liked  to  push  his  work  vigorously  and  with  dispatch,  so  as  to 
finish  whatever  might  be  on  hand,  and  then  take  a  dav  for  recreation 
by  some  excursion.  With  his  family,  or  some  friend  or  neighbor,  he 
would  drive  to  the  Owasco  or  Cayuga  lake  and  spend  the  day  in  boat¬ 
ing  or  fishing.  Or  he  would  take  a  longer  drive  to  Skaneateles, 
Aurora,  Elbridge,  or  some  other  village  in  the  vicinity, —  call  upon 
acquaintances  there,  and  return  at  night-fall.  In  the  evening,  when 
not  at  work,  he  liked  a  rubber  of  whist  and  conversation  or  reading 
till  bed-time. 

Auburn  was  rapidly  taking  on  the  dimensions  and  habits  of  a  city; 
but  it  still  retained  enough  of  rural  character  to  be  an  attractive 
summer  residence.  It  had  a  very  agreeable  social  circle,  and  friends 
from  New  York  and  Albany  would  stop  over  a  train  or  a  day  on  their 
wTay  to  Niagara  or  the  West.  Western  acquaintances  would  make  like 
pause  on  their  eastward  journeys.  Though  having  little  leisure  he 
contrived  to  find  time,  in  the  course  of  a  season,  for  a  good  deal  of 
reading.  Old  and  standard  authors  he  preferred  to  any  literary 
novelties.  He  would  devote  his  spare  moments,  for  a  week  or  two, 
to  some  poet,  philosopher,  or  historian,  and  then  take  up  another. 
Chaucer  and  Spencer,  Ben  Jonson  and  Ariosto,  were  among  his  favo¬ 
rites  at  this  period.  Of  the  English  essayists  he  liked  Sidney  Smith, 
Macaulay,  Mackintosh,  Jeffrey,  and  Carlyle.  Prescott’s  histories  he 
read  as  fast  as  they  came  out.  Brougham’s  Political  Philosophy, 
Lieber’s  Political  Ethics,  Burke’s  Speeches,  and  Tooke’s  “Diversions 
of  Purley,”  he  read  over  more  than  once.  The  volumes  contain  many 
passages  marked  by  him  in  pencil.  Usually  they  are  philosophical 
truths  in  relation  to  government.  Occasionally  there  is  a  passage  in 
them  marked  by  Charles  Sumner,  with  whom  frequent  conversations 
occurred  on  this  class  of  topics. 

On  Sundays,  when  at  home,  he  always  went  to  the  morning  service 
at  St.  Peter’s  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  had  long  been  a  member. 
Rev.  Dr.  Cressey  was  at  this  time  the  rector.  “  Port  Hill,”  the  wooded 
height  overlooking  the  town  and  containing  the  traces  of  an  ancient 
Indian  fortification,  had  now  been  made  a  cemetery.  A  family  burial- 
plot  had  been  selected  under  the  shade  of  some  great  trees  on  the 
western  slope.  Here  Judge  Miller  was  interred,  and  the  remains  of 
other  relatives  were  brought  from  the  old  church-yard.  To  this  spot 
was  a  customary  walk  on  a  Sunday  afternoon.  About  this  period  he 


1853.] 


Andrews  grave. 


205 


began  a  new  enterprise  destined  to  occupy  much  of  his  subsequent 
time  and  attention.  Judge  Miller  had  left  to  his  two  daughters  an 
orchard  and  some  meadows  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village.  The 
establishment  of  factories  near  by,  on  the  Owasco,  had  created  a  de¬ 
mand  for  houses  for  the  operatives.  Seward  looked  over  the  ground, 
and  after  some  thought,  matured  a  plan  which  would  give  them  cheap 
and  comfortable  homes,  while  at  the  same  time  it  would  gradually 
render  the  Miller  property  valuable.  He  had  the  land  surveyed,  bought 
a  similar  plot  adjoining  it,  and  then  divided  the  whole  into  village  lots, 
each  containing  a  quarter  of  an  acre.  These  he  offered  for  sale  —  ad¬ 
vancing  to  the  purchaser  money  to  build  a  house,  and  giving  him 
fifteen  years  in  which  to  pay  the  loan,  in  monthly  installments.  These 
installments  would  be  no  more  than  the  rent  he  would  have  to  pay 
for  inferior  accommodations  in  a  tenement-house.  The  plan  looked 

9 

attractive,  yet  it  was  some  time  before  the  first  man  could  be  found 
bold  enough  to  embark  in  so  novel  an  enterprise.  After  the  first, 
others  came  rapidly.  The  houses,  at  the  outset,  were  plain,  square, 
wooden  buildings  in  the  center  of  a  grass-plot  or  potato-patch.  But 
the  owners  soon  began  to  improve  them.  Trees  and  flower-beds, 
porches,  verandas,  and  vine-clad  bay-windows  began  to  appear  on  one 
after  another.  Those  of  the  purchasers  who  had  thrift  and  health, 
were  usually  able  to  pay  off  their  debt  long  before  the  allotted  time 
and  so  became  owners  in  fee-simple  of  property  that  would  sell  for 
twice  what  it  had  cost  them.  The  project  was  one  that  exactly  suited 
his  business  habits.  It  was  not  at  all  speculative,  but  a  safe  real  estate 
investment;  and  at  the  same  time,  one  that  benefited  his  neighbors 
and  beautified  the  towrn. 

During  this  summer  he  wrote  home: 

June  10,  1853. 

Cheerful  and  well,  thanks  to  the  relaxation  of  a  visit  to  Bowen’s  quiet  home 
on  the  Hudson.  On  Friday  morning  we  rode  up  the  Albany  road  to  Tarry- 
town,  and  there  we  stopped  and  examined  the  place  by  the  road-side  where 
the  captors  of  Major  Andre  lay  when  they  were  disturbed  by  the  trampling  of 
the  horse  on  which  he  was  escaping  toward  the  Vulture ,  on  the  bridge  across 
the  rivulet,  that  is  now  conveyed  underground.  With  maps  and  descriptions 
in  our  hand  we  traced  the  progress  of  the  unfortunate  man  and  of  his  captors. 

After  dinner  Bowen  was  inspired  to  execute  with  me  a  long-cherished  pur¬ 
pose  of  visiting  the  scene  where  the  romantic  career  of  Andre  came  to  its  sad 
and  painful  close.  Taking  young  Miss  Oothout  with  us,  we  went  down  to 
Dobbs  Ferry  and  signaled  to  the  opposite  bank  for  a  boat,  which  came  over, 
and  after  an  hour,  landed  us  on  the  western  bank,  just  at  the  place  where  the 
wall  of  the  Palisades  lifts  itself  above  the  water.  A  boy,  a  covered  wagon, 
and  a  horse  of  twenty  years’  experience  were  at  the  door  after  some  delays, 
and  we  set  out  for  Tappan  village.  A  narrow,  winding  road  gradually  sur- 


206 


THE  SCENE  OF  ANDIE’S  EXECUTION. 


[1853. 


mounted  the  rocky  banks  of  the  river,  and  we  found  ourselves  on  a  plain,  rich 
but  rudely  cultivated. 

Riding  through  jungles  and  meadows,  we  saw  a  little  village  situated  at  the 
foot  of  a  long  range  of  hills  with  a  single  spire.  On  the  bank  of  a  brook  was 
a  long  low  house  of  brick,  stone,  and  wood,  evidently  very  ancient,  but  in 
good  preservation.  This  was  Washington’s  head- quarters  while  the  army  lay 
at  Tappan.  A  loquacious  landlady  sixty  years  old,  with  a  daughter-in-law 
fair  to  look  upon  and  pleasant  to  talk  with,  met  us  at  the  door,  surrounded  by 
a  group  of  half  a  dozen  as  pretty  children  as  ever  I  saw,  each  of  whom  came 
up  to  be  kissed,  and  presented  lips  and  faces  as  clean  as  the  china  ambitiously 
displayed  in  the  closet.  We  saw  relics  of  Washington  so  numerous  and  so 
profuse  that  we  were  obliged  to  doubt  their  authenticity.  The  old  lady  was  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  family  who  occupied  the  mansion  when  it  was  the 
temporary  home  of  the  most  illustrious  man  the  world  has  yet  seen. 

After  leaving  the  house  and  crossing  the  brook,  flushed  from  the  open  gate 
of  a  small  mill,  we  turned  an  angle  in  the  road  and  came  into  a  winding  street 
on  which  were,  perhaps,  some  thirty  or  forty  simple  dwellings.  Most  conspic¬ 
uous  among  them  was  the  tavern  of  the  place,  a  long  and  low  stone  house, 
before  which  was  a  square  sign-board  bearing  the  inscription,  “76  House.” 
It  had  been  the  prison  of  Andre  while  he  was  detained  for  trial  and  execution. 
Although  it  had  been  repaired  and  in  part  renewed,  yet  the  bedroom  he  occu¬ 
pied  was  still  preserved  in  the  same  state  that  he  left  it.  A  few  rods  onward 
at  the  head  of  the  street  was  a  small  red  brick  church.  In  1834  it  was  built 
to  replace  one  of  great  antiquity  that  stood  on  the  same  site  and  in  which  the 
Court  of  Inquiry  sat,  of  which  General  Greene  and  General  Knox  were  mem¬ 
bers,  and  who  conducted  the  trial  simply  by  receiving  the  written  statement 
of  Andre  without  other  evidence.  Here  then  was  the  scene  of  that  solemn 
investigation  as  to  what  should  be  the  punishment  of  the  captured  Briton, 
and  there  in  that  “  76  House  ”  he  had  awaited  the  result  of  Hamilton’s  inter¬ 
position  with  Washington,  aided  by  the  solicitations,  sophistry  and  threats 
of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  and  of  Arnold,  to  obtain  if  not  a  pardon,  at  least  the 
substitution  of  a  soldier’s  punishment  for  the  ignominious  one  of  a  spy  and  a 
felon. 

Again  taking  our  wagon  we  moved  along  a  narrow  road  that  ascended  the 
hill  that  covered  the  village  on  the  east.  Fields  were  on  one  side  and  forests 
on  the  other.  Half  a  mile  brought  us  to  near  the  summit.  There  was  a  gate 
opening  into  a  field  covered  with  a  thrifty  peach-orchard,  and  a  grassy  lane 
led  along  a  rude  stone  fence. 

In  this  lane,  just  at  the  crown  of  the  hill,  we  found  a  huge  boulder-stone 
covering  a  hole  in  the  ground  filled  by  cobble-stones  and  bearing  the  inscrip¬ 
tion,  cut  without  art  or  skill,  and  without  having  the  stone  chiseled  or  smoothed : 
“Andre,  Executed  October  3rd.,  1780.”  Here  was  the  grave  in  which  his  body 
was  deposited  as  a  felon  in  the  crisis  of  the  war,  and  from  which  forty  years 
after  it  was  taken  up  and  conveyed,  when  peace  had  returned,  to  rest  as  the 
remains  of  a  hero,  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Some  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  front 
of  the  grave,  in  full  view  of  a  broad  plain  stretching  away  for  miles  and 
bounded  only  by  the  Palisades,  was  the  place  of  execution.  I  mused  on  the 


1853.  ] 


20? 


THE  REPUBLIC’S  INFLUENCE. 

memories  of  these  things  that  history  supplied  and  tradition  embellished, 
gathered  a  rose,  a  stone,  and  slips  from  a  tree  that  stood  near  by  and  descended 
the  hill,  wound  our  way  through  the  opening  of  the  Palisades  to  the  river, 
entered  a  boat,  and  at  eight  o’clock  was  again  at  Bowen’s. 

This  summer  had  some  events  of  popular  interest.  The  Crystal 
Palace  Exhibition  or  “  World’s  Fair,”  had  been  opened  in  Reservoir 
Square,  New  York,  and  thousands  flocked  to  the  city  to  see  the  won¬ 
ders  of  foreign  and  domestic  art.  Jullien’s  “Monster  Concerts,”  the 
pioneers  of  the  great  musical  festivals,  were  delighting  the  towns  by 
their  novelty.  Mrs.  Stowe’s  story  of  “Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin,”  was 
touching  a  chord  in  the  popular  heart  that  no  compromises  could  still, 
and  the  book  was  running  through  successive  editions,  was  read  and 
re-read,  quoted  and  dramatized. 

From  the  Old  World  were  coming  portents  of  a  great  conflict. 
The  war-cloud  had  been  gathering  blackness  all  summer,  and  by 
October  the  French  and  English  fleets  had  sailed  for  the  Darda¬ 
nelles,  and  hostilities  had  begun  between  the  Sublime  Porte  and  the 
Czar. 

Seward  had  promised  his  Ohio  friends  to  attend  the  dedication  of 
their  new  “Capitol  University”  at  Columbus,  and  to  deliver  an  ora¬ 
tion,  He  fulfilled  the  promise  on  the  14th  of  September.  The  ad¬ 
dress  had  for  its  subject,  “The  Destiny  of  America,”  and  embodied 
the  results  of  long  thought  upon  his  favorite  theme.  He  began  by 
alluding  to  the  marvelous  growth  of  Ohio  and  the  West,  adding: 

Nevertheless  it  is  not  in  man’s  nature  to  be  coutent  with  present  attainment 
or  enjoyment.  You  say  to  me,  therefore,  with  excusable  impatience,  “Tell  us 
not  what  our  country  is,  but  what  she  shall  be.  Shall  her  greatness  increase? 
Is  she  immortal?  ” 

Proceeding  to  consider  all  probable  or  possible  dangers  from  within 
and  without  —  attempts  at  disunion,  foreign  wars,  social  decay,  etc., 
etc.,  he  drew  the  conclusion  that  the  nation's  strength  and  stability 
were  not  likely  to  be  overthrown  and  that  its  material  progress  would 
continue.  Then  he  pointed  out  that  material,  and  even  intellectual 
progress  was  not  all  that  Americans  must  aim  for  —  they  owed  a  duty 
to  the  world  at  large.  He  quoted  the  solemn  injunction  with  which 
the  Revolutionary  Congress  closed  its  existence  : 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  it  has  ever  been  the  pride  and  boast  of  America, 
that  the  rights  for  which  she  contended  were  the  rights  of  human  nature. 

On  this  point,  he  showed  that  the  highest  and  most  important 
function  of  the  republic  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  was,  by  prac¬ 
tice,  precept,  and  example,  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  mankind, 


208  “the  true  basis  of  American-  independence. ”  [1853. 

improving  systems  of  government,  and  maintaining  and  extending 
human  rights. 

In  his  letters  to  Theodore  Parker,  he  said  : 

I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  your  kind  expressions  of  approbation  of  the 
tone  of  my  discourse  at  Columbus.  It  seems  strangely  hard  that  I  should  be 
working  in  my  way,  while  you  are  working  in  your  own  bolder  and  more  ener¬ 
getic  way  for  the  same  great  principles,  and  yet,  that  I  should  never  meet  you. 
I  hope  it  will  not  always  be  so. 

I  took  my  latitude  and  longitude  first  from  Massachusetts.  If  I  sometimes 
seem  to  be  less  directly  in  the  right  way  to  the  port,  I  pray  you  to  remember 
how  the  lights  of  Massachusetts  have  been  obscured,  and  what  violent  gales  I 
have  had  to  encounter  from  that  quarter.  Of  one  thing  be  assured,  that  whilo 
I  am  quite  confident  of  progress,  I  look  to  you  and  your  associates  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts  to  open  the  way  where  masses  can  follow. 

As  soon  as  he  had  returned  from  Columbus  he  found  there  was 
another  oration  to  he  prepared.  This  was  an  address  before  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Institute  in  New  York  at  the  annual  exhibition.  The  address 
was  delivered  in  the  evening  of  October  20,  at  the  Tabernacle  on 
Broadway.  There  was  a  crowded,  and  as  usual  on  such  occasions,  an 
intelligent  auditory. 

His  topic  was  “  The  "True  Basis  of  American  Independence.”  He 
said: 

We  are  bound  to  recommend  republican  institutions  to  the  acceptance  of 
other  nations.  Can  we  do  so  if  we  are  content  to  be  no  wiser,  no  more  virtu¬ 
ous,  no  more  useful  to  humanity,  than  those  to  whom  such  institutions  are 
denied?  Neither  man  nor  nation  can  be  wise  or  really  virtuous  or  useful,  when 
dependent  on  caprice  or  favor.  Is  there  one  among  the  thousands  of  inven¬ 
tions  in  the  Patent  Office  that  was  made  by  a  slave?  Peter  the  Great,  master  of 
so  many  millions  of  slaves,  resorted  to  the  shop  of  a  free  mechanic  of  Saardam 
to  learn  the  mystery  of  ship-building.  His  successor,  Nicholas,  employs  Whist¬ 
ler,  a  Massachusetts  engineer,  to  project  his  railroads;  Ross  Winans,  a  Balti¬ 
more  mechanic,  to  construct  his  locomotives;  and  Orsamus  Eaton,  a  carriage- 
maker  of  Troy,  to  construct  his  cars.  Do  you  wonder  that  loving  freedom  for 
such  fruits,  I  also  have  set  my  face  firmly  against  slavery  ? 

Contrasting  then  the  policy  of  encouraging  inventions,  protecting 
manufactures  and  elevating  the  condition  of  the  laborer,  with  its  re¬ 
verse,  he  closed  by  saying  : 

Persevere  then,  gentlemen  of  the  Institute ;  for  you,  by  lifting  labor  to  its 
rightful  rank,  are  elevating  the  republic  to  true  and  lasting  independence. 

Discord  in  the  Democratic  party  in  New  York  now  entered  upon  a 
new  phase.  It  was  no  longer  a  strife  between  “  Hunkers  ”  and  “  Barn- 
Burners  ”  but  between  “  Hards”  and  “  Softs.”  The  new  factions  re¬ 
flected  the  doctrines  of  the  old  ones  in  a  modified  degree,  but  both 


1853.] 


209 


“HAVE  YOU  SEEN  SAM?” 

claimed  to  be  the  true  representatives  of  “  Democracy,”  and  neither 
was  anxious  to  seek  martyrdom  by  acting  outside  of  the  “  regular  or¬ 
ganization.”  On  questions  of  Canal  Enlargement  and  Finance,  the 
“Hards  ”  were  usually  in  sympathy  with  the  Whigs.  On  some  other 
questions  there  was  more  affiliation  with  the  “  Softs.”  But  no  con¬ 
tinued  alliance  with  either  party  could  be  counted  on,  so  much  de¬ 
pended  upon  the  changing  current  of  public  events.  At  the  fall  elec¬ 
tion  this  year,  the  Whigs  elected  Elias  W.  Leavenworth  to  be  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State,  James  M.  Cook, Comptroller,  E.  G.  Spaulding,  Treasurer, 
and  all  their  candidates  for  State  officers,  besides  a  majority  of  the 
Legislature. 

But  a  new  and  unexpected  phase  of  affairs  was  beginningto  surprise 
the  politicians,  not  only  in  New  York,  but  in  other  States.  The  wise 
men  who  had  so  zealously  labored  to  induce  the  National  Conventions 
of  the  two  great  parties  in  1852  to  indorse  the  Compromise,”  and 
“finally  terminate”  all  “slavery  agitation”  —  overlooked  a  cardinal 
impulse  of  human  nature.  Public  opinion  “abhors  a  vacuum.”  If  it 

X 

cannot  have  the  slavery  question,  it  will  have  some  other  question. 
Without  the  least  intention  of  doing  so,  the  “  Compromisers  ”  had 
paved  the  way  for  new  issues  and  a  new  party.  And  a  new  party  had 
sprung  suddenly  into  existence.  It  was  a  mysterious  power.  Appa¬ 
rently  without  labored  effort  or  public  display,  it  carried  local  elections 
by  surprise.  Towns  and  counties  that  had  for  years  rested  in  the  com¬ 
fortable  assurance  that  they  were  Whig  or  Democratic  strongholds, 
suddenly  made  complete  change  of  front.  That  the  organization 
which  was  achieving  these  successes  was  a  secret  one;  that  it  held  its 
meetings  in  unknown  places;  that  its  members  were  bound  by  oaths 
to  do  its  bidding  and  not  to  reveal  its  secrets,  added  to  its  fascination, 
especially  for  young  men.  It  was  a  mystery,  and  like  all  mysteries  its 
capabilities  were  magnified  in  popular  apprehension.  When  its  sup¬ 
posed  members  were  interrogated  as  to  its  acts  or  designs,  they  merely 
responded  that  they  “knew  nothing”  on  the  subject.  The  organiza¬ 
tion,  therefore,  speedily  obtained  the  name  of  the  “Know-Nothing” 
party.  One  of  the  pass-words  by  which  members  recognized  each 
other  was  said'  to  be  the  casual  inquiry,  “  Have  you  seen  Sam?  ”  This 
soon  acquired  currency,  and  newspapers,  in  chronicling  an  unexpected 
defeat,  had  only  to  remark:  “Our  city  has  seen  Sam!” 

The  new  party  had  no  hesitation,  however,  in  declaring  its  princi¬ 
ples.  They  were  summed  up  in  such  phrases  as  “America  for  Ameri¬ 
cans,”  “  Put  none  but  Americans  on  guard,”  etc.  It  was  a  native 
American  organization,  formed  avowedly  to  check  foreign  influence  in 
political  affairs.  Both  the  great  parties,  it  charged,  had  pandered  to 
u 


210 


THE  i  ‘  K.NOW -NOTHING  ”  PARTY. 


[1853. 


the  foreign  vote,  had  given  naturalization  and  offices  to  men  who  were 
foreign  born  and  still  foreigners  at  heart.  It  was  urged  that  the 
newly-landed  foreigner  had  no  more  right  to  a  vote  than  the  newly- 
born  American,  and  that  he  ought  to  wait  the  same  period  —  twenty- 
one  years — before  attaining  it.  It  was  asserted  that  thousands  who 
"were  allowed  the  privilege  of  citizenship  confessed  their  chief  allegi¬ 
ance  to  be  due  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  that  their  political  action 
wTas  determined  by  the  orders  of  the  Catholic  Church,  instead  of  the 
interest  of  the  American  Republic.  To  exclude  foreigners  and  Ca¬ 
tholics  from  places  of  trust  and  honor,  and  to  change  the  naturaliza¬ 
tion  laws,  were  the  purposes  which  the  new  party  was  to  accomplish. 
Its  rapidly-increasing  strength  gave  its  followers  reason  to  hope  that, 
before  long,  they  would  obtain  the  control  of  the  State  and  Federal 
Government,  and  engraft  their  policy  on  the  Constitution. 

Similar  political  doctrines  had  before  been  advocated,  and  local 
elections  in  cities  had  been  occasionally  carried  by  “  Native  Ameri¬ 
cans.”  But  there  had  never  before  been  any  great  or  formidable 
party  organized  upon  that  basis.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  dangers 
complained  of  seemed  not  to  be  imminent.  There  was  no  great  in¬ 
crease  of  immigration;  no  special  banding  together  of  foreigners;  no 
new  “bull  ”  from  the  Pope,  and  no  new  policy  adopted  by  any  foreign 
prince,  potentate,  or  church.  However,  the  times  were  ripe  for  a  new 
party.  Thousands  were  heartily  disgusted  with  the  policy  of  the  old 
ones,  Many  turned  “  Know-Nothings,”  not  because  they  believed  in 
the  new  proscriptive  policy,  but  because  they  wanted  to  rebuke  their 
old  leaders.  Then  the  names  and  watchwords  and  paraphernalia  of 
the  new  party  were  well  calculated  to  appeal  to  patriotic  feeling.  It 
claimed  the  “Star  Spangled  Banner”  and  the  “American  Eagle”  as 
its  especial  emblems;  Washington,  Franklin,  and  Adams  as  its  patron 
saints.  It  celebrated  Revolutionary  anniversaries,  and  appealed  to 
“Americans,”  North  and  South,  East  and  West,  to  again  “rally” 
and  “make  common  cause”  against  “foreign  oppression.” 

The  ranks  of  the  “American  Partv”  were  recruited  from  both 
Democrats  and  Whigs.  Nearly  all  the  prominent  Democratic  states¬ 
men  were  denounced  for  showing  too  much  favor  to  foreigners.  Of 
the  Whig  leaders,  Seward  and  Weed  were  pronounced  especially  ob¬ 
noxious  in  this  regard. 


185S.J 


WASHINGTON  LIFE. 


211 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

1853. 

Washington  in  the  Session.  Business  and  Society.  Election  of  Printer.  Bachelor’s 
Life.  A  Dull  Xmas. 


On  the  first  Monday  of  December  the  flags  were  floating  over  the 
Capitol.  The  people’s  representatives  were  again  “  in  Congress  as¬ 
sembled.”  This  time  it  was  to  be  a  session  of  unusual  significance 
and  interest.  The  Democratic  party  had  full  sway  in  both  Houses 
and  in  all  the  departments  of  the  Executive  Government.  In  the 
Senate,  they  had  three-fifths  of  the  whole  body.  In  the  House,  they 
had  two-thirds.  New  York,  however,  still  had  her  two  Whig  Sena¬ 
tors.  Her  delegation  in  the  House  contained  many  whose  names  were 
then  or  afterward  prominent  in  political  annals.  Among  the  Whigs 
and  “Free  Soilers ”  were  Edwin  B.  Morgan,  Benjamin  Pringle,  Gerrit 
Smith,  Caleb  Lyon,  Russell  Sage,  0.  B.  Matteson,  William  Murray. 
George  A.  Simmons,  and  Henry  Bennett.  Among  the  Democrats 
were  Hiram  Walbridge,  Mike  Walsh,  William  M.  Tweed,  Francis  B. 
Cutting,  T.  R.  Westbrook,  Rufus  W.  Peckham,  and  Reuben  E. 
Fenton. 

Organization  was  effected  on  the  first  day;  Senator  Atchison  tak¬ 
ing  the  chair  as  President  yjro  tem .  of  the  Senate;  Linn  Boyd  beiug 
re-elected  Speaker,  and  John  W.  Forney  Clerk  of  the  House. 

Seward  wrote,  describing  his  life  under  the  new  regime: 

Washington,  December  2. 

Here  at  last  I  am- in  my  lonely  home.  I  left  New  York  yesterday  morning. 
The  cars  were  filled  with  M.  C’s  and  their  families.  I  then  threw  myself  down 
upon  my  bed  at  eleven  o’clock,  wearied  as  one  always  is  with  the  tedious 
journey  from  New  York  to  Washington. 

This  morning  I  have  strolled  to  the  Capitol,  found  my  letters  and  papers, 
visited  the  National  Intelligencer  office,  received  a  visitor  who  came  to  commu¬ 
nicate  with  me  on  the  Darien  canal,  and  am  now  to  begin  my  services  to  cor¬ 
respondents  as  soon  as  I  shall  have  reported  my  arrival  and  proceedings  to 
you. 

Washington  is  little  changed  in  appearance.  The  wings  of  the  Capitol  have 
risen  to  the  height  of  the  above  ground  basement  and  the  first  story  is  now 
begun. 

December  3. 

Our  house-keeping  grows  into  the  old  form.  Breakfast  will  not  come  on 
the  table  until  half-past  eight  or  nine,  and  my  servants,  both  of  them,  like 
breakfast  all  the  better  for  this  perverseness.  One  falls  into  the  ways  of 
the  “  first  families”  without  effort  and  without  singularity.  I  have  a  carpen- 


212 


CONGRESS  AND  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1353. 


ter  -who  is  transferring  my  book-cases  from  the  basement  to  the  new  study, 
and  on  Monday  I  shall  have  my  library  all  arranged  here. 

If  I  may  judge  from  the  experience  of  the  day  I  have  little  reason  to  fear 
solitude.  My  visitors  have  been  numerous.  It  is  evident  that  the  quid¬ 
nuncs  have  forgotten  the  last  election  and  are  thinking  on  the  next  one. 

You  know  Mr.  Baker  was  coming  to  spend  some  weeks  with  me.  Greeley 
has  employed  him  to  write  for  the  Tribune.  He  came  in  this  morning,  and  so 
did  Sumner.  They  both  stayed  until  dinner,  and  so  we  had  a  pleasant  time. 
I  called  last  evening  at  Mr.  Seaton’s. 

December  9. 

To-morrow  evening  I  am  to  receive  the  Whig  members  from  New  York,  the 
Whig  Senators,  and  such  other  Whigs  as  choose  to  come  —  say  forty  or  fifty. 
William  brightens  up  With  the  importance  of  the  movement,  and  even  Mary 
seems  animated  with  new  spirits  as  she  looks  on  the  turkeys,  hams  and  oys¬ 
ters  that  are  awaiting  the  application  of  her  skill.  I  doubt  not  that  you  are 
thankful  for  being  out  of  the  way;  and,  indeed,  in  the  present  state  of  your 
health,  I  am  glad  that  you  are. 

December  12. 

Saturday  and  Sunday  filled  up  with  business  and  with  society  from  which 
I  could  not  escape  for  an  hour,  except  when  I  took  refuge  in  church.  My 
party,  of  about  fifty  Whig  Senators  and  Representatives  from  all  the  States, 
North  and  South,  East  and  West,  was  entirely  successful.  It  was  gratifying  to 
see  how  passion  had  subsided. 

In  the  Whig  caucus,  on  appointment  of  members  of  the  committees  (the  Demo¬ 
crats  having  for  that  purpose  adopted  Chase)  I  moved,  for  that  purpose,  that 
the  Whigs,  to  the  same  extent,  include  Sumner.  Nobody  sustained  me. 

December  14. 

Mr.  Baker  and  I  have  had  our  coffee  and  eggs  and  read  the  newspapers. 
The  morning  round  of  business  calls  has  begun. 

I  saw  the  President  yesterday.  He  is  care-worn,  and  the  embarrassments 
of  his  Administration  are  obviously  oppressing  him  and  his  ministers.  The 
election  of  Tucker,  as  the  Printer  to  the  Senate,  is  felt  as  a  direct  assault. 
The  “  Hards  ”  serenaded  the  successful  candidate  on  the  night  before  election, 
and  in  New  York  they  fired  a  hundred  guns  over  the  victory.  The  Union ,  of 
course,  complains,  and  accuses  and  denounces  Democrats.  How  like  to  this 
was  the  course  of  the  Whigs  in  General  Taylor’s  time ! 

There  is  a  new  demonstration  against  the  State  of  Sonora,  in  Mexico,  evi¬ 
dently  designed  to  cover  the  establishment  of  a  slave  State  there.  And  what 
a  condition  has  Compromise  left  us  in  there ! 

December  1G. 

I  wrote  to  you,  and  also  to  our  good  little  girl,  yesterday.  I  dined  at  Gov¬ 
ernor  Fish’s  yesterday  with  a  party  of  Senators,  exclusively,  except  Governor 
Graham  of  North  Carolina.  There  were  Atchison,  Mason,  Hunter,  Bell, 
Smith,  Dawson,  etc.,  etc.  A  dull  time  it  must  have  been  for  Mrs.  Fish.  The 
conversation  turned,  of  course,  on  senatorial  things,  election  of  printers,  etc. 

In  the  evening  I  dropped  in  with  the  crowd  at  Mr.  Guthrie’s.  It  was  like 


1S53.] 


A  DULL  CHRISTMAS. 


213 


all  such  things  that  you  have  seen  so  often .  People  were  there  from  all  parts 
of  the  country. 

December  18. 

Mr.  Samuel  Blatchford  arrived  yesterday.  He  is  in  the  Supreme  Court  for 
his  debut. 

Rev.  William  E.  Channing  arrived  on  Friday,  and  preached  to-day  in  the 
Unitarian  Church.  I  was  there  for  the  first  time.  He  delivered  a  very  excel¬ 
lent  discourse.  I  recognized  well-known  faces  throughout  the  congregation, 
and  among  them  by  special  regard,  Mr.  Chase  and  Dr.  Bailey.  Mr.  Everett 
was  not  there.  Mr.  Channing  came  home  with  me  and  we  had  a  very  pleasant 
conversation  for  two  hours. 

December  22. 

Things  go  along  quietly  in  the  Senate.  The  fiery  debates  between  “  Hards  ” 
and  “  Softs  ”  are  postponed  over  the  New  Year. 

The  Tribune  likes  Mr.  Baker  so  well  that  they  want  him  to  come  here  and 
stay  permanently  with  his  family  as  a  branch  of  the  Tribune  establishment.  I 
like  it  too.  Gerrit  Smith  has  opened  the  anti-slavery  debate  in  the  House, 
and  the  Compromisers  rush  into  it  blindly.  So  the  old  question  comes  back. 
Who  will  compromise  it  down  the  next  time? 

December  24. 

This  is  levee  day,  a  day  of  many  visits,  and  very  long  ones.  How  little  you 
know  of  the  experience  I  have  here!  I  wish  you  were  well  enough  to  bear 
your  share  of  it.  I  dined  Jones  and  Dixon  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  yes¬ 
terday.  They  were  very  kind,  but  wanted  to  talk  about  slavery  all  the  time, 
and  to  convince  me  how  wrong  I  am  and  how  I  persist  in  ruining  great  pros¬ 
pects.  I  have  learned  something.  Henceforth  I  will  never  talk  at  dinner 
with  more  than  one  slavery  man  at  a  time !  One  will  always  agree  with  me, 
or  at  least  agree  to  tolerate  me,  but  where  there  are  more  than  one  they  watch 
each  other. 

This  is  Christmas  Eve.  House  solitary.  How  poor  I  am !  I  shall  wake  up 
to-morrow  and  there  will  be  no  beaming  faces  around  me,  no  children,  no 
friends.  Well,  I  am  tired  of  this,  and  I  have  but  one  more  Christmas  after  it 
to  spend  in  Washington. 

Christmas. 

Will  you  believe  me?  I  have  risen  this  morning  into  the  light  of  as  bright 
a  day  as  ever  honored  St.  Nicholas  with  its  rays,  and  yet  there  is  neither  doll, 
riding-whip,  watch,  or  watch-dog,  bon-bon,  or  sugar-plum  in  all  this  vast 
house,  from  kitchen  to  garret.  Indeed,  we  are  a  singularly  constituted  family. 
I  am  a  bachelor,  without  wife  or  children.  William  has  a  wife  and  child,  but 
they  dwell  three  doors  off.  Mary  has  a  husband  in  the  town,  but  I  have  not 
seen  him  since  I  came  back.  We  have  compared  notes  on  our  peculiar  and 
respective  isolation,  and  the  result  is  that  I  am  fully  instructed  and  empowered 
to  convey  to  you  and  Willie,  and  Fanny,  and  Aunty,  and  Aunt  Clara,  and 
Abby,  and  Dennis  and  Nicholas,  and  Watch,  not  forgetting  Trip  also,  the 
joyous  compliments  and  proper  wishes  of  the  season.  ,  For  my  part,  it  is  to  be 
any  thing  but  a  home  Christmas.  The  entire  mail  fails,  and  so,  if  there  are 


214 


“spirit  rappings. 


letters  from  you  on  the  way  I  lose  them.  I  go  to  Dr.  Butler’s  church  to  hear 
a  sermon,  thence  to  dine  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fish. 

December  28. 

It  is  noon  in  a  day  devoted  by  Congress  to  a  funeral,  at  which  I  suppose  my 
absence  will  not  be  felt.  I  have  just  answered  all  my  letters  and  am  going  to 
my  studies. 

Mr.  Simonton  tells  me  that  “spirit  rapping”  is  much  in  vogue.  Last  even¬ 
ing  two  friends,  one  a  medium,  came  to  converse  with  and  convert  him  to  the 
new  faith.  He  was  immovable.  When  on  the  point  of  refusing  to  yield,  he 
distinctly  heard  rappings  by  some  unseen  agent,  in  the  corner  of  the  room. 
The  medium  said  that  he  was  impressed  at  the  same  moment  with  the  attend¬ 
ance  of  spirits.  Simonton  dismissed  his  visitors,  visible  and  invisible,  and 
came  incontinently  here  to  be  sustained  in  his  infidelity.  He  was  so  earnest 
that  I  thought  that  I  should  at  least  be  disturbed  with  dreams  of  the  other 
world.  But  I  wrote  until  twelve  and  slept  quietly  and  soundly. 

*  December  29. 

Yesterday,  I  remained  within  all  day  and  made  some  slow  and  toilsome 
progress  in  my  report  on  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific.  I  have  seldom,  if  ever, 
attempted  to  grasp  a  greater  subject,  or  to  perform  a  more  herculean  task. 
To-day,  I  am  to  dine  with  Mr.  Crampton.  He  has  removed  to  Georgetown. 

A  wretch  last  week  got  up  a  pretended  subscription  for  the  poor  of  the  city, 
and  fortified  himself  with  forged  letters  from  Mr.  Corcoran,  by  which  he  ob¬ 
tained  contributions  from  all  of  the  wealthy  and  liberal  members  of  Congress, 
amounting  to  many  hundred  dollars.  I  was  a  loser  with  the  rest;  but  wThat  is 
worse,  the  cause  of  the  poor  was  prejudiced. 

December  30. 

Thank  Heaven  I  have  only  half  a  dozen  letters  to  answer  to-day;  although 
I  doubt  not  some  Erie  mob  or  Jack  Frost  has  stopped  the  mails  only  to  inun¬ 
date  me  to-morrow. 

What  an  awkward  blunder  I  made!  I  had  ordered  a  carriage  yesterday  to 
take  me  to  dine  with  Mr.  Crampton  at  Georgetown,  when  I  stumbled  acci¬ 
dentally  on  Charles  Sumner,  who  is  the  very  opposite  of  the  “  Know-Nothings,” 
and  learned  from  him  that  Mr.  Crampton’s  dinner  had  come  off  on  the  day  be¬ 
fore!  That  the  table  waited,  and  the  guests  whispered  what  was  the  cause 
and  who  was  the  delinquent?  That  I  was  exposed;  that  apologies  were  in¬ 
vented;  that  I  had  lost  the  way;  was  sick;  that  you  were  worse  and  I  had 
gone  home!  And  that,  at  last,  the  lady  who  was  to  have  honored  me  with 
her  hand  was  handed  over  to  another,  probably  some  slave-holder,  and  my  role 
was  played  by  a  dummy  from  the  spiritual  world  in  an  empty  chair.  I  have 
apologized  as  well  as  I  could,  and  Mr.  Crampton  has  soothed  me  by  an  invi¬ 
tation  for  next  Wednesday,  which  I  have,  of  course,  accepted. 

December  31. 

It  is  the  last  day  of  the  year  —  of  a  year  that  has  been  more  pleasant  and 
genial  toward  me  than  any  one  of  the  three  that  preceded  it,  if  I  except  from 
its  freights  the  interruptions  of  your  health,  which  I  habitually  try  to  represent 


1854.] 


215 


NEW  YEAR’S  DAY. 

to  myself  as  only  temporary.  Old  hatreds  have  worn  down,  old  friendships 
have  revived  in  some  degree,  and  old  debts  have  rapidly  diminished.  Another 
year  will  probably  bring  me  to  the  end  of  my  public  life.  If  my  affairs  shall 
be  as  prosperous  as  they,  promise  now,  they  will  enable  me  to  quit  my  profes¬ 
sional  labors,  and  then  I  shall  be  at  peace.  I  hope  it  may  be  in  my  power  to 
remain  so,  if  I  am  to  live  longer,  which  I  wish  to  do  for  yours  and  the  young¬ 
ling’s  sake,  and  do  not  wish  to  do  for  my  own. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

1854. 

New  Year’s  Visits.  The  Beginning  of  a  Great  Struggle.  Douglas’ Nebraska  Bill.  Colonel 
Benton.  Public  Attention  Awakened.  The  Debate.  Speech  on  “Freedom  and  Pub¬ 
lic  Faith.”  An  Appeal  to  the  Authors  of  the  “Compromise”  of  1850.  The  Rising  Storm. 
Wade,  Sumner,  Fessenden,  Everett,  and  Toombs.  The  Vote  in  the  Senate.  Protest 
of  Three  Thousand  New  England  Clergymen.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  A  Presidential 
Dinner.  Wreck  of  the  “San  Francisco.”  Closing  Speech.  Passage  of  the  Bill. 
“Freedom’s  Eclipse.”  A  Challenge. 

On  New  Year’s  day,  Seward  wrote  describing  its  experiences: 

The  snow-storm  held  the  mails  up  yesterday.  To-day,  they  come  down 
upon  me  in  an  avalanche.  The  snow  here,  even  here  in  Washington,  is  more 
than  a  foot  deep. 

Rose  at  eight,  ill  enough  to  confine  myself  all  day,  but  thought  I  ought  to 
go  out  and  make  recognitions  in  your  namt,  and  my  own,  to  some  of  those  who 
had  not  been  ashamed  of  us  in  the  great  trials  through  which  we  had  passed 
here.  Nowr  I  give  you  my  diary  of  one  day  in  Washington.  Went  at  half-past 
ten  to  Mr.  Fletcher’s;  too  early;  left  cards.  Rode  up  Capitol  Hill  to  Mr. 
Beal’s;  ladies  in  the  country.  John  M.  Clayton  at  breakfast;  left  cards. 
Down  again  to  Miss  Carter’s  for  Judge  and  Mrs.  McLean;  they  stayed  at 
Brown’s;  cards.  Then  to  Jackson  Hall  to  see  John  C.  Rives,  printer  to  the 
Globe.  Long  table  set  for  collation.  Mr.  Riggs  dressing;  cards.  Up  “4£ 
street ”  to  Mrs.  Williams;  Mrs.  George  Jones  of  Tennessee  and  Mrs.  Senator 
Dixon  of  Kentucky  came  down  after  fifteen  minutes.  Mr.  Ewbank,  Mrs.  Ew- 
bank,  and  daughter  surrounded  by  clerks  in  the  Patent  Office,  who  had  not 
forgotten  him.  That  -was  refreshing  to  see.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simonton ;  cards. 
Mrs.  Washington  and  Miss  Washington  all  wTere  in.  Mrs.  Lee  would  be  at 
one  o’clock.  I  will  go  there  to-morrow  to  see  her.  Colonel  Benton’s;  two 
daughters;  all  surrounded  by  Democrats  fierce  for  his  return  to  the  Senate.  I 
joined  heartily,  to  their  surprise.  Mrs.  Fremont,  two  doors  above,  not  quite 
ready;  cards.  Mrs.  David  A.  Hall,  gone  to  Baltimore;  cards.  Mrs.  Cox,  de¬ 
lighted.  Louisa  Weightman  will  come  to  see  me  to-morrow  to  send  message 
to  Fanny.  Mrs.  Rice;  don’t  receive;  cards.  Mrs.  Judge  Daniels  (across  the 
way);  don’t  receive;  not  quite  settled;  cards.  Mrs.  Seaton  and  daughter. 


210 


DOUGLAS  AND  THE  NEBRASKA  BILL. 


[Ib54. 

Conscience-smitten '  that  she  had  seen  so  little  of  you  while  you  were  to  be 
seen.  That  was  nice.  Mrs.  Fitz-Henry  Warren;  “  Seward’s  Works ”  in  calf 
reconciled  me  to  wait  her  toilet-making.  Mrs.  Sartiges;  don’t  receive;  cards. 
Mrs.  Carroll  and  three  young  Carrolls.  I  liked  the  young  ones  very  much. 
Mr.  Everett,  in  Boston;  card.  Mrs.  Fish;  house  full;  handsome  table.  Mrs. 
Bayard  Smith;  pretty.  Captain  Stockton;  don’t  receive ;  cards.  Mrs.  Hodge 
and  daughter;  polite;  very  agreeable.  Mr.  Corcoran’s;  magnificent.  Why 
would  I  not  eat  and  drink?  Mrs.  Hamilton,  ninety-five  years  old  lacking 
seven  months.  Must  oblige  Mrs.  Holley  by  sipping  punch  from  Washington’s 
silver  camp-bowl.  Of  course  I  did,  though  she  gave  me  a  sentiment  against 
“ Free  Soilism.”  Don’t  talk  to  me  of  women’s  rights !  Commander  Morris; 
very  kind  reception.  Thomas  S.  Smith ;  Mrs.  Smith  was  the  lady  that  I  was 
to  hand  in  to  table  at  Mr.  Crampton’s.  Mrs.  E.  B.  Morgan;  sick„  Miss  Cass; 
don’t  receive;  cards;  General  Cass  out;  cards.  Mrs.  John  Bell;  dispirited 
and  sad,  mourning  the  death  of  a  son-in-law.  Mr.  Marcoleta;  out.  His  wife 
didn’t  receive.  Mrs.  Peale;  pretty  and  tidy.  I  am  to  go  there  to  spend  an 
evening.  They  count  upon  it.  I  will  go.  Mrs.  Dr.  Bailey,  Truman  Smith. 
No  answer  to  bell.  Cards. 

Well !  I  am  through,  not  being  able  to  recollect  some  half  dozen  calls  forgotten 
so  soon.  Came  home  at  three,  found  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Winslow.  Stacks  of  cards 
that  I  have  not  yet  taken  from  the  basket  to  look  at.  Visitors  came  in  until  din¬ 
ner.  General  Cass  and  Charles  Sumner  came  in  during  dinner.  Blatchford  — 
Simonton  —  Truman  Smith.  Eleven  o’clock.  New  Year  finished. 

I  would  not  have  you  think  that  I  did  not  call  at  the  old  mansion  of  John 
Quincy  Adams.  I  found  Mrs.  A.  and  her  daughter  Lousia.  I  called  also  at 
Mrs.  Guthrie’s  and  at  Jefferson  Davis’,  etc.,  etc. 

January  4,  1854. 

We  had  in  the  Senate  to-day  the  preliminaries  of  a  controversy,  that  is  to 
come  off  in  a  week  or  so,  between  General  Cass  and  Mr.  Clayton,  on  the  Nic¬ 
aragua  Treaty. 

Mr.  Sartiges  called  in  this  evening  and  spent  an  hour  with  me  alone.  He  is 
a  very  pleasant  and  well-informed  Frenchman. 

Mr.  Douglas  has  introduced  a  bill  for  organizing  the  Nebraska  Territory, 
going  as  far  as  the  Democrats  dare,  toward  abolishing  that  provision  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  which  devoted  all  the  new  regions  purchased  from 
France,  north  of  the  line  of  3(5°  30’,  to  freedom.  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Clay 
went  for  the  Compromise  of  1850,  upon  the  ground  that  the  11  Wilmot  Proviso  ” 
was  established  in  Nebraska,  and  all  the  region  I  have  mentioned,  while  the 
climate  would  protect  Utah  and  New  Mexico.  I  shall  do  my  duty  in  this 
matter.  Everett  was  on  the  Douglas  Committee,  and  says  he  objected.  I 
would  not  have  been  allowed  to  be  there. 

I  am  heart-sick  of  being  here.  I  look  around  me  in  the  Senate  and  find  all  de¬ 
moralized.  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont  !!! 
All,  all  in  the  hands  of  the  slave-holders;  and  even  New  York,  ready  to  howl  at 
my  heels,  if  I  were  only  to  name  the  name  of  freedom,  which  once  they  loved 
so  much. 


1854.] 


THE  NEBRASKA  BILL. 


217 


To-night  I  went  home  with  Colonel  Benton,  and  from  his  house  over  to 
Mrs.  Fremont’s.  She  occupies  the  house  in  which  Secretary  Stewart  lived  last 
year.  Her  husband  is  exploring  the  California  railway.  She  is  a  noble-spirited 
woman.  Has  much  character.  I  am  sure  you  would  like  her.  She  is  very 
outspoken. 

We  have  news  to-night  of  the  illness  of  Edwin  Croswell,  of  hopeless  paraly¬ 
sis.  I  feel  for  his  family.  Do  you  know  that  I  had  apprehended  this?  Edwin 
Curtis  too !  Such  events  admonish  me  that  I  have  lived  a  good  and  reasonable 
life-time. 

As  these  letters  indicate,  the  cloud  was  beginning  to  appear  in  the 

political  horizon,  at  first  “no  larger  than  a  man’s  hand,”  but  rapidly 

*  § 

gathering  blackness  and  destined  soon  to  overspread  the  heavens. 

The  bill  to  organize  the  Territory  of  Nebraska  was  subsequently 

amended  so  as  to  provide  for  two  new  territorial  governments,  instead  of 

one.  Its  discussion  and  modification  in  committees  and  caucuses,  and 

the  casual  allusions  to  it'  in  the  newspapers,  had  as  yet  aroused  no 

popular  feeling,  but  Seward  already  perceived  its  drift  and  purpose. 

He  wrote  to  Weed: 

You  see  this  infamous  Nebraska  Bill.  It  is  an  Administration  move. 
The  “  Hards  ”  fall  into  the  trap,  as  is  quite  too  customary.  Is  it  not  possible 
to  put  the  “  Hards  ”  in  New  York,  on  some  better  or  different  ground?  Husk 
and  Houston  will  oppose  the  bill  on  the  ground  of  the  danger  of  its  turning 
the  Indians  of  Nebraska  down  into  Texas.  The  clause  in  the  bill  protecting 
Indians  in  their  rights  of  property  is  an  equivoque,  to  cover  the  slaves  the  In¬ 
dians  own,  and  so  to  sanction  slavery  by  implication. 

January  8. 

I  have  just  had  a  long  conversation  with  Colonel  Benton.  He  says  we  can 
save  ourselves  from  Douglas’  bill  if  the  Northern  States  will  remonstrate  in 
public  meetings  and  in  legislative  resolutions,  and  he  desires  that  such  pro¬ 
ceedings  shall  be  had.  I  submit  it  for  your  consideration.  I  have  a  hope 
that  we  may  get  up  a  division  in  the  South  on  the  subject,  and  perhaps  draw 
Clayton  out  to  lead  an  opposition  to  “  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.” 
That  is  the  word. 

January  13. 

This  Administration  goes  in  for  Cuba,  cost  what  it  may,  and  within  its  own 
life-time.  So  slavery  is  wrapping  us  in  its  black  folds,  and  yet  the  Northern 
people  are  wrangling  about  foreigners  and  licenses  and  street  preaching. 

Writing  to  Mrs.  Seward,  he  said  : 

January  29. 

Last  evening  I  dined  at  Colonel  Benton’s  with  his  daughters  and  other  ladies 
and  the  representatives  from  Missouri.  It  was  a  genial  party. 

The  great  news  of  the  day  I  suppose  you  have  anticipated.  The  “  Hards,” 
finding  fault  with  Douglas’  equivocations  in  his  first  bill,  insisted  on  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Douglas  conferred  last  Sunday  with  the  Cabinet 


218 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE. 


[1854. 


and  the  matter  resulted  in  an  unanimous  agreement  to  concede  the  demand,  and 
to  put  the  bill  right  through,  before  the  country  could  be  aroused,  and  so  silence 
agitation  of  freedom  by  leaving  no  more  ground  for  slavery  to  demand.  A 
week’s  delay  or  postponement  was  conceded  in  the  Senate,  and  within  that 
time  the  Whig  and  Administration  (‘‘Soft  ”)  press  throughout  the  State  of 
New  York  rebelled  altogether.  The  “  Hards,”  while  pushing  on  the  measure 
for  the  purpose  of  ruining  the  Softs,”  equally  repudiate  the  iniquitous  scheme, 
and  so  New  York  presents  an  undivided  hostility,  and  in  this  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Ohio  concur.  I  dare  not  speculate  yet  on  the  consequences. 

Public  attention  was  beginning  to  be  aroused,  now  that  the  bill  in 
its  modified  form  had  been  reported  by  Mr.  Douglas  from  the  Terri¬ 
torial  Committee.  It  was  gradually  dawning  upon  the  public  mind 
that  this  bill  “to  organize  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas,” 
was  in  reality  a  bold  attempt  to  open  to  slavery  the  whole  region  be¬ 
tween  Missouri  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  which  had  been  formally 
and  “  forever  ”  secured  to  freedom.  Evidently  the  Administration  and 
the  Congress  which  had  come  into  power  as  the  especial  defenders  of 
‘•Compromise,”  would  treat  “Compromises”  as  binding  in  favor  of 
slavery,  but  as  null  and  void  against  it. 

Seward  wrote  on  January  28  to  the  New  York  meeting,  held  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  his  suggestion,  “  to  protest  against  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.”  In  his  letter  he  recalled  the  history  of  the 
Compromise  of  1850,  and  said  : 

It  is  quite  clear  that  if  we  had  maintained  our  ground  on  the  laws  of  free¬ 
dom,  which  then  protected  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  we  should  not  now  have 
been  attacked  in  our  stronghold.  Nebraska  is  not  all  that  is  to  be  saved  or 
lost.  We  who  thought  only,  so  lately  as  1849,  of  securing  some  portion  at  least 
of  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  all  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  institutions 
of  freedom,  will  be,  before  1857,  brought  to  a  doubtful  struggle  to  prevent  the 
extension  of  slavery  to  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  Puget  Sound. 

February  4. 

I  am  hearing  a  speech  from  Mr.  Dixon  of  Kentucky,  on  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  which  presses  very  hard,  by  means  of  its  argument, 
that  it  is  not  the  South ,  by  its  representatives  here,  that  demand  this  conces¬ 
sion.  He  has  closed  at  two  o’clock  on  Saturday,  and  the  Senate  refuses  to 
adjourn,  to  give  Wade  time  to  speak  on  Monday. 

February  G. 

I  am  well.  Just  begun  to  prepare  my  speech  on  Nebraska  amid  a  thousand 
cares.  They  mean  to  force  the  debate  through  without  allowing  time  for 
preparation.  Excuse  me,  for  perhaps  three  or  four  days,  for  brevity. 

February  9. 

I  have  omitted  to  write  you  one  or  two  days,  having  been  pressed  by  this 
Nebraska  outrage. 


1854.J 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE. 


219 


Truman  Smith  is  making  a  very  fine  speech,  with  a  good  many  happy  hits. 
What  a  beautiful  article  that  is  in  the  Journal ,  of  Fred’s,  “  The  Nebraska  Al¬ 
legory.” 

February  12. 

This  nefarious  Nebraska  Bill  is  a  mighty  subject.  It  has  required  research 
and  meditation,  while  this  is  no  place,  nor  is  there  time  here  for  either.  I 
have  had  to  marshal  opposition  and  to  prepare  for  my  own  work  at  the  same 
time.  Yesterday  I  hoped  to  have  to  myself.  The  street  door-bell  rang  every 
five  minutes,  and  there  were  friends  and  associates  at  all  times  who  could  not 
be  put  aside.  I  am  not  through  yet,  but  I  see  through.  It  will  be  some  days 
before  I  break  cover,  and  then  there  will  be  one  long  howl,  or  I  mistake  the 
hounds  much. 

February  14. 

We  have  spring  here.  The  snow-birds  have  left  their  P.  P.  C’s.  The  shad 
offer  themselves  for  a  dollar. 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  Rochester  “  Silver  Gray  ”  paper  is  abusing  me  for  not 
speaking  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  1  like  that ! 

Sumner  has  a  magnificent  speech  which  he  thinks  he  will  get  off  on  Monday 
next.  It  is  uncertain  when  I  shall  take  the  floor.  I  wait  until  I  am  wanted. 

February  16. 

We  have  exhausted  all  our  force  now,  except  a  speech  from  Sumner,  and 
one  from  myself.  Mr.  Badger  is  pleading  specially  for  the  repeal  of  the  Mis¬ 
souri  Compromise,  and  alas!  John  M.  Clayton  is  preparing  to  follow. 

I  think  Sumner  will  have  the  floor  on  Monday,  and  I  may  have  to  wait  my 
turn  later  in  the  week,  perhaps  the  week  after.  We  have  no  longer  any  bond 
to  Southern  Whigs. 

On  the  following  day  he  gained  the  floor  and  made  his  argument 
“for  Freedom  and  Public  Faith.”  The  first  portion  of  it  was  de¬ 
voted  to  a  history  of  the  gradual  development  of  slavery,  and  of  the 
successive  Compromises,  including  that  of  1820,  which  it  was  now  pro¬ 
posed  to  abrogate.  Of  this  he  said : 

Slavery  and  Freedom  were  active  antagonists  then  seeking  for  ascendancy  in 
the  Union.  Both  Slavery  and  Freedom  are  more  vigorous,  active,  and  self-ag¬ 
grandizing  now  than  they  were  then.  The  contest  between  them  has  been  only 
protracted,  not  decided .  It  will  be  a  great  feature  in  our  national  hereafter. 

He  then  proceeded  to  consider  in  succession  the  arguments  advanced 
in  support  of  the  bill;  that  it  was  only  preserving  a  proper  equilibrium 
between  free  and  slave-holding  States;  that  few  slaves  would  go  to  the 
new  region;  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  already  abrogated  by 
the  Compromise  of  1850;  that  it  was  not  abrogated  by  it,  but  was  in¬ 
consistent  with  it;  that  those  who  opposed  Compromise  in  1850, 
ought  not  to  object  to  the  abrogation  of  a  Compromise  now;  that  the 
free  States  had  already  forfeited  their  rights  under  the  Missouri  Com- 


220 


AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  AUTHORS. 


[1854. 


promise  by  refusing  to  extend  the  line  of  36°  30'  to  the  Pacific;  that 
the  bill  abolished  an  arbitrary  geographical  line,  and  submitted  the 
question  of  free  or  slave  to  the  people  of  the  Territories;  that  this  was  (he 
true  democratic  principle  of  “  popular  sovereignty;'’  that  slave  States 
could  not  be  expected  to  stand  by  the  rights  of  free  States  when  the 
free  States  refused  to  stand  by  them  themselves;  that  they  ought 
not  to  be  expected  to  refuse  concessions  offered  by  Northern  men;  that 
public  opinion  had  not  expressed  any  disapprobation  of  the  measure, 
etc.,  etc.  He  combated  these  various  pleas,  and  endeavored  to  show 
their  fallacy. 

There  was  a  scene  almost  dramatic  when  he  answered  the  theory 
about  the  Compromise  of  1850,  by  appealing  directly  to  its  authors: 

I  appeal  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Michigan  (Mr.  Cass),  than  whom 
none  performed  a  more  distinguished  part  in  establishing  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  whether  he  so  intended  or  understood.  I  appeal  to  the  honorable  and 
candid  Senator,  the  senior  representative  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  Bell),  who  per¬ 
formed  a  distinguished  part  also.  Did  he  so  understand  the  Compromise  of 
1850?  He  is  silent.  I  appeal  to  the  gallant  Senator  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Shields). 
He,  too,  is  silent.  I  now  throw  dowTn  my  gauntlet  at  the  feet  of  every  Sena¬ 
tor,  now  here,  who  was  in  the  Senate  in  1850,  and  challenge  him  to  say  that 
he  knew,  or  thought,  or  dreamed,  that  by  enacting  the  Compromise  of  1850, 
he  was  directly  or  indirectly  abrogating,  or  in  any  degree  impairing,  the  Mis¬ 
souri  Compromise?  No  one  takes  it  up! 

If  it  were  not  irreverent,  I  would  dare  to  call  up  the  author  of  both  the  Com¬ 
promises  in  question,  from  his  honored,  though  yet  scarcely  grass-covered 
grave,  and  challenge  any  advocate  of  this  measure  to  confront  that  imperious 
shade,  and  say  that,  in  making  the  Compromise  of  1850,  Henry  Clay  intended 
or  dreamed  that  he  was  subverting  or  preparing  the  wray  for  a  subversion  of 
his  greater  work  of  1820?  Sir,  if  that  spirit  is  yet  lingering  here  over  the 
scene  of  its  mortal  labors,  it  is  now  moved  with  more  than  human  indignation 
against  those  who  are  perverting  its  last  great  public  act. 

And  that  other  proud  and  dominating  Senator,  wTho,  sacrificing  himself, 
gave  the  aid  wfithout  which  the  Compromise  of  1850  could  not  have  been  es¬ 
tablished  —  the  statesman  of  New7  England  and  the  orator  of  America  —  who 
dare  assert  here,  wdiere  his  memory  is  yet  fresh,  that  he  intended  or  dreamed 
that  in  consequence  of  that  transaction  the  Missouri  Compromise  wrould  or 
could  ever  be  abrogated. 

A  murmur  ran  round  the  galleries,  and  significant  looks  were  ex¬ 
changed  on  the  floor  when  no  one  rose  to  reply.  A  smile  was  excited 
by  his  description  of  the  various  and  conflicting  pleas,  preambles,  and 
apologies  with  which  the  bill  had  come  before  the  Senate.  He  said: 

Look  at  any  other  bill  now  on  your  calendar.  Examine  all  the  laws  on  your 
statute  books.  Do  you  find  any  one  bill  or  statute  which  ever  came  bowdng, 
stooping,  and  wrriggling  into  the  Senate,  pleading  an  excuse  for  its  clear  and 


1854.] 


PARTY  TIES  LOOSENED. 


221 


explicit  declaration  of  the  sovereign  and  irresistible  will  of  the  American 
people? 

As  to  the  pretense  that  the  measure  was  in  the  interest  of  “peace,” 
and  to  finally  end  agitation,  he  said: 

Senators  from  the  non-slaveholding  States:  You  want  peace.  Think  well, 
I  beseech  you,  before  you  yield  the  price  now  demanded,  even  for  peace  and 
rest  from  slavery  agitation.  France  has  got  peace  from  republican  agitation, 
by  a  similar  sacrifice.  So  has  Poland;  and  so,  at  last,  has  Ireland.  Is  the 
peace  which  either  of  those  nations  enjoys,  worth  the  price  it  cost?  Is  peace 
obtained  at  such  cost  ever  a  lasting  peace?  Senators  from  the  slave -holding 
States:  You,  too,  suppose  that  you  are  securing  peace,  as  well  as  victory,  in 
this  transaction.  I  tell  you  now,  as  I  told  you  in  1850,  you  buried  the  “  Wil- 
mot  Proviso  ”  here,  then,  and  celebrated  its  obsequies  with  pomp  and  revelry. 
And  here  it  is  again,  to-day,  stalking  through  these  halls  clad  in  complete 
steel,  as  before.  Even  if  those  whom  you  denounce  as  factionists  in  the  North 
would  let  it  rest,  you,  yourselves,  must  evoke  it  from  its  grave. 

And  in  conclusion,  again  reiterating  the  doctrine  by  which  he  had 
given  such  offense: 

The  slavery  agitation  you  deprecate  so  much  is  an  eternal  struggle  between 
conservatism  and  progress;  between  truth  and  error;  between  right  and 
wrong.  You  may  sooner,  by  act  of  Congress,  compel  the  sea  to  suppress  its 
upheavings,  and  the  round  earth  to  extinguish  its  internal  fires.  You  may 
legislate,  and  abrogate,  and  abnegate,  as  you  will,  but  there  is  a  Superior 
Power  that  overrules  all;  that  overrules  not  only  all  your  actions,  and  all  your 
refusals  to  act,  but  all  human  events,  to  the  distant,  but  inevitable  result  of 
the  equal  and  universal  liberty  of  all  men. 

He  wrote  home  on  the  day  following: 

February  18. 

I  do  not  know  how  wTell  or  ill  I  have  done  this  necessary  work,  for  I  have 
not  yet  read  the  speech  as  a  whole.  But  the  measure  of  success  which  shall 
crown  our  exertions  must  depend,  now,  as  heretofore,  on  the  fidelity  with 
which  the  people,  whom  we  represent,  shall  adhere  to  the  principles  which 
are  the  foundation  of  their  own  greatness. 

An  appeal  to  the  people  by  the  independent  Democrats  in  Congress 
was  published,  signed  by  Chase  and  Sumner  of  the  Senate,  Giddings, 
Gerrit  Smith,  and  others  of  the  House,  entering  their  protest  against 
the  measure.  Soon  the  whole  press  of  the  country  was  engaged  in 
animated  discussion  of  the  subject.  Meetings  were  held  North  and 
South.  The  “agitation”  spread  rapidly.  Already  there  began  to  be 
signs  that  it  would  lead  to  the  loosening  of  party  ties  and  the  melting 
away  of  party  lines.  One  Southern  Whig  Senator  declared,  “'Upon 
the  question  of  slavery,  I  know  no  Whiggery,  and  I  know  no  Dem¬ 
ocracy.  I  am  a  pro-slavery  man.”  Others  uttered  similar  sentiments. 


222 


“NEBRASKA  ”  AND  “ANTI-NEBRASKA.” 


[1854. 


On  the  other  hand  at  the  North,  anti-slavery  Whig  and  “Free  Soil” 
Democrats  found  themselves  not  only  drawn  but  driven  together. 
“  Nebraska”  and  “  Anti-Nebraska”  men  soon  began  to  be  recognized 
terms  of  distinction.  The  bill  had  a  pretense  of  “  Popular  Sover¬ 
eignty,”  and  was  defended  by  its  advocates  as  merely  intending  to 
leave  the  slavery  question  to  be  settled  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Terri¬ 
tories  themselves.  But  even  this  pretense  was  dissipated  when  it  was 
seen  that  the  slave-holders  on  the  border  of  the  new  Territories  were 
already  organizing  an  armed  “emigration”  to  go  in  and  take  pos¬ 
session,  keeping  the  “  Free  Soilers”  out  by  force  of  arms.  Douglas, 
as  the  introducer  of  the  bill,  made  an  aggressive  speech  in  its  favor, 
and  was  followed  by  Chase  in  earnest  opposition  to  it.  Seward^s  letters 
home  adverted  to  incidents  of  the  debate: 

So  far  the  friends  of  the  measure  do  not  affect  to  despise  my  attack  upon  it, 
and  all  my  friends  seem  very  sincere  in  speaking  well  of  it.  I  may  venture 
to  tell  you  that  some  happy  spell  seemed  to  myself  to  have  come  over  me  and 
to  have  enabled  me  to  speak  with  more  freedom  and  ease  than  on  any  former 
occasion  here. 

February  19. 

I  find  the  reports  of  the  reception  of  my  speech  at  the  North  all  I  could  have 
desired.  I  have  letters  from  Draper,  Ruggles,  and  others,  and  among  them, 
how  strange!  Edward  Croswell,  written  with  a  hand  recovering  from  paral¬ 
ysis.  The  remonstrances  are  coming  down  upon  us  as  if  a  steady  but  strong 
North  wind  was  rattling  through  the  country.  What  you  have  so  long  wished 
for  has  come  around  at  last.  The  Whigs  of  the  North  are  separated  from  the 
Whigs  of  the  South,  and  happily,  by  the  act  of  the  latter,  not  of  the  former. 
The  storm  that  is  rising  is  such  an  one  as  this  country  has  never  vet  seen.  God 
grant  that  it  may  leave  us  a  united,  and  a  more  free  and  virtuous  people ! 

Seward's  remark  as  to  the  outcry  his  sp>eech  would  rouse  was  not 
mistaken.  The  “loud  and  long  howl  from  the  hounds”  duly  fol¬ 
lowed  his  “breaking  cover:1”  The  vocabulary  of  vituperation  was 
again  ransacked  for  adjectives  and  epithets  strong  enough  to  denounce 
the  “treason”  of  the  New  York  Senator  who  persisted  in  believing 
that  there  was  “  a  Superior  Power  ”  that  overrules  acts  of  Congress, 
and  an  “eternal  struggle”  between  freedom  and  slavery,  notwith¬ 
standing  it  had  been  voted  at  the  election  that  there  was  not  any. 
But  the  echo  from  the  other  side  was  also  loud.  Remonstrances,  let¬ 
ters,  petitions,  and  resolutions  against  the  Nebraska  Bill  came  pouring 
in  by  every  mail.  They  came  from  New  York,  Albany,  Syracuse, 
Rochester,  and  Buffalo,  and  all  the  minor  cities  of  the  State.  They 
came  from  the  counties  in  the  Southern  tier  and  on  the  Northern  bor¬ 
der,  from  meetings  held  in  village  school-houses  and  in  country 
churches.  Many  were  sent  to  Seward  from  States  or  districts  repre- 


1854.] 


the  “ Nebraska” 


DEBATE. 


223 


sented  by  Democratic  Congressmen.  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Iowa, 
and  Wisconsin  contributed  their  remonstrances.  Hardly  a  morning 
passed  that  he  did  not  rise  and,  pointing  to  accumulated  piles  of  such 
protests  on  his  desk,  present  them  to  the  Senate  which,  on  motion  of 
some  pro-slavery  Senator,  summarily  laid  them  on  the  table.  The 
Legislature  of  New  York  sent  him  its  resolutions,  dignified  and  em¬ 
phatic,  but  they  shared  the  same  fate.  New  England  Senators 
received  similar  missives  from  their  constituents. 

Mr.  Everett  presented  a  memorial  from  Worcester,  headed  by  Gov¬ 
ernors  Davis  and  Lincoln,  besides  a  number  from  clergymen,  colleges, 
and  Quaker  meetings. 

Seward's  letters  continued: 

I  am  in  the  Senate  listening  to  a  terribly  scathing  speech  from  Wade.  I 
wish  you  could  be  here.  It  is  rich  in  the  extreme.  I  hope  that  Wade  will 
draw  out  a  fire  from  the  sullen  adversary. 

February  21. 

We  are  snowed  under.  The  ground  is  covered  with  a  mantle  eighteen 
inches  thick. 

Mr.  Sumner’s  fame  has  gathered  a  bright  array  of  ladies  in  the  gallery;  and 
■we  are  waiting  for  him  to  begin. 

February  22. 

Sumner’s  speech  was  very  brilliant,  magnificent,  and  effective.  He  came  to 
dine  with  me  after  it.  I  am  at  work  on  my  arrears  of  correspondence.  The 
letters  constitute  a  great  heap. 

February  24. 

Mr.  Fessenden,  a  new  Whig  Senator  from  Maine,  has  arrived,  and  strengthens 
our  little  corps  of  slavery-opposing  Senators.  Mr.  Toombs  of  Georgia  “anni¬ 
hilated  ”  me  yesterday,  so  that  which  is  addressing  you  to-day  is  only  my 
shade.  It  was  “no  go.”  The  times  are  changed.  The  galleries  in  Wash¬ 
ington,  and  the  conservative  influences  here,  and  in  Baltimore,  are  with  us. 
Kindness  beams  on  a  thousand  faces  which  were  once  rigid  as  iron. 

February  25. 

The  debate  in  the  Senate  has  passed  over  to  the  Democrats,  and,  as  usual, 
it  has  turned  into  a  protracted  meeting,  in  which  each  Senator  falls  to,  and 
lustily  abuses  me,  as  if  I  had  not  a  right  to  oppose  this  absurd  and  atrocious 
party  measure,  or  as  if  I  had  assailed  its  friends,  instead  of  combating  their 
arguments. 

I  listened  on  Thursday  to  Toombs’  violent  harangue,  and  yesterday  to  Butler 
in  a  similar  one.  To-day  I  remained  at  home,  to  attend  to  my  correspondence, 
and  now  I  learn  that  two  Senators,  of  whom  I  have  never  taken  any  notice 
personally,  have  been  haranguing  against  me,  from  one  till  six  o’clock.  Well, 
let  them  go  on.  The  whole  city  is  in  a  wild  state  of  idle  speculation  upon  the 
fall  and  fate  of  Pierce  and  Douglas,  and,  of  course,  upon  what  I  am  to  be ,  to 


224 


THE  NEBRASKA  BILL  IN  THE  SENATE. 


[1854. 


do ,  and  to  suffer.  I  shall  suffer  without  fear,  -whatever  comes.  I  shall  do  no 
more,  and  I  shall  be,  hereafter,  just  what  I  have  been,  and  what  I  am. 

The  probability  of  his  becoming  a  presidential  candidate  was  already 
a  theme  with  the  newspapers  and  politicians.  It  was  a  subject,  how¬ 
ever,  that  he  was  always  unwilling  to  write,  or  talk  abou,t.  He  wrote 
to  Weed: 

I  send  you  A.  B.  Dickinson’s  letter.  All  that  concerns  this  subject  belongs 
to  your  province,  and  I  leave  it  there,  not  expecting  nor  desiring  that  you 
shall  consult  me  about  it  at  all.  I  have  quite  forgotten  to  care  about  a  future. 

February  28. 

We  have  had  a  dull  day  in  the  Senate,  two  dull  speeches  from  Northern 
Senators  in  favor  of  the  Nebraska  Bill.  The  fire-eaters  have  been  abusing  me 
personally  in  debate,  for  the  last  two  or  three  days,  and  are  very  much  disap¬ 
pointed  that  I  am  not  disturbed. 

Early  in  March,  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  pressed  in  the  Senate  to  a 
third  reading,  and  a  vote.  Seward  wrote  on  that  day: 

March  8. 

Heaven  be  thanked  that  since  this  cup  of  humiliation  cannot  be  passed,  the 
struggle  of  draining  it  is  nearly  over!  We  sat  yesterday  till  nine  o’clock.  It 
was  a  painful  and  disgraceful  scene.  Southern  men  were  imperious,  and 
Northern  men  abetted  them.  Personalities  disgraced  the  advocates  of  the 
bill.  There  is  no  longer  dignity  or  honor  in  serving  our  country  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  This  triumph  of  slavery,  the  greatest  and  the  worst,  is 
the  consummation  of  thirty-four  years  of  compromise.  The  struggle  will  go 
on,  but  it  will  be  a  struggle  (after  a  little)  of  the  whole  American  people. 
Southern  men  begin  to  talk  about  repealing  the  prohibition  of  the  African 
slave  trade.  It  would  be  no  more  surprising  to  me  to  see  that  done  than  it  is 
to  see  what  I  am  now  seeing.  We  are  told  that  the  Nebraska  debate  is  to 
close  to-day. 

March  5. 

We  sat  in  the  Senate  on  Friday  night  until  five  o’clock  on  Saturday  morn¬ 
ing,  and  you  know  the  sad  result.  It  was  humiliating. 

When  the  vote  was  taken  it  stood  37  for  the  bill  and  only  14  against 
it.  All  the  pro-slavery  men  and  many  of  the  Compromisers  of  1850, 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  voted  to  abrogate  the  Compromise  of  1820. 
The  opposition  was  small  in  numbers,  but  significant  in  character. 
Made  up  of  divers  hitherto  incongruous  elements,  it  foreshadowed  the 
re-adjustment  of  parties  which  followed  soon  after.  Six  were  North¬ 
ern  Whigs —  Fessenden,  Fish,  Foot,  Seward,  Smith,  and  Wade.  Four 
were  Northern  Democrats  —  Dodge,  Hamlin,  James,  and  Walker. 
Two,  Chase  and  Sumner,  had  been  chosen  as  distinctively  anti-slavery 
men.  One  Southern  Whig  and  one  Southern  Democrat,  Bell  of  Ten- 


1854.] 


EDWARD  EVERETT. 


225 


nessee  and  Houston  of  Texas,  made  up  the  fourteen.  And  then,  after 
a  continuous  sitting  of  seventeen  hours,  the  Senate  adjourned. 

It  was  noticed  that  Mr.  Everett  and  Mr.  Clayton  did  not  vote.  Had 
they  been  present, the  former  would  have  voted  against,  the  latter  for, 
the  bill.  Seward  wrote: 

March  9. 

Mr.  Everett  is  very  unhappy.  He  thought  that  the  Senate  would  not  come 
to  a  vote  on  Saturday  morning,  and  went  home  to  bed.  The  press  everywhere 
charge  him  with  dodging.  He  came  into  the  Senate  when  it  next  met  (yester¬ 
day),  and  made  an  explanation  and  asked  leave  to  vote.  A  single  objection 
prevented.  He  appealed  to  me  from  the  Tribune.  By  arrangement  with  him, 
I  drew  up  a  statement,  and  had  it  signed  by  all  the  Northern  Whigs  for  pub¬ 
lication. 

March  10. 

It  is  a  bright  and  balmy  spring  morning,  and  the  crocus  has  gilded  the 
borders  of  the  flower  beds  in  the  Capitol  gardens. 

There  is  nothing  new  here.  Mr.  Everett  looks  sad  and  melancholy.  John 
Bell  is  anxious  and  Clayton  is  silent.  It  begins  to  be  realized  here  that  the 
great  issue  between  slavery  and  freedom  is  to  be  hurried  into  a  trial  in  ’56,  and 
slavery  is  not  certain  to  prevail. 

March  11. 

The  elections  at  home  tell,  but  not  yet  very  strongly,  against  Nebraska. 
Would  that  good  men  knew  how  much  importance  is  attached  here  to  any 
sign  that  is  given  by  the  country ! 

March  12. 

Yesterday  the  Senate  did  not  sit.  I  wrote  until  four  o’clock,  slept  till  five, 
and  walked  to  Mr.  Corcoran’s  to  dinner. 

There  are  hopes  and  misgivings  about  the  fate  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  in  the 
House,  and  hopes  and  misgivings  about  the  action  of  the  country  upon  it. 
Mr.  Everett  is  worried  about  his  mishaps  and  the  uncharitableness  of  the  press. 

Mr.  Everett’s  opportunity  came  a  few  days  later,  when  he  rose  to 
present  a  solemn  protest  against  the  Nebraska  Bill,  signed  by  New 
England  clergymen.  He  remarked,  in  doing  so,  that  there  were  3,800 
of  all  sects  and  denominations  in  New  England,  and  this  memorial 
had  been  signed  by  3,050  of  them.  This  protest  brought  an  angry 
outburst  from  the  Nebraska  side.  Irate  Senators  seemed  to  have  no 
other  reply  than  to  abuse  the  clergymen,  which  they  did  roundly. 
They  were  accused  of  “atrocious  falsehoods,”  “atrocious  calumny,” 
“desecration  of  the  pulpit,”  “prostituting  the  sacred  desk,”  and 
plunging  into  the  “turbid  pool  of  politics”  in  exchange  for  the 
“stagnant  waters  of  theology.”  Seward,  of  course,  defended  the 
memorial  and  the  memorialists.  He  wrote  home: 

March  15. 

I  shall  send  you  the  Union  containing  Charles  Sumner’s  tilt  at  the  Union. 

15 


226 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


[1854. 


He  took  my  advice  as  usual,  and  as  usual  followed  his  own.  He  owns  upr 
however,  that  he  was  wrong.  So  there  is  some  hope  of  him. 

;  The  news  of  the  New  Hampshire  election  indicates  that  the  Nebraska  Bill  is 
very  odious. 

March  19. 

Friday  night  I  spent  with  the  Bowens  at  the  White  House.  It  was  a  great 
crowd,  filling  up  the  east  room. 

Yesterday,  I  devoted  the  morning  to  a  ride  with  the  Bowens  to  Georgetown 
Heights.  Then  I  came  home  to  find  Sumner.  He  brings  letters  of  congratu¬ 
lation  on  his  speech  for  me  to  read. 

April  10. 

Dr.  Gwin,  amid  much  noise  and  confusion,  rose  to  speak  on  the  Pacific  Rail¬ 
road  Bill.  I  went  near  and  took  a  seat,  but  finding  that  he  was  reading  from 
printed  slips,  I  have  thought  that  I  could  wait  until  the  same  slips  should  be 
joined  together  in  the  columns  of  the  Globe. 

I  attended  church  yesterday  morning  at  Dr.  Butler’s,  and  met  many  friends. 
Truman  Smith  came  to  see  me,  and  we  went  together  to  visit  Wade,  whom 
we  found  profanely  engaged  in  franking  speeches.  I  went  in  the  evening  to 
the  Congregational  Church,  where  I  heard  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  whom  I  had 
never  heard  or  even  seen  before.  It  was  a  noble,  mighty  speech  —  sermon  it 
was  not.  But  I  cannot  describe  it  or  him  in  brief.  He  is  a  man  who  seems, 
in  going  through  a  discourse  of  an  hour,  to  act  a  dozen  different  parts,  from 
the  deepest  tragic  to  the  broad  comic.  To-night,  I  am  to  see  Mrs.  Stowe,  as- 
well  as  Mr.  Beecher,  at  Dr.  Bailey's.  I  do  not  know  when  I  shall  get  to  study, 
or  on  what.  I  have  many  letters  to  answer.  Many  which  must  be  answered, 
chiefly  from  the  clergy  of  all  denominations. 

April  12. 

It  is  a  bright  morning  here.  The  tulips  and  hyacinths  are  in  perfection  in 
*  the  Capitol  grounds. 

Mr.  Beecher  called  yesterday,  and  he  is  to  come  to  dinner  to-day.  The 
congressional  business  is  dull.  The  topic  of  the  day  is  Mr.  Everett’s  reclama¬ 
tion  of  the  Hulseman  letter. 

He  wrote  to  Theodore  Parker  : 

April  14. 

I  congratulate  you  on  the  awakening  of  the  spirit  of  freedom  once  more  in 
the  free  States.  I  do  not  see  when  or  how,  or  by  whom,  it  is  to  be  drugged, 
to  sleep  again.  I  hope  that  you  recognize  in  this  awakening  the  fruit  of  your 
own  great  and  unwearied  labors.  If  you  do  not,  I  am  sure  that  I  do,  and  not 
only  I,  but  thousands  more. 

It  is  among  what  I  reckon  my  misfortunes,  that  I  seem  prevented  from  being 
acquainted  with  you,  and  comparing  opinions  with  you  concerning  the  state 
and  prospects  of  the  cause  in  which  we  are  laboring,  not  far  apart,  but  with 
difference  of  temperament,  perhaps,  and  perhaps  of  hope. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  again  he  wrote  : 

April  21. 

I  met  at  the  President’s,  himself,  and  Mrs.  Pierce,  of  course,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Toombs,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  (new  Senator  from  Mississippi),  Mr.  Cooper, 


1854.] 


WRECK  OF  THE  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


227 


and  others.  Mrs.  Toombs  was  honored  with  the  President’s  arm,  and  they  led 
the  way.  I  was  honored  with  Mrs.  Pierce’s,  as  she  entered  the  room.  The 
great  dining-table  and  dining-room  were  discarded,  because  of  the  failure  of 
so  many  of  the  guests.  The  President  scarcely  spoke  at  all,  and  never  aloud, 
so  as  to  be  heard  across  the  table,  although  he  seemed  well  enough  pleased. 
Mrs.  Pierce  is  a  very  delicate,  and,  in  all  respects,  a  most  intelligent  and 
lovely  woman.  I  believe  this  is  all  the  dinner  afforded  worthy  to  be  remem¬ 
bered  or  told. 

April  23. 

Truman  Smith  wants  you  to  think  of  Mackinaw  and  Lake  Superior  for  your 
summer  sojourn.  Lyman  thinks  Mount  Seward  in  Clinton  county,  the  place. 
All  Nantucket,  I  am  assured,  would  be  open  to  you. 

April  24. 

The  Senate  are  engaged  on  the  everlasting  Gadsden  Treaty.  The  speeches 
are  repetitions  of  the  old  rehearsals,  and  so  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  just  the 
best  time  in  the  whole  day  to  write  my  daily  note  to  you.  Colonel  Benton, 
they  say,  is  making  a  great  Anti-Nebraska  speech  in  the  House.  I  would 
rather  be  there  than  here.  I  am  to-day  to  have  at  dinner,  Fish,  Truman  Smith, 
Wade,  Collamer,  Hunt,  and  the  Anti-Nebraska  Southern  Whigs,  with  Peck- 
ham  and  Cutting,  New  York  “  Hards.’’  Is  not  that  a  party?  It  is  very  warm 
and  the  maple  trees  are  almost  in  leaf. 

I  have  a  long  sad  letter  from  Kossuth,  discussing  the  revolutionary  hopes 
and  prospects  in  Europe. 

The  attention  of  Congress  and  the  country  was  now  so  engrossed 
by  the  Nebraska  Bill,  that  other  measures  received  little  notice.  Sew¬ 
ard  lent  the  aid  of  his  voice  and  vote  to  the  bill  for  granting  lands  in 
the  different  States,  for  the  relief  of  the  indigent  insane  (which  was  a 
favorite  project  of  the  benevolent  Miss  D.  L.  Dix),  and  also  to  postal 
and  other  administrative  reforms.  They,  however,  failed  to  become 
laws. 

A  marine  disaster  had  roused  public  sympathies  a  short  time  before. 
The  steamer  San  Francisco,  which  had  been  chartered  by  the  Govern¬ 
ment,  and  was  carrying  United  States  troops,  was  wrecked  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  with  great  loss  of  life.  Through  the  efforts  of  the  offi¬ 
cers  and  crews  of  some  merchant  vessels,  that  happened  to  be  in  the 
vicinity,  five  hundred  of  the  passengers  of  the  ill-fated  steamer  were 
saved  and  brought  into  port. 

Public  meetings  were  held  in  the  cities,  and  liberal  contributions  were 
made  to  testify  the  popular  appreciation  of  the  bravery  of  the  rescuers. 
Finally  it  was  proposed  that  Congress  should  bestow  upon  them 
medals  of  honor,  besides  a  suitable  pecuniary  reward.  This  latter 
proposition  was  opposed  by  the  more  rigid  economists,  on  the  ground 
that  the  money  raised  by  taxation  ought  not  to  be  expended  in  works 


228 


PASSAGE  OF  THE  NEBRASKA  BILL. 


[1854. 


of  benevolence,  no  matter  how  meritorious.  Seward  warmly  advocated 
the  passage  of  the  whole  resolution,  saying  : 

Let  us  sustain  our  own  character  and  encourage  our  own  seamen,  and  those 
of  all  nations,  to  emulate  the  achievements  of  the  rescuers. 

He  wrote  home: 

April  25. 

Solitude  absolute  in  the  house  is  a  relief  against  the  eternal  publicity  of 
my  vocation  abroad.  The  inquiries  about  what  I  want,  and  what  I  am  to  be 
next,  or  hereafter,  annoy  me,  but  I  will  try  to  bear  with  them.  I  want  to  go 
home  and  rest,  and  repair  and  strengthen  up  my  bark,  and  have  it  in  order 
for  the  time  when  I  must  leave  it  to  be  navigated  by  other  hands. 

They  are  going  to  spring  a  trap  on  the  Nebraska  question. 

April  26. 

Here  is  a  warm  April  day.  The  trees  in  the  Capitol  gardens  are  in  leaf,  the 
ground  is  covered  with  fallen  blossoms,  and  the  air  is  rent  with  vivid  light¬ 
nings  and  hollow  thunders. 

I  send  you  Colonel  Benton’s  speech.  It  is  quaint,  and  yet  very  powerful. 

May,  1854,  was  destined  to  be  a  memorable  month  in  the  history  of 
slavery.  The  House  of  Representatives  passed  the  Nebraska  Bill  by  a 
majority  of  13.  Seward  wrote: 

May  25. 

We  have  now  commenced  the  last  day’s  debate  in  the  Senate,  and  are  to  sit 
it  out.  I  have  need  to  have  my  thoughts  about  me  for  my  last  vindication  of 
freedom ,  which  must  be  pronounced  to-day.  John  Bell  is  replying  in  a  vigor¬ 
ous  manner  to  Mr.  Toombs. 

I  attended  Mr.  Crampton’s  fete  champetre  in  honor  of  the  Queen’s  birthday 
yesterday,  but  have  no  time  now  to  tell  about  it.  It  was  a  very  ^eautiful 
affair.  Lord  Elgin  is  here,  and  I  am  going  to  dine  with  him. 

On  the  26th  of  May  there  was  an  almost  total  eclipse  of  the  sun. 
That  happened  to  be  the  day  when  the  Nebraska  debate,  having  lasted 
through  the  morning  and  into  the  evening,  now  drew  to  its  close. 
When  Seward  took  the  floor,  he  began  by  saying  : 

The  sun  has  set  for  the  last  time  upon  the  guaranteed  and  certain  liberties 
of  all  unsettled  portions  of  the  continent  that  lie  within  the  United  States. 
To-morrow’s  sun  will  rise  in  dim  eclipse  over  them.  How  long  that  obscura¬ 
tion  shall  last  is  known  only  to  the  Power  that  directs  and  controls  all  human 
events.  For  myself,  I  know  only  this,  that  now  no  human  power  will  prevent 
its  coming  on,  and  that  its  passing  off  will  be  hastened  and  secured  by  others 
than  those  now  here. 

The  Senate  floor  is  an  old  battle-ground.on  which  have  been  fought  many 
contests  and  always,  at  least  since  1820,  with  fortune  adverse  to  the  cause  of 
equal  and  universal  freedom.  We  were  only  a  few  here  who  engaged  in  that 
cause  in  the  beginning  of  this  contest.  All  that  we  could  hope  to  do —  all 


1854.] 


A  CHALLENGE. 


229 


that  we  did  hope  to  do  —  was  to  organize  and  to  prepare  the  issue,  and  to 
awaken  the  country,  that  it  might  be  ready  for  the  appeal  which  would  be 
made,  whatever  the  decision  of  Congress  might  be.  We  are  no  stronger  now. 
Only  fourteen  at  the  first,  it  will  be  fortunate,  if  among  the  ills  and  acci¬ 
dents  which  surround  us,  we  shall  maintain  that  number  to  the  end.  We  are 
on  the  eve  of  the  consummation  of  a  great  national  transaction  which  will 
close  a  cycle  in  the  history  of  our  country. 

He  then  proceeded  to  refute  the  various  arguments  adduced  in  sup¬ 
port  of  the  bill.  Again  referring  to  the  conflict  between  slavery  and 
freedom,  he  said: 

Slavery  and  freedom  are  antagonistical  elements  in  this  country.  The 
founders  of  the  Constitution  framed  it  with  a  knowledge  of  that  antagonism 
and  suffered  it  to  continue  that  it  might  work  out  its  own  ends.  There  is  a 
commercial  antagonism,  an  irreconcilable  one  between  the  systems  of  free 
labor  and  slave  labor.  They  have  been  at  war  with  each  other  ever  since  the 
Government  was  established,  and  that  war  is  to  continue  forever. 

But  the  closing  part  of  this  speech,  though  made  in  the  very  hour 
of  the  triumph  of  slavery,  startled  and  surprised  both  parties  by  its 
confident  predictions.  After  describing  the  impending  influx  of 
slave-holders  with  their  “  chattels  ”  into  the  new  Territories  to  compete 
with  free  emigration  of  white  men,  he  added: 

Come  on,  then,  gentlemen  of  the  slave  States !  Since  there  is  no  escaping 
your  challenge,  I  accept  it  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  freedom.  We  will  en¬ 
gage  in  competition  for  the  virgin  soil  of  Kansas,  and  God  give  the  victory  to 
the  side  which  is  stronger  in  number,  as  it  is  in  the  right!  Through  all  the 
darkness  and  gloom  of  the  present  hour,  bright  stars  are  breaking  that  inspire 
me  with  hope  and  excite  me  to  perseverance.  They  show  me  that  the  day  of 
compromises  has  passed  away  forever,  and  that  henceforward  all  great  ques¬ 
tions  between  freedom  and  slavery  shall  be  decided,  as  they  ought  to  be, 
upon  their  merits. 

Finally,  he  admonished  the  Administration  party,  that  from  this 
day  it  would  gradually  begin  to  lose  the  power  it  had  held  so  firmly 
and  so  long.  He  said: 

That  power  will  not  be  restored  until  the  principle  established  here  now  shall 
be  reversed,  and  a  Constitution  shall  be  given,  not  only  to  Kansas  and  Ne¬ 
braska,  but  also  to  every  other  national  territory,  which  will  be  a  Constitu¬ 
tion  securing  equal,  universal,  and  perpetual  freedom. 

General  Cass,  and  Senators  Mason  and  Bayard  followed’in  support 
of  the  bill;  Chase  and  Sumner  in  opposition  to  it;  and  then  the  vote 
was  taken.  The  bill  was  passed,  35  to  13.  As  the  news  spread 
abroad  throughout  the  country,  it  roused  North  and  South  alike  to 
prepare  for  new  contests. 


230 


THE  BOSTON  SLAVE  CASE. 


[1854. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

1854. 

Fugitive  Slave  Case  at  Boston.  “Nebraska”  and  “Anti-Nebraska.”  Old  Parties  Breais- 
ing  Up.  Presidential  Gossip.  Projects  and  Conferences,  State  or  National  Action? 
Birth  of  the  Republican  Party.  “  Emigrant  Aid  Societies.”  Discrimination  Against 
Adopted  Citizens.  Address  at  Yale.  “The  Development  of  the  American  People.” 
At  Saratoga.  Chancellor  Walworth.  The  “Hook-Headed  Spike  Case.”  Summer 
Hotel  Life.  “  Ballston  Spa.”  A  Visit  to  Bemis’  Heights,  The  Elections. 

While  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  renewing  “  agitation  ”  at  Washington, 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  lending  effective  aid  in  the  same  direction^ 
in  Boston.  In  the  case  of  Anthony  Burns,  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
was  enforced  literally  “  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  ”  in  that  “  cradle 
of  liberty"  and  stronghold  of  anti-slavery  opinions.  Intense  indig¬ 
nation  pervaded  the  community.  Public  gatherings  were  held  in  the 
streets.  The  best  legal  talent  was  proffered  for  his  defense,  but  failed 
to  effect  his  release.  An  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  rescue 
him,  and  in  the  melee  a  deputy  marshal  was  killed.  The  Commis¬ 
sioner  having  declared  that  Burns  was  a  slave,  he  was  marched  from 
the  court-house  to  a  revenue  cutter  at  the  wharf,  by  a  detachment  of 
United  States  troops,  assisted  by  Boston  militia.  At  several  points  in 
the  streets,  cannons  were  planted  to  fire  upon  those  who  should  at¬ 
tempt  a  riot  or  rescue;  and  as  further  precaution,  the  court-house  was 
surrounded  by  chains  and  guarded  by  an  armed  police.  This  success¬ 
ful  enforcement  of  the  obnoxious  statute  in  Boston  elated  its  sup¬ 
porters;  but  throughout  New  England  it  was  regarded  as  a  humilia¬ 
tion  that  only  served  to  imbitter  and  strengthen  the  popular  senti¬ 
ment  . 

Seward’s  letters  continued: 

May  28. 

This  morning,  Lord  Elgin  went  with  me  to  church,  and  made  me  a  pleas¬ 
ant  visit. 

The  tables,  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  are  beginning  at  last  to  turn 
against  the  law,  and  in  favor  of  humanity.  There  is  deep  and  painful  sus¬ 
pense  here.  Perhaps,  we  may  have  a  scene  to-morrow  in  the  Senate. 

May  31. 

Our  dinner-party  went  off  very  merrily.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  all  about  it. 
But  such  things  will  not  bear  minute  description.  Mrs.  Fish  honored  me  by 
presiding.  On  her  right  was  Lord  Elgin,  on  her  left  Mr.  Marcy,  Secretary  of 
State.  On  my  right  Mr.  Sartiges,  on  my  left  Mr.  Crampton. 

The  Boston  slave  case  is  making  excitement  among  a  certain  class  of  people 
here,  and  they  are*  indulging  in  menaces. 


1854.] 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


I 


231 


Washington  is  full  of  Presidential  election  polities.  Everybody  is  full  of 
it,  but  I  hardly  know  what  to  write  you  of  all  I  hear,  even  if  it  were  prudent 
to  write  at  all.  I  have  letters  and  communications  of  all  sorts  about  it ;  the 
amount  of  all  which  is,  that  insomuch  as  I  am  too  much  of  an  anti-slavery 
man  to  be  proscribed  by  anti-slavery  men,  and  yet  too  much  of  a  Whig  to  be 
allowed  to  lead,  that  I  am  in  the  way  of  great  movements  to  make  a  Demo¬ 
cratic  Anti- Slavery  party,  under  Colonel  Benton  or  somebody  else,  which 
would  revolutionize  the  government  out  and  out,  through  and  through,  and 
all  at  once. 

Tiien,  again,  I  am  so  important  to  the  Whig  party  that  it  cannot  move  with¬ 
out  me;  but  that  party  (i.  <?.),  the  Webster  part  of  it,  is  so  jaundiced  toward 
me  that  I  am  expected  to  decline  being  a  candidate,  right  off,  and  go  in  for 
some  other  Whig  candidate,  and  so  carry  the  election,  incontinently,  for  the 
Whig  party.  These  different  parties  agree  in  one  thing,  of  course,  that  who¬ 
ever  shall,  bjr  means  of  my  magnanimity,  be  elected  President,  must  have  me 
for  his  chief  counselor,  and  that  I  am  surely  to  succeed  him.  Here  is  a  peep 
behind  the  curtain  for  you.  Is  it  not  a  pretty  view? 

To  Weed  he  wrote: 

May  29. 

The  “  Free  Soilers  ”  here  are  engaged  in  schemes  for  nominating  Colonel 
Benton,  and  dissolving  the  Whig  party.  We  are  to  have  all  manner  of  ab¬ 
surdities  practiced,  and  there  are  not  less  than  half  a  dozen  parties  coming  to 
negotiate  with  me,  as  if  I  were  a  vendor  of  votes.  I  hope  to  get  through 
without  doing  or  saying  any  indiscreet  tilings,  but  it  is  hard  to  escape,  when 
there  are  so  many  gossips. 

It  was  now  becoming  evident  that  neither  the  Whig  party,  nor  the 
Democratic  party,  could  be  relied  on  to  resist  the  encroachments  of 
slavery.  Men  of  various  parties  and  factions,  Whigs,  and  “Free 
Soilers, ”  “  Hards ”  and  “  Softs, ”  and  “  Independent  Democrats 99  found 
themselves  acting  together  as  “Anti-Nebraska  men;  ”  but  without 
organization  or  coherence.  The  times  were  ripe  for  a  new  party. 
A  new  party,  indeed,  had  already  stepped  into  the  political  arena, 
and  was  growing  in  prominence  and  power.  This  was  the  “American” 
or  “Know-Nothing.”  But  it  avoided  the  vital  issue  upon  which 
men  were  dividing,  and  proposed  to  follow  tamely  in  the  wake  of  the 
two  old  parties,  “acquiescing”  in  slavery  extension  and  ignoring 
“  Free  Soil.”  Instead  of  grappling  with  that  question,  it  invited  voters 
to  consider  another  one,  which,  however  well  calculated  to  stir  na¬ 
tional  feeling  or  prejudice,  was  not  one  that  was  pressing  in  any  prac¬ 
tical  form.  Hence  the  crude  projects  and  frequent  conferences,  al¬ 
luded  to  in  Seward's  letters: 

Theodore  Parker  wrote  frequently  and  earnestly  to  Seward,  discuss¬ 
ing  the  political  outlook.  In  one  letter,  he  said: 


232 


LETTERS  TO  THEODORE  PARKER. 


[1854. 


The  nation  must  rouse  itself.  I  want  to  have  a  convention  of  all  the  free 
States,  at  Buffalo,  on  the  4th  of  July  next,  to  consider  the  state  of  the  Union,, 
and  to  take  measures,  first:  to  check;  second:  to  terminate  the  enslavement  of 
men  in  America.  I  wish  you  would  advise  me  iu  this  matter,  for  I  confess  I 
look  to  you  with  a  great  deal  of  confidence  in  these  times  of  such  peril  to 
freedom. 

In  his  answer,  Seward  said: 

Your  letter  met  me  on  my  return  to  this  city,  the  day  before  the  passage  of 
the  Nebraska  Bill  in  the  Senate.  Since  that  letter  was  written,  great  events 
have  occurred,  but  they  were  (all  of  them)  the  consequences  of  the  great  de¬ 
moralization  of  1850,  and  the  action  of  an  Administration,  and  a  Congress, 
elected  under  its  influences.  I  do  not  know,  indeed,  that  we  are  at  the  end 
of  such  actions,  and  consequences,  for  the  Congress  has  another  year,  and  the 
Administration  has  yet  almost  three  years  to  live.  But  I  am  quite  sure  that 
we  are  at  the  beginning  of  a  reactionary  period  in  favor  of  freedom,  and  that 
we  shall  go  on  strongly,  for  a  while.  Let  us  have,  hereafter,  as  we  have  had 
hitherto,  your  vigorous  powers  in  exercise,  to  stir  up  the  fountains  of  public 
virtue,  in  their  lowest  depths.  No  harm,  and  only  good  can  come  from  it. 
Just  so  fast  as  you  can  awaken  the  public  conscience,  just  so  fast  shall  I  be 
willing  to  cooperate  in  the  reforms  it  shall  demand,  until  this  crime  and  curse 
of  slavery  shall  cease. 

I  deplore  the  return  of  that  poor  slave  to  bondage.  I  would  not  have  the 
crime  of  participating  in  it  rest  on  me  for  all  the  power  that  President  or 
Emperor  ever  held.  But  since  it  is  done,  I  can  find  satisfaction  for  it,  iu  the 
humiliation  it  has  brought  upon  Boston  and  Massachusetts.  It  is  a  severe 
cure  for  their  misconduct  in  1850,  which  betrayed  us  all  throughout  the  Union. 
I  trust  that  the  cure  will  be  radical  and  permanent. 

We  are  watching  here  the  development  of  the  further  designs  of  the  slave 
power.  That  is  all  we  can  do.  But  you  can  do  more;  you  can  prepare  the 
public  mind  to  resist  them,  and  to  sustain  us  in  doing  so. 

We  are  not  yet  ready  for  a  great  national  convention  at  Buffalo,  or  else¬ 
where.  It  would  bring  together  only  the  old  veterans.  The  States  are  the 
places  for  activity,  just  now.  They  have  elections  for  Senators  and  Congress¬ 
men  coming  off  in  the  autumn.  I  vote  for  State  gatherings  this  year,  prepara¬ 
tory  to  national  ones  another  year.  Let  us  make  our  power  respected,  as  we 
can,  through  the  elections  in  the  States,  and  then  bring  the  States  into  gen¬ 
eral  council.  . 

The  day  after  the  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  some  thirty  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  House,  chiefly  Northern  Whigs,  held  a  meeting,  at  the  in¬ 
stance  of  Israel  Washburne  of  Maine,  and  agreed  that  the  time  had 
come  to  begin  the  organization  of  a  new  political  party.  As  the  sum¬ 
mer  went  on,  signs  began  to  multiply  that  it  was  not  merely  at  Wash¬ 
ington  that  men  were  thinking  of  party  reconstruction.  After  the 
passage  of  the  bill,  the  feeling  rapidly  spread  among  all  “Anti-Ne- 


1854.]  BIRTH  OF  THE  “  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.”  233 

braska”  men.  It  seemed  to  be  recognized,  as  by  common  consent, 
that,  if  a  new  party  was  to  be  formed;  none  of  the  names  in  recent 
use  would  answer  for  it.  Fortunately  there  was  one,  which  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century  had  been  a  dominant  factor  in  politics;  but 
during  twenty  years  had  fallen  into  disuse;  and  old  questions,  with 
which  it  had  been  associated,  had  almost  died  out  of  popular  memory. 
That  was  the  name  “  Republican.  ” 

As  soon  as  it  was  suggested  that  this  old  name  would  be  a  good  one 
for  the  new  combination  of  political  elements,  it  was  pronounced  un¬ 
objectionable,  even  by  those  who  doubted  the  expediency  of  as  yet 
attempting  a  new  organization.  Soon  there  came  news  of  meetings, 
in  widely  separated  localities,  where  the  name  was  proposed,  or 
adopted.  The  Michigan  “Anti-Nebraska”  men,  who  were  already 
combined,  and  organized,  adopted  the  name  of  “Republicans”  at 
their  Convention.*  A  “Republican”  Committee  was  formally  or¬ 
ganized  in  Wisconsin,  and  a  State  Convention  called.  A  “  Republican” 
Convention  was  held  in  Vermont,  and  another  in  Ohio.  The  “Whigs  ” 
of  New  York,  who  were  in  hearty  sympathy  with  these  movements, 
decided  that  it  would  be  best  to  go  through  their  approaching  election, 
under  their  old  name,  and  with  their  old  organization,  rather  than 
risk  defeat  with  a  new  and  necessarily  imperfect  one.  Equally  grati¬ 
fying  was  the  response  to  the  challenge  to  a  contest  between  free  emi¬ 
gration  and  slave  labor,  for  the  soil  of  Kansas.  Immediately  after 
Seward's  speech,  and  the  passage  of  the  bill,  an  “  Emigrant  Aid  So¬ 
ciety  ”  was  formed  in  Washington.  A  “'New  England  Emigrant  Aid 
Society”  had  already  been  incorporated  in  Massachusetts  under  the 
lead  of  Eli  Thayer.  Other  similar  societies  were  organizing  at  different 
points  m  the  North.  Before  the  end  of  July,  some  of  the  “Free 
State  Emigrants  ”  were  already  on  the  ground. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Pro-Slavery  party  were  not  remiss  in  en¬ 
deavoring  to  promptly  avail  themselves  of  the  new  opportunities  thrown 
open  to  them.  Slave-holders  in  several  States,  especially  Missouri, 
very  early  commenced  preparations  both  for  going  to  Kansas  with 
their  slaves  and  for  checking  the  emigration  of  settlers  from  the  free 
States.  In  Congress,  elated  by  their  triumph  in  carving  new  slave 
States  out  of  the  free  North-west,  they  began  to  arrange  for  bringing 
in  more  new  slave  States  at  the  South-east.  A  plap  was  set  on  foot  to 
obtain  the  island  of  Cuba.  As  a  preliminary  step,  resolutions  were  in¬ 
troduced  looking  to  a  suspension  of  the  neutrality  laws.  These  Seward 
opposed,  and  introduced  a  bill  for  checking  the  African  slave  trade. 


♦July  <5  is  claimed  as  the  birthday  of  the  Republican  party,  at  Jackson,  Michigan.  It 
was  celebrated,  after  twenty-five  years,  in  1879. 


234 


THE  SOUTHERN  WHIGS. 


[1854. 


June  20. 

The  prospect  is  that  we  shall  adjourn  about  the  last  of  August.  The  slavery 
propagandisra  of  the  Administration  develops  itself  so  steadily  and  boldly  as 
to  excite  intense  pain  in  me;  but  I  try  to  forget  it  and  wait  and  labor  on,  un¬ 
sustained  by  sympathy,  among  a  people  who  cannot  be  recalled  from  trivial 
subjects  to  look  deliberately  and  sternly  in  the  face  the  means  adopted  for 
their  own  undoing  by  their  own  agents. 

June  22. 

I  think,  sometimes,  that  you  are  very  fortunate  in  being  safely  moored  in  a 
harbor  where  the  waves  are  undisturbed.  Here,  after  a  month’s  debate  and 
delay,  the  “Anti-Nebraska”  members  have  got  out  a  manifesto  addressed  to 
the  people,  and  certainly  it  is  expressed  with  the  utmost  moderation.  And 
now  the  Southern  Whigs  are  deeply  excited  by  it,  and  so,  to-morrow  or  next 
day,  they  are  to  define  their  positions  and  announce  the  dissolution  of  the 
Whig  party.  I  am  watching  for  this  demonstration,  and  hoping  to  so  guide 
the  reply  as  to  save  to  the  right  side  the  advantages  of  it. 

June  23. 

Our  friends  here  are  becoming  more  reliant  on  my  advice  and  help,  and  more 
tenacious  of  my  appearing  with  them  in  my  votes.  How  do  you  like  my  ad¬ 
dress  of  the  “  Anti-Nebraska”  men? 

June  27. 

Massachusetts,  which  struck  me  down  in  1850  for  advising  that  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  should  not  be  passed,  because  it  would  prove  intolerable,  has  raised 
a  great  commotion  now,  only  four  years  later,  in  the  Senate,  by  demanding  its 
repeal. 

I  hope  to-morrow  to  present  a  brief  argument  for  the  establishment  of  mails 
between  the  United  States  and  China.  The  weather  is  very  hot,  and  study  is 
almost  impossible.  Yale  College  urges  me  to  go  there  on  the  26th,  and  I 
hardly  know  how  to  avoid  it.  And  yet  I  have  not  a  word  prepared  for  them. 

When  the  Homestead  Bill  came  up  in  the  Senate,  amendments 
were  offered  in  accordance  with  the  theories  of  the  “ American  ”  or 
“  Know-Nothing  ”  party,  to  prevent  foreign  immigrants  from  partici¬ 
pating  in  its  benefits.  This  called  out  Seward,  who  opposed  the 
amendments,  and  the  whole  line  of  political  action  of  which  they 
formed  apart.  He  said  that,  in  his  judgment,  instead  of  being  dis¬ 
tinctively  “American,”  “every  thing  is  un-American  which  makes 
a  distinction  of  whatever  kind  between  the  native-born  American  ” 
and  the  one  “who  renounces  his  allegiance  in  a  foreign  land  and 
swears  fealty  to  the  country  which  adopts  him.”  He  inquired:  “  Why 
should  I  exclude  the  foreigner  to-day?  He  is  only  what  every  Ameri¬ 
can  citizen  or  his  ancestor  was  at  some  time  or  other.” 

An  address  which  he  had  promised  to  deliver  before  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society  of  Yale  College  now  demanded  attention.  He  wrote: 


1854.] 


AT  YALE  COLLEGE. 


235 


July  26. 

Here  I  am  in  classic  shades,  waiting  for  night  to  come,  when  I  shall  “speak 
a  speech,”  and  then  go  back  to  Washington.  I  have  lodgings  at  Dr.  Wool- 
sey’s,  the  President  of  the  College,  and  many  kind  friends  and  partisans  around 
me.  The  uprising  of  the  free  spirit  of  the  North  manifests  itself  on  all  occa¬ 
sions. 


The  theme  of  his  discourse  was  “  The  Physical,  Moral,  and  Intel¬ 
lectual  Development  of  the  American  People.”  In  it  he  traced  the 
growth  of  ideas  and  systems  of  government  during  the  colonial  period, 
the  revolutionary  era,  the  Confederation,  and  the  Union,  showing  the 
origin  and  progress  of  each.  He  pointed  out  the  marvelous  strides  by 
which  the  young  republic  had  achieved  its  greatness.  He  showed 
that  while  no  man  had  “planned  or  could  have  foreseen  them  all,  yet 
they  were  the  legitimate  outcome  of  the  early  adoption  of  sound  pub¬ 
lic  policy.”  He  remarked  that,  even  making  allowance  for  favoring 
conditions  of  space,  climate,  and  resources,  “still  the  phenomenon  is 
ehiefly  due  to  the  operation  here  of  some  great  ideas,  either  unknown 
before  or  not  before  rendered  effective.  These  ideas  are,  first,  the 
equality  of  men  constituting  a  State;  secondly,  the  equality  of  States 
constituting  a  Nation.”  He  contrasted  this  with  the  practice  of  other 
empires,  showing  that  in  none  had  these  great  ideas  been  adopted. 
“Colonists  and  subjects  of  conquered  realms  could  not  hope  for  an 
equal  share  in  the  privileges  of  the  parent  State.”  So  it  has  happened 
that  heretofore  nations  have  either  repelled  or  exhausted  or  disgusted 
the  colonies  they  planted  and  the  countries  they  conquered.  The 
United  States,  on  the  contrary,  expand,  not  by  “force  of  arms,  but 
by  attraction.” 


The  native  colonist  no  sooner  reaches  a  new  and  distant  home,  whether  in  a 
cleft  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  or  on  the  sea-sliore,  than  lie  proceeds  to  found  a 
State  in  which  his  natural  and  inalienable  rights  shall  be  secure,  and  which 
shall  become  an  equal  member  of  the  Federal  Union,  enjoying  its  protection 
and  sharing  its  growing  greatness  and  renown. 


Reminding  his  hearers,  in  conclusion,  of  Bolingbroke’s  remark,  that 
“every  nation  must  perpetually  renew  its  Constitution,  or  perish,”  he 
pointed  out  that  just  so  far  as  the  United  States  departed  from  these 
principles,  they  would  encounter  dangers  and  disorders,  and  just  so 
far  as  they  adhered  to  them,  would  they  continue  to  grow  in  greatness. 

On  the  7th  of  August,  the  long  session  came  to  a  close.  Seward 
hastened  North  to  enter  upon  his  professional  labors  at  Saratoga, 


where  Chancellor  Walworth  was  now  holding  court. 

The  Chancellor’s  office  at  “Pine  Grove,”  his  residence  in  Saratoga, 
was  the  scene  of  the  protracted  proceedings  in  the  “  Hook-headed 


236 


THE  HOOK-HEADED  SPIKE  CASE. 


[1854. 


Spike  Case,”  in  which  Seward  was  engaged.  It  was  a  case  in  which 
Burden,  the  great  iron  manufacturer  of  Troy,  had  claimed  damages 
for  the  infringement  of  a  patent,  by  Corning  &  Co.  of  Albany.  The 
Court  had  decided  the  claim  to  be  valid.  But  now  came  the  more 
complex  question:  “How  much  are  the  damages?”  This  question 
had  been  referred  to  Chancellor  Walworth  for  adjudication.  It  in¬ 
volved,  of  course,  inquiry  as  to  how  many  hook-headed  spikes  Corn¬ 
ing  &  Co.  had  made;  what  it  cost  to  make  them;  how  many  had 
been  sold,  and  what  they  had  sold  for;  how  many  Burden  could  have 
made,  and  would  have  sold,  if  Corning  &  Co.  had  not,  etc.,  etc. 

As  the  transactions  of  both  firms  were  enormous,  this  involved  the 
examination  of  voluminous  accounts,  and  of  “a  cloud  of  witnesses;” 
and  a  consequent  attempt  to  reconcile  a  mass  of  conflicting  testimony. 
A  writer  in  Harper’s  Magazine ,  describing  the  Chancellor's  office,  and 
the  counselors  and  clients  therein  gathered,  relates  that: 

Mrs.  Walworth,  once,  in  conversation  with  Governor  Seward,  said:  “I wish 
you  would  explain  what  this  everlasting  spike  suit  is  about;  I  don’t  under¬ 
stand  it.” 

“Indeed,  madam,”  he  replied,  “  I  should  be  very  much  ashamed  if  you  did. 
I  have  been  engaged  in  it  for  several  years,  and  I  don’t  understand  it  yet.” 

Meanwhile  the  Whigs  had  held  their  State  Convention,  adopted 
“  Anti-Nebraska”  resolutions,  nominated  candidates,  and  invited  the 
cooperation  of  all  who  shared  their  desire  to  resist  the  encroach¬ 
ments  of  slavery.  This  brought  together  many,  who  though  not  yet 
prepared  to  shake  off  their  connection  with  the  “  Democratic,” 
“American,”  “Temperance,”  or  other  political  organizations,  yet 
were  ready  to  support  the  “  Fusion  ticket,”  as  it  was  styled,  put 
forth  by  the  Whigs.  A  distinctly  “  Anti-Nebraska  ”  Convention  was 
held  at  Saratoga,  and  adjourned  from  there  to  Auburn.  Resolutions 
were  offered,  approving  the  action  taken  in  the  other  States  toward 
the  formation  of  a  new  party.  It  was  deemed  advisable  for  New 
York,  however,  to  maintain  the  Whig  organization  during  the  pend¬ 
ing  election.  The  “Know-Nothing”  presses  and  meetings  were  de¬ 
nouncing  Seward's  recent  speech,  which,  however,  was  only  a  new 
enunciation  of  doctrines  for  which  they  had  assailed  him  before. 
The  fact  that  his  senatorial  term  would  expire  in  March,  and  that 
the  Legislature  to  be  elected  this  fall  would  choose  his  successor,  lent 
additional  vigor  to  their  efforts  in  the  various  districts. 

He  wrote: 

The  Convention  has  done  wisely,  and  hastened  the  success  of  our  prin¬ 
ciples,  in  this  State,  and  in  all  free  States,  I  think.  The  signs  of  the  times 


1854.] 


ON  BEMIS’  HEIGHTS. 


237 


are  most  cheering.  The  “Know-Nothing”  bubble  is  the  only  occasion  of 
alarm ;  and  that  alarm  threatens  only  me.  To  that  I  am  indifferent. 

Seward's  letters  home  described  his  other  occupations,  and  the 
4t  busy  idleness  ”  of  the  gay  crowd  around  him: 

Saratoga  Springs,  August  20. 

Apprehensions  about  you  had  kept  me  all  the  week  outside  of  the  social 
circles  here,  and  so,  yesterday,  I  looked  a  little  more  freely  within.  There  are  - 
the  usual  displays  of  dress  and  equipage;  but  I  do  not  inquire,  and  so  I  am 
ignorant  of  the  owners.  Many  have  fine  carriages ;  but  all  those  who  are  known 
to  me  as  rich  and  fine,  and  fair  and  fashionable  in  their  own  houses,  are 
eclipsed  by  somebody  who  is  accounted  richer,  fairer,  and  more  magnificent 
in  the  world  of  fashion,  so  that  they  are  quite  plebeians  after  all. 

September  3. 

Yesterday  I  had  a  professional  visit  to  make  at  Ballston  Spa.  The  “  Sans 
Souci  ”  was  there;  and  had  been  newly  burnished.  But  that  was  all  there 
was  of  Ballston,  as  we  knew  it,  now  nearly  thirty  years  ago.  The  springs 
have  altogether  failed,  and  the  village  has  only  the  prestige  of  a  common  country 
town.  Still  there  are  traces  of  a  day  of  more  pretension.  Several  vast  taverns, 
now  tenantless,  were  struggling  against  the  elements,  especially  the  Aldrich 
Place,  whose  piazzas  and  shady  walks  remain ;  but  the  ruthless  Railroad  King 
had  raised  a  huge  embankment  across  the  court-yard,  and  left  the  occupants 
of  the  old  caravansary  no  other  way  of  egress  than  by  an  arched  viaduct. 
What  was  more  cheerful,  were  rows  of  maple  trees,  each  a  foot  and  a  half  in 
diameter,  that  stood  proud  sentinels  before  ruined  villas  erected  in  better 
days. 

Blatchford  and  I  this  morning  took  a  carriage  and  rode  to  Bemis’  Heights, 
the  scene  of  the  battle  that  in  1778  determined  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne, 
the  turning  event  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Our  road  led  eastward  from  the 
village  to  the  foot  of  Saratoga  lake,  and  thence  on  directly  eastward  to  the 
Hudson.  A  long  terrace  stretches  north  and  south,  parallel  to,  and  two  miles 
distant  from,  the  river.  This  terrace  rises  up  to  a  height  of  two  hundred  feet, 
and  this  is  what  is  named  “  Bemis’  Heights.”  From  the  top  you  see  the  valley 
of  the  Hudson  stretching  southward  to  the  Helderbergs,  and  northward  far 
away  toward  Lake  Champlain.  Behind  you  are  the  Sacanclaga  mountains,  and 
eastward,  it  is  said,  that  the  army  on  the  Heights  saw  the  smoke  of  the  battle 
which  shattered  the  British  army  at  Bennington  and  rendered  its  defeat  by 
Cates  inevitable. 

On  the  Heights  we  found  an  intelligent  old  gentleman  named  Charles  Neil- 
son,  who  occupies,  by  inheritance,  the  grounds  which  formed  the  center  of  the 
American  camp.  We  could  trace  some  of  the  structures,  and  with  the  aid  of 
Mr.  Neilson  for  a  guide,  we  found  the  place  where  Morgan’s  riflemen  shot  down 
the  gallant  General  Frazer  in  the  midst  of  the  battle,  and  the  spot  where  the 
bold  and  dashing  Arnold  forced  the  Hessian  camp,  and  gathered  wounds 
which  were  healed  with  a  Major-General’s  epaulettes,  not  long  afterward  to 
be  tarnished  by  the  vilest  treason.  Here,  too,  we  saw  the  spot  where  the  brave 


238 


ELECTION  OE  CLARK  AND  RAYMOND. 


[1854. 


Ackland,  lying  disabled  by  a  ball  that  had  shattered  both  his  legs,  implored 
General  Schuyler  passing  by,  to  save  him  from  the  leveled  musket  of  a  raw 
American  boy.  Here  we  followed  Madame  Reidesel  in  her  painful  and  anxious 
journey.  We  saw  the  place  where  Generals  Burgoyne,  Phillips,  and  Frazer 
and  her  husband  were  to  dine  with  her  after  the  battle’s  close,  and  where,  in¬ 
stead  of  the  dinner  festivities,  the  dying  Frazer  was  received  on  a  litter.  And 
we  saw  the  burial-place  where  his  remains  were  committed  to  the  earth,  while 
the  balls  of  the  American  artillery  raised  the  sod  and  sprinkled  it  over  the 
chaplain  and  mourners.  Indeed,  it  was  a  day  to  be  remembered,  and  I  feel 
the  wiser,  if  not  the  better,  for  it.  We  adjourn  now  for  two  or  three  weeks. 

October  3. 

We  are  here  again.  The  Chancellor,  and  the  cause,  and  the  parties  are  the 
same,  and  all  the  rest  is  changed.  The  United  States  and  Congress  Hall  are 
closed,  their  piazzas  are  deserted  and  covered  with  fallen  leaves.  Sheep  are 
feeding  in  the  park,  and  the  statuary  that  was  there  has  fled,  and  the  music  is 
silent.  Instead  of  broad-skirted  ladies  with  fans  and  parasols  surrounding  the 
fountains,  old  men  and  women,  in  great-coats  and  shawls,  are  seen  here 
and  there  in  knots,  within  the  glass  inclosure  which  shuts  out  the  cold  rains 
and  winds.  Even  the  lawsuit  has  lost  its  magnitude.  Blatchford,  who  was 
industrious,  Seymour,  who  was  assiduous,  and  Burden,  who  wras  strenuous, 
are  absent,  and  poor  Sam  Stevens  is  dead.  There  is  no  life  left  in  it.  A 
child  could  almost  do  all  that  I  have  to  do  in  it,  and  yet  it  goes  on,  and  it  must 
not  go  on  without  me. 

After  this  he  went  to  Albany  to  make  an  argument  in  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  “McCormick  Reaper  Case.” 
Thence  he  proceeded  homeward  to  cast  his  vote  on  election  day. 
When  the  election  was  over,  and  for  several  days  afterward,  it  seemed 
impossible  to  tell  what  the  actual  results  were.  There  had  been  such 
a  breaking  up  of  party  ties  and  organizations  that  none  could  be  said 
to  have  gained  the  victory.  Who  had  been  chosen  Governor  and  Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor  was  not  certain  for  a  fortnight.  And  when  at  last  it 
was  proved  that  the  Whig  nominees,  Myron  H.  Clark  and  Henry  J. 
Raymond,  were  elected,  their  slender  majority  seemed  to  indicate  that 
the  combined  “Fusion”  of  Whigs,  “  Temperance  men ”  and  “Free 
Soilers”  was  not  as  strong  as  the  Whig  party  had  been  alone.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Democrats  certainly  had  made  no  gains,  and  in 
many  localities  their  vote  showed  heavy  losses.  The  new  “K.  N.”  or 
“American”  party  had  displayed  a  sudden  accession  of  strength. 
But  as  the  party  was  non-committal  on  the  “Nebraska”  question,  and 
its  candidates  divided  in  opinion  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  various 
and  conflicting  inferences  were  to  be  drawn.  However,  as  returns 
from  far  and  near  were  corrected  and  compared,  it  became  manifest 
that  the  policy  of  the  “  Nebraska  Bill  ”  had  received  a  decided  popu- 


1854-’ 55.] 


Greeley’s  letter. 


239 


lar  rebuke.  In  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
throughout  the  West,  so  many  “Anti-Nebraska”  members  had  been 
elected  to  the  next  Congress  that  the  Administration  would  lose  its 
control  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  A  minority  of  seventy-nine 
Administration  men  would  be  confronted  by  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
avowedly  “  Anti- Nebraska”  men.  There  were  thirty-seven  “Ameri¬ 
cans”  or  “Whigs”  who  were  supposed  to  be  pro-slavery,  but  who 
refused  to  be  considered  “Administration”  men. 

The  new  Legislature  in  the  State  of  New  York  would  be  decidedly 
et  Anti-Nebraska.”  But  the  “  Know-Nothings  ”  confidently  predicted 
that  it  would  not  re-elect  Seward  to  the  Senate. 

i 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

1854-1855. 

Returning  to  Washington.  Greeley’s  Letter.  Ominous  News  from  Kansas.  Emigrants 
and  “  Border  Ruffians.”  Governor  Reeder.  Battles  in  the  Crimea.  Siege  of  Sebasto¬ 
pol.  Opening  of  the  Session.  Family  Affairs.  The  Question  of  Re-election  to  the 
Senate.  Business  Depression.  The  Poor  of  New  York.  The  Homestead  Bill.  Regu¬ 
lar  and  Volunteer  Soldiers. 

After  a  visit  to  Albany  to  attend  the  wedding  of  his  son  living  there, 
Seward  returned  to  Saratoga,  to  resume  his  professional  work.  He 
wrote: 

Saratoga  Springs,  November  12,  1854. 

Here  we  are  yet,  ciphering  the  cost  of  hook-headed  spikes  and  of  political 
victories.  It  has  been  nearly  a  drawn  battle  for  all  the  belligerents.  We  shall 
probably  have  a  year  or  two  of  “  No  Popery  ” extravaganza;  and  then  the  con¬ 
test  between  freedom  and  slavery  will  be  resumed,  all  the  worse  for  the  inter¬ 
lude,  but  yet  with  full  certainty  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  right. 

To  Weed  he  said  : 

Has  Greeley  written  to  you,  or  do  you  see  him  now-a-days?  Just  before  the 
election  he  wrote  me  an  abrupt  letter.  I  did  not  think  it  wise  to  trouble  you 
about  it.  Then,  when  he  thought  all  was  gone,  through  your  blunders  and  mine, 
he  came  out  in  the  paper  and  said  as  much,  in  a  chafed  spirit.  To-day  I  have 
a  long  letter  from  him,  full  of  sharp,  pricking  thorns.  I  judge,  as  we  might 
indeed  well  know,  from  his,  at  the  bottom,  nobleness  of  disposition,  that  he 
has  no  idea  of  saying  or  doing  any  thing  wrong  or  unkind;  but  it  is  sad  to  see 
him  so  unhappy.  Will  there  be  a  vacancy  in  the  Board  of  Regents  this  winter? 
Could  one  be  made  at  the  close  of  the  session?  Could  he  have  it?  Raymond’s 
nomination  and  election  is  hard  for  him  to  bear. 


240 


greeley’s  letter. 


[1 854-’ 55. 


I  think  this  a  good  letter  to  burn.  I  wish  I  could  do  Greeley  so  great  a 
kindness  as  to  burn  his. 

The  letter  here  referred  to  was  the  one  destined  to  become  a  theme 
of  popular  comment,  seven  years  later.  Acquainted  with,  and  tolerant 
of  Mr.  Greeley’s  eccentricities,  Seward  knew  him  to  be  firm  and  sin¬ 
cere  in  his  political  principles,  and  believed  him  not  unreasonable  in 
his  ambitions.  He  regarded  the  letter  as  the  petulant  complaint  of  a 
friend,  not  as  the  menace  of  an  enemy.  Even  if  he  had  regarded  it  as 
foreshadowing  opposition  to  his  own  political  fortunes,  it  would  have 
made  no  difference  with  him,  for  he  was  not  seeking  his  own  advance¬ 
ment,  or  even  counting  upon  continuance  in  public  life. 

Arrived  at  Washington  on  Saturday  night  preceding  the  opening  of 
the  session,  he  wrote  to  Weed: 

Washington,  December  2,  1854. 

I  went  over  to  the  Tribune  office  on  Friday  night,  and  Dana  came  back  to 
the  Astor  with  me  to  see  Fred.  When  he  had  left,  and  Alvali  Hunt  had  re¬ 
tired,  you  were  not  found.  I  looked  for  you  in  the  morning,  but  you  had  not 
come  down.  I  had  little  to  say  that  would  not  keep. 

Greeley’s  despondency  is  overwhelming,  and  seems  to  be  aggravated  by  the 
loss  of  subscribers.  He  says  he  is  going  in  April  to  Europe,  and  talks  of  his 
debts  as  troublesome.  But  below  this  is  chagrin  at  the  failure  to  obtain  official 
position,  which  he  now  admits  could  not  have  been  secured  if  he  had  been 
nominated. 

A  letter  to  Mrs.  Seward  said: 

December  3. 

Here  wTe  are  again  in  a  very  comfortable  home,  refreshed  by  a  long  sleep  in 
a  rainy  night,  shut  out  from  church  for  wrant  of  umbrellas,  and  rendered  do¬ 
mestic  by  stress  of  weather  without,  and  yet  lingering  fatigue  of  body  and 
mind.  The  family  above  stairs,  as  you  know,  are  myself,  Frederick  and  Anna 
—  all  of  us,  if  not  satisfied  with  ourselves,  at  least  well  satisfied  with  each 
other.  The  family  below  stairs  consists  of  Mary,  and  Robert  Boston  and  his 
wdfe,  all  very  proper  people.  .  The  house  is  clean  and  tastefully  ordered.  There 
are  some  breakages  to  be  restored. 

On  the  whole,  although  it  is  not  the  home  that  I  promised  myself  five  years 
ago,  when  I  came  here,  I  am  glad  to  believe  that,  take  it  all  together,  it  is  the 
most  suitable  and  most  comfortable  quarters  possessed  by  anybody  of  my  class, 
and  I  am  sure  that  its  quietude  is  as  little  impaired  as  that  of  any  other,  by 
vanity  and  ambition. 

December  4. 

We  have  been  at  the  Senate  and  heard  the  namby-pamby  message,  have 
dined,  and  are  doing  up  our  correspondence.  We  have  glazed  the  windows 
and  got  a  new  cooking  stove,  and  so  we  are  getting  at  ease. 


1 854-’ 55.] 


KANSAS  “FREE  STATE  ”  MEN. 


241 


December  9. 

Business  goes  on  much  as  usual.  The  basket  fills  up  and  is  emptied;  the 
newspapers  gather  and  are  distributed ;  the  documents  come  in  heaps  and  go 
out  in  parcels. 

Yesterday,  by  way  of  entertaining  our  young  folks,  I  had  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fes¬ 
senden,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Solomon  Foot,  and  Mr.  Rockwell  at  dinner. 

His  eldest  son  had  now  been  ordered  off  to  distant  duty  on  the 
Coast  Survey.  The  second  was  an  associate  editor  of  the  Evening 
Journal  at  Albany.  The  third  and  youngest  was  still  a  boy  of  fifteen. 
To  him  his  father  wrote: 

December  4. 

My  Dear  Willie  —  Here  we  arrived  at  seven  last  evening.  I  never  made  the 
trip  so  comfortably  before.  We  found  the  house  comfortable  and  warm,  but 
it  needs  some  of  your  handiwork  in  repairs. 

You  see,  my  dear  boy,  that  your  older  brothers  are  both  on  the  world,  and 
we  have  little  to  expect  from  them  in  keeping  things  straight  and  right  at 
Auburn  during  the  long  absences  that  politics  and  my  profession  impose  upon 
me.  I  shall,  therefore,  rely  upon  you  to  see  that  nothing  goes  to  waste,  and 
that  every  thing  is  done  that  can  be  done  to  make  your  mother  and  your  aunt 
and  your  little  sister  comfortable  and  happy.  I  am  beginning  to  feel  the  want 
of  a  secretary  who  can  take  care  of  my  correspondence.  The  duties  of  such  a 
secretary  cannot  be  performed  without  producing  self-improvement,  more 
useful  to  him  that  renders  them  than  even  to  me.  Will  you  not  qualify  your¬ 
self  for  these  duties?  I  hope  so. 

His  little  daughter  was  not  yet  nine  years  old.  But  it  had  been  her 
ambition,  as  soon  as  she  could  hold  a  pen,  to  write  to  her  father,  and 
an  active  correspondence  was  always  in  progress  between  them.  He 
would  snatch  a  few  moments  from  his  business  to  write  her  a  few  lines, 
usually  adverting  to  childish  topics,  but  encouraging  those  habits  of 
study  and  taste  which  she  acquired  very  early. 

Already  there  began  to  come  ominous  news  from  Kansas.  The 
“  Free  State  ”  immigrants  who  had  gone  to  the  new  Territory  with  their 
families  had  done  so  openly,  publicly,  and  peacefully.  But,  as  soon  as 
the  first  colony  had  pitched  their  camp  and  were  beginning  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  town  of  Lawrence,  thev  had  been  confronted  and  threat- 
ened  by  a  hostile  camp  of  pro-slavery  men,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
ravine,  \vho  ordered  the  “Abolitionists  ”  to  take  dowii  their  tents  and 
immediately  quit  the  Territory.  The  order  was  coupled  with  the 
threat  that  if  it  was  not  done  “in  ten  minutes”  they  would  be  moved 
“at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.” 

The  “Free  State”  men,  however,  stood  firm,  and  their  opponents 
retired  with  oaths  and  threats  of  coming  vengeance.  Then  it  came  to 
light  that  Missouri  pro-slavery  men  had  been  secretly  arranging,  with 
16 


242 


BORDER  RUFFIANS  AND  FREE  STATE  MEN. 


[1854-’ 55. 


ti 


>> 


official  help,  to  thwart  and  resist  “Free  State”  immigration,  even  by 
violence  if  necessary.  Treaties  with  the  Indians  had  been  quietly 
made,  uu known  to  the  public,  by  which  a  large  part  of  Kansas,  lying 
near  the  Missouri  border,  had  been  opened  to  settlement,  and  thither 
armed  bands  of  Missouri  “Border  Ruffians”  were  arranging  to  go,  to 
take  possession  for  “slave  soil”  and  keep  out  Northern  immigrants. 
“  Blue  Lodges,”  “  Sons  of  the  South,”  and  “  Social  Bands  ”  and  other 
secret  societies  were  organized,  meetings  were  held,  and  sanguinary 
declarations  made.  At  one  it  was  “resolved  that  we  recognize  the 
institution  of  slavery  as  already  existing  in  this  Territory,  and  advise 
slave-holders  to  introduce  their  property  as  early  as  possible.”  At 
another,  “that  this  association  holds  itself  in  readiness  to  remove  any 
and  all  emigrants  who  go  there  under  the  auspices  of  the  Northern 
Emigrant  Aid  Societies.”  A  journal  published  in  their  interest  con¬ 
tained  the  threat:  “'We  will  continue  to  lynch  and  hang,  tar  and 
feather,  and  drown  every  white-livered  Abolitionist  who  dares  to  pol¬ 
lute  our  soil! ” 

The  news  of  the  arrival  of  these  “Free  State”  men  and  the  threat¬ 
ened  onslaught  of  the  “Border  .Ruffians”  upon  them  created  a  pro¬ 
found  sensation  throughout  the  North.  It  lent  new  zeal  to  those  who 
were  forming  “Emigrant  Aid  Societies”  in  New  England,  New  York, 
Ohio,  and  Pennsylvania.  It  stimulated  the  “Anti-Nebraska”  men  in 
every  Northern  State.  General  sympathy  was  felt  for  the  hardy  immi¬ 
grants  who  were  periling  their  lives  in  an  attempt  to  establish  freedom 
in  Kansas. 

Meantime,  a  Governor,  Andrew  II.  Reeder  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
State  officers  had  now  been  sent  out  to  establish  a  regular  government 
in  the  Territory.  Both  sides  watched  their  action  with  intense  eager¬ 
ness.  The  “Border  Ruffians”  felt  assured  that  violent  measures 
would  have  official  sanction.  The  “  Free  State  ”  men,  though  expect¬ 
ing  little  help  from  officers  appointed  by  the  Administration  which 
had  aided  the  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  were  not  yet  prepared  to 
believe  that  men  legally  charged  with  the  duty  of  preserving  law  and 
order  would  abet  riot  and  violence! 

While  the  Kansas  troubles  were  stirring  up  popular  discord  in  the 
United  States,  a  great  war  was  convulsing  Europe.  The  alliance  of 
France  and  England  against  Russia;  the  armed  neutrality  of  Austria; 
the  occupation  of  the  Black  Sea  by  the  allied  fleets;  the  landing  in  the 
Crimea;  the  bombardment  of  Sebastopol;  the  battles  of  Inkermann 
and  Balaklava,  distant  as  they  were  from  America,  were  themes  of 
daily  comment  and  attention,  as  their  scenes  were  vividly  reproduced 
by  the  illustrated  papers  or  the  pen-pictures  of  the  war  correspondents. 


1854-’  55 .  ] 


SENATORIAL  CONTEST  AT  ALBANY. 


243 


The  conference  recently  held  by  the  American  diplomats  at  Ostend 
was  a  topic  of  popular  talk.  It  was  understood  to  have  been  held  with 
a  view  to  the  acquisition  of  Cuba,  as  a  slave-holding  State.  But  reso¬ 
lutions  of  inquiry  as  to  how  far  it  accorded  with  the  views  of  the  Ex¬ 
ecutive  were  summarily  tabled. 

A  letter  from  a  New  York  friend,  adverting  to  the  doubts  that  ex¬ 
isted  as  to  the  probable  action  of  the  Legislature  on  the  question  of 
his  re-election,  informed  him  that  “  Weed  says  there  is  very  much 
peril  about  the  Senator  question/’ 

Seward  wrote  at  once  to  Weed: 

December  8. 

I  am  sure  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  say  that  I  wish  you  to  do,  in  this 
emergency,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  just  what  you  think  is  wise  and  right. 
I  see  probably  only  a  small  part  of  the  embarrassments  that  attend  it.  But  I 
would  not  have  you  suffer  one  moment’s  pain,  on  the  ground  that  I  am  not 
likely  to  be  content  and  satisfied  with  whatever  may  happen. 

Astor  House,  December  19. 

I  received  last  night  your  note.  From  all  I  learn  you  cannot  leave  home  to 
come  here.  And  I  iiave  been  near  enough  to  Albany  to  find  out  that  it  is  not 
best  for  you,  myself,  or  anybody  that  I  should  go  nearer  to  it  just  now.  Time 
is  beginning  its  instructions.  Perhaps  I  can  read  them,  but  I  shall  expect  you 
to  keep  me  advised  of  your  own  course. 

In  New  York  during  the  holiday  recess,  and  writing  home,  he  said: 

Ngw  Tear's  Eve. 

High  times  are  expected  at  Albany.  Mr.  Weed  says  that  the  prospect  of  my 
return  to  the  Senate  is  doubtful.  Bowen  and  Blatchford  say  it  is  certain.  I 
am  sure  that  I  have  the  least  possible  anxiety  about  it. 

January  7. 

You  see  that  I  am  yet  here.  I  avoid  as  much  as  I  can  all  kinds  of  people, 
hut  my  own  political  affair  is  the  great  affair  of  the  day.  Mr.  Weed  came 
down  last  night  from  Albany  on  his  way  to  Washington.  There  is  about  as 
much  infidelity  among  Whigs  there  as  was  expected ;  perhaps  a  little  more. 
But  there  is  also  a  counteracting  agency  in  the  other  party,  it  is  said,  which 
promises  to  be  an  equilibrium.  Our  friends  are  in  good  spirits  and  reasonably 
confident.  Our  adversaries  are  not  confident,  and  are  out  of  temper. 

Resuming  his  participation  in  the  debates,  he  spoke  on  various 
questions  of  Administration,  salaries  of  judges,  election  of  chaplains, 
affairs  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  pensions,  and  claims.  Two 
speeches,  however,  had  especial  significance.  One  was  on  the  Home¬ 
stead  Bill,  which  he  advocated  on  the  ground  that  it  would  enable 
the  unemployed  workmen  to  move  to,  and  to  enter  into  the  occupancy 
and  cultivation  of  homesteads  on  the  public  domain. 


244 


VOLUNTEER  AND  REGULAR  SOLDIERS. 


[1855. 


Another  bill,  modifying  the  Bounty  Land  Laws,  being  under  dis¬ 
cussion,  amendments  were  offered  to  confine  such  distribution  of  land 
to  soldiers  of  the  regular  army.  This  brought  Seward  to  his  feet  in 
defense  of  the  volunteers.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said: 

There  are  two  classes  of  soldiers  in  all  our  wars.  One,  professional  soldiers ; 
the  other,  volunteers,  who  are  not  soldiers  by  profession,  but  who  are  in  the 
civil  avocations  of  life.  These  volunteers  are  persons  who  are  moved  by  a 
spirit  of  patriotism,  irrespective  of  compensation.  They  do  not  serve  gener¬ 
ally  throughout  the  whole  of  a  war;  but  they  enlist  as  volunteers,  to  resist  an 
invasion  of  a  particular  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
defend  their  homes,  their  firesides,  and  their  families.  They  are,  of  the  two 
classes,  the  most  meritorious.  Moreover,  they  never  engage  in  the  public  ser¬ 
vice  except  at  some  sacrifice  —  the  sacrifice  of  the  profits  of  the  civil  occupa¬ 
tions  in  which  they  have  been  engaged  ;  and  often  the  engagement,  for  how¬ 
ever  brief  a  period,  in  the  public  service,  results  in  disastrous  losses  to  them. 

Now,  then,  to  make  a  discrimination  between  those  who  served  as  regular 
soldiers,  and  those  who  served  as  volunteers,  under  such  circumstances,  is  un¬ 
just,  as  it  seems  to  me,  and  tends  to  discourage  that  which  is  the  most  im¬ 
portant  military  institution  of  this  country,  and  of  all  free  countries — that  is, 
the  militia.  We  must  always  have  a  small  standing  army.  We  have  that, 
only  at  the  sacrifice  of  some  republican  principle,  and  at  some  risk  to  repub¬ 
lican  institutions.  But  the  true  military  institution  of  a  republican  govern¬ 
ment  is  the  militia;  and  the  true  military  spirit  to  be  encouraged  is  the 
militia  spirit  of  this  land. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

1855. 

The  Senatorial  Contest  at  Albany.  “Know-Nothing”  Tactics.  Railroad  Building. 
American  Steamers.  The  Texas  Debt.  A  Slave-catching  Bill  Hurried  through  at 
Midnight.  Oregon  Rejected.  Another  House  in  Washington. 

At  Albany,  the  senatorial  election  was  the  chief  topic.  When  the 
Legislature  met  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  January,  the  Assembly  organ¬ 
ized  by  electing  a  Whig  Speaker,  DeWitt  C.  Littlejohn.  There  was 
no  question  as  to  the  “  Anti-Nebraska  ”  strength  in  that  body,  for 
the  Democrats  had  elected  only  42  of  the  128  members.  But  in 
many  districts,  the  members  had  been  chosen  by  “  fusion, ”  or  coali¬ 
tion  of  the  Whigs  with  “Anti-Nebraska  Americans ”  or  “Know- 
Nothings.”  Leaders  and  presses  of  the  latter  party  claimed  that  no 
such  member  could,  or  would  vote  for  Seward;  and  that  it  would  be 


1855.J 


RE-ELECTION  TO  THE  SENATE. 


245 


“  treachery  ”  to  the  “American  Order, ”  for  them  to  think  of  it.  Yet 
there  were  many  who,  however  they  might  dislike  foreigners,  were 
not  yet  prepared  to  give  a  triumph  to  slavery,  by  rejecting  the  Senator 
who  had  so  vigorously  opposed  it.  Debates  beginning  on  other  topics, 
soon  ran  into  discussion  of  the  Senatorship.  For  a  month  that  con¬ 
troversy  was  the  theme,  not  only  at  the  Capitol,  but  in  every  lobby, 
hotel,  and  street  in  Albany.  Its  progress,  of  course,  brought  up  the 
record  of  Seward's  public  life,  for  keen  criticism  and  sharp  comment. 
But  this  proved  to  his  advantage,  for  the  more  his  past  acts  were  re¬ 
called  to  mind,  the  more  consistent  they  were  seen  to  be.  Deep  inter¬ 
est  was  felt  throughout  the  State.  The  excitement  increased,  when 
the  Speaker  came  down  from  the  chair,  and  on  the  floor,  boldly  ad¬ 
vocated  Seward’s  reelection,  amid  a  storm  of  denunciation  from  the 
(S  Know-Nothings.” 

Further  significance  was  imparted  to  it,  when  one  or  two  of  the 
Democrats  avowed  their  intention  to  vote  for  Seward,  because  of  the 
“  foreign  sympathies,”  of  which  the  “  Know-Nothings  ”  accused  him. 
When  the  appointed  day  arrived,  early  in  February,  the  two  Houses 
proceeded  to  vote.  The  Senate  nominated  Seward,  giving  him  18 
votes;  the  other  13  being  divided  between  Dickinson,  Fillmore, 
Allen,  Hoffman,  King,  Ullman,  Babcock,  and  Church.  In  the  As¬ 
sembly,  he  received  G9  votes  against  57  scattered  between  Dickinson, 
Seymour,  Hunt,  Dix,  and  Fillmore.  Meeting  then  in  joint  session,  in 
the  Assembly  Chamber,  the  two  Houses  compared  nominations,  and 
Lieutenant-Governor  Raymond  announced,  with  visible  satisfaction  to 
the  densely-packed  auditory,  that  “  William  H.  Seward  was  duly 
elected  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  for  six  years,  from  the  4th  of 
March,  1855.” 

Salutes,  bonfires,  and  gatherings  for  congratulation  followed  in 
different  localities,  as  the  news  spread  abroad.  A  pamphlet  contain¬ 
ing  the  speeches  of  Messrs.  Littlejohn,  Leigh,  Petty,  Baker,  Kicker- 
son,  O’Keefe,  and  others,  with  the  editorials  of  leading  journals,  was 
published,  and  widely  circulated. 

Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

February  7. 

I  snatch  a  minute  from  the  pressure  of  solicitations  of  lobby  men,  and 
congratulations  of  newly-made  friends,  to  express,  not  so  much  my  deep,  and 
deepened  gratitude  to  you,  as  my  amazement  at  the  magnitude  and  complexity 
of  the  dangers  through  which  you  have  conducted  our  shattered  bark;  and  the 
sagacity  and  skill  with  which  you  have  saved  us  all  from  so  imminent  a  wreck- 
The  principle  of  secret  combinations  had  been  recovering  vitality  and  vigor 
and  had  secured  practically  an  oath-bound  majority  of  the  Legislature,  and 
concentrated  all  its  energies  upon  the  purpose  of  defeating  and  undoing  all 


246 


REELECTION  TO  THE  SENATE. 


[1855. 


our  achievements  and  hopes  for  the  benefit  of  our  State,  our  country,  and 
mankind. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  he  said: 

February  9. . 

I  have  waited  so  long  after  the  great  event  in  Albany  in  expectation  that 
you  would  speak  first.  But  either  you  do  not  speak,  or  else  the  words  have 
frozen  on  the  way.  Was  there  ever  any  thing  more  decisive  than  the  result? 
Was  ever  any  verdict  more  comprehensive?  Was  ever  any  thing  more  curious 
than  the  fact  that  this  result  is  scarcely  more  satisfactory  to  my  truest  friends, 
than,  as  it  seems,  to  so  many  life-long  opponents?  We  have  nothing  but  salu¬ 
tations  and  congratulations  here.  How  strange  the  mutations  of  politics ! 

February  13. 

The  session  is  flying  along  with  seemingly  unusual  rapidity.  Committees  at 
ten  or  eleven.  Senate  till  five  or  six.  Dinner,  and  reading  congratulatory 
letters,  till  nine,  and  then  a  party,  or  a  long  sitting  until  twelve,  in  the  hope¬ 
less  task  of  clearing  my  letter-basket,  and  my  table,  of  congressional  papers. 

February  18. 

I  have  received  your  letter  in  which  you  discourse  both  so  eloquently  and 
wisely  about  the  strange  election  through  which  we  have  just  passed,  with  so 
happy  and  marked  a  deliverance.  It  is  a  result  such  as  would  have  happened 
if  there  had  been  no  fraud  or  circumvention  practiced.  But  it  does  seem  won¬ 
derful,  indeed,  that  such  a  result  was  attained  after  such  frauds  were  so  reck¬ 
lessly  practiced  upon  a  people  so  much  disposed  to  be  the  victims  of  impo¬ 
sition. 

February  20. 

The  “Know-Nothings”  are  spreading  a  net  over  the  Democratic  “Free 
Soilers.”  One  of  the  ultra  has  written  a  letter  to  the  “  Know-Nothing  ”  organ 
here  which,  although  harmless  in  itself,  gives  comfort  to  the  slave  interest. 
How  strange!  This  is  now  the  hope  of  the  “  Silver  Grays  ”  and  “Compro¬ 
mise  ”  men  against  me. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  session  various  measures  were  pressed. 
Seward  took  part  freely  in  the  debates,  reiterating  his  views  in  favor 
of  internal  improvements,  and  for  the  protection  of  American  manu¬ 
facturers  and  products.  He  advocated  the  bill  for  carrying  the  mails 
in  American  steamers,  both  on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  the  Col¬ 
lins  line  being  at  the  time  the  special  competitor  with* the  foreign- 
built  steamships  to  Liverpool.  He  introduced  bills  for  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  the  Hudson  river,  the  removal  of  the  rocks  from  Hell  Gate, 
and  supported  the  bill  for  improvement  of  St.  Clair  flats,  the  improve¬ 
ments  on  the  Mississippi  river,  the  construction  of  fortifications  at 
San  Francisco. 

There  was  a  disagreement  between  the  two  Houses  on  the  bill  for 
paying  the  creditors  of  Texas.  Seward,  in  his  speech  on  the  ques- 


1855.] 


MORE  SLAVERY  LEGISLATION. 


247 


tion,  recalled  the  fact  that  he  had  been  among  the  earnest  opponents 
of  the  policy  of  incurring  this  liability.  But  having  deliberately 
incurred  it,  the  nation  was  now,  in  honor  and  honesty,  bound  to 
pay  it. 

He  opposed  the  bill  granting  three  years’  credit  for  duties  on  foreign 
railroad  iron,  and  again  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  enter¬ 
prise  of  railroad  building  on  credit  was  already  too  widely  extended, 
and  needed  checking  rather  than  stimulating.  He  said: 

You  propose  to  add  fuel  to  the  flame  that  is  consuming  us.  Let  us  look 
backward  for  instructions.  In  1834,  by  excessive  importations,  we  had  brought 
on  great  fiscal  embarrassments.  The  embarrassments  of  1834  returned  in  1837, 
aggravated  ten-fold.  And  then  came  that  fearful  convulsion  which  carried 
distress  and  ruin  throughout  this  broad  land  —  distress  and  ruin  from  which  ♦ 
we  have  required  twenty  years  to  recover.  Sir,  we,  in  1854,  have  just  passed 
through  the  premonitory  symptoms  of  a  crushing  pressure,  which  is  to  come 
on  in  1857,  or  some  year  not  long  thereafter. 

This  prediction  was  verified  by  the  great  “  commercial  revulsion,” 
and  suspension  of  specie  payments  in  the  autumn  of  1857. 

Shortly  before  the  end  of  the  session,  Seward’s  credentials  for  his 
second  term  were  presented  by  Senator  Wade.  A  few  days  previously 
Senator  Sumner  had  presented  those  of  Henry  Wilson  for  the  unex¬ 
pired  term  of  Edward  Everett. 

The  Northern  repugnance  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  had  grown 
deeper  with  every  new  attempt  to  enforce  it.  Some  of  the  Northern 
Slates  passed  “  Personal  Liberty  Laws”  for  the  protection  of  such  of 
their  inhabitants  as  might  be  menaced  with  forcible  seizure,  and  giving 
them  legal  safeguards  against  arbitrary  proceedings  under  the  obnox¬ 
ious  statute.  While  not  disputing  the  slave-holder’s  title  to  his  “  pound 
of  flesh,”  these  bills  made  it  more  difficult  for  him  to  obtain  it.  The 
slave-holding  interest  determined,  therefore,  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
power  still  in  their  hands  in  Congress.  A  bill  was  accordingly  intro¬ 
duced  on  the  17th  of  February,  and  hurried  forward  to  its  passage. 
On  the  23d,  it  was  debated  in  the  Senate  for  twelve  hours,  and  finally 
passed  at  midnight.  In  his  closing  argument  Seward  said: 

The  scene  before  me  and  all  its  circumstances  and  incidents  admonish  me 
the  time  has  come  when  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  about  to  grant 
another  of  those  concessions,  which  have  become  habitual  here,  to  the  power 
of  slavery  in  this  republic.  For  the  second  time  in  a  period  of  nearly  three 
months,  the  brilliant  chandelier  above  our  heads  is  lighted  up,  the  passages 
and  galleries  are  densely  crowded,  all  the  customary  forms  of  legislation  are 
laid  aside.  The  day  is  spent  without  adjournment,  Senators  foregoing  their 
natural  rest  and  refreshment,  remain  in  their  seats  until  midnight  approaches. 


248 


A  GOOD  DEED  FOR  SUNDAY. 


[1855. 


Alluding  to  the  similar  scenes  attending  the  passage  of  the  Ne¬ 
braska  Bill,  he  remarked  that  — 

Probably  the  teeming  gun  which  proclaimed  those  former  triumphs  of  sla¬ 
very  is  already  planted  under  the  eaves  of  the  Capitol  to  celebrate  another 
victory. 

Pointing  out  in  succession  the  tyrannical  features  of  the  bill,  and 
the  effects  certain  to  follow  its  passage,  he  concluded: 

If  you  wish  to  secure  respect  to  the  Federal  authority;  to  cultivate  harmony 
between  the  States;  to  secure  universal  peace,  and  to  create  new  bonds  of  per¬ 
petual  union,  there  is  only  one  way  before  you.  Instead  of  adding  new  pen¬ 
alties,  employing  new  agencies,  and  inspiring  new  terrors,  you  must  go  back 
to  the  point  where  your  mistaken  policy  began  and  conform  your  Federal  laws 
to  Magna  Charta ,  to  the  Constitution,  and  to  the  rights  of  man. 

Sumner  made  the  last  speech,  and  moved  an  amendment  repealing 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  This  was,  of  course,  rejected,  by  a  vote  of 
30  to  9,  and  then  the  new  bill  passed  by  same  vote. 

The  3d  of  March,  the  closing  day  of  the  session,  came  on  Saturday. 
As,  in  previous  cases,  it  had  been  decided  that  the  congressional  day 
of  the  3d  lasts  till  noon  of  the  4th,  both  Houses  remained  in  session  all 
night  and  during  the  morning.  About  eleven  o’clock  Sunday  morning 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  take  up  and  pass  the  bill  for 
admitting  Oregon.  It  was  opposed  by  some  of  the  Southern  Senators, 
because  it  would  allow  Oregon  to  come  in  as  a  free  State,  and  by 
some  of  the  Northern  ones,  because  such  legislation  would  be  a  viola¬ 
tion  of  the  Sabbath.  Seward,  in  reply,  remarked: 

I  think  this  is  a  very  good  day.  Legitimately  and  legislatively,  this  is  Sat¬ 
urday,  the  3d  of  March.  It  will  be  so  on  the  records,  and  so  the  world  under¬ 
stands  it.  If,  however,  the  honorable  Senator  understands  this  to  be  Sunday, 
and  if  it  be  so,  I  think  this  is  a  very  good  deed  to  be  done  on  this  day. 

But  the  slave-holding  interest  was  strong  enough  to  stave  off  action 
until,  at  twelve  o’clock,  the  hammer  fell,  and  the  session  was  over. 

Before  leaving  for  home,  Seward  stayed  a  few  days  to  close  up  his 
correspondence,  and  to  look  for  a  place  of  residence  for  the  new  sena¬ 
torial  term  now  before  him.  He  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

March  7. 

There  has  been  a  series  of  leave-takings,  relieved  by  rambles  in  search  of  a 
house.  At  last  the  house,  and  a  very  nice  one  it  is,  is  engaged.  I  liked 
Georgetown,  but  a  tramp  thither  and  backward  convinced  me  that  I  could  not 
fulfill  my  whole  circle  of  duty  while  living  at  such  a  distance  from  the  Capitol 
and  public  departments.  I  have  engaged  a  house  which  is  so  arranged  that 
you  can  live  very  retired,  while  it  is  new  and  in  good  order,  which  I  am  sure 
will  commend  it  to  you. 


1855.] 


THE  KANSAS  STRUGGLE. 


249 


I  have  3*oin*  letter  about  the  speech  on  the  “Usurpations  of  Slavery,”  and 
am  glad  that  it  satisfies  you.  I  promise  myself  a  long  absence  from  severe 
study,  and  certainly  from  appearing  as  a  politician  or  a  public  speaker.  I  learn 
by  telegraph  that  those  worthies  the  “Know-Nothings”  carried  Auburn  yes¬ 
terday.  It  is  well  enough.  The  surest  cure  for  a  fever  of  that  kind  is  to  let 
it  burn  out. 

To  Theodore  Parker  he  wrote: 

March  12. 

The  children  of  this  world  exact  attention  to  their  many  material  wants 
from  members  of  Congress.  I  have  had  to  put  my  correspondence  altogether 
aside  to  attend  to  the  hundred  cares  of  my  cosmical  constituency. 

Accept  my  sincere  thanks  now  for  your  kind  letter  of  congratulation.  I 
hardly  know  how  you  could  find  time  to  think  of  me  in  the  midst  of  your 
labors  and  the  persecutions  you  are  suffering.  If  the  change  of  temperature 
here  is  at  all  indicative  of  a  general  one,  I  feel  quite  assured  that  you  will  pass 
safely  through  your  trial,  and  that  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  will 
receive  a  vindication  full  of  encouragement  to  the  timid  and  hesitating.  May 
God  protect,  bless,  and  reward  you ! 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1855. 

Kansas  News.  Governor  Reeder.  Attacks  on  “  Free  State”  Men.  Sumner  at  Auburn 
Yachting  Excursions.  New  York  Friends.  Disruption  of  the  “American  ”  National 
Council.  Gradual  Growth  of  the  Republican  Party.  The  Presidential  Question. 
Passmore  Williamson.  The  Two  Conventions  at  Syracuse.  Their  Union.  Speech  at 
Albany.  “  Let  the  Whig  Party  Pass.”  A  Lonely  House.  The  Elections.  The  Tri¬ 
umph  of  “  Sam.” 


More  and  worse  news  now  came  from  Kansas.  Bands  of  armed 
men  had  crossed  the  border  from  Missouri,  avowedly  for  the  purpose, 
not  merely  of  out-voting  the  “  Free  State  ”  settlers,  but  of  “  crush¬ 
ing  them  out”  by  violence  and  fraud.  Polling-places  were  seized, 
ballot-boxes  “stuffed”  with  sham  votes,  “  Free  State  ”  men  driven 
from  the  polls,  and  warned  to  leave  the  Territory.  This  system  of 
terrorism  had  succeeded  at  the  fall  election  in  sending  a  pro-slavery 
delegate  to  Congress.  Now,  at  the  election  held  in  March,  to  choose 
a  Territorial  Legislature,  the  invaders  had  come  in  parties  that  were 
apportioned  and  distributed  to  different  localities,  so  as  to  overawe  the 
actual  residents.  Thus  at  Lawrence,  where  there  were  only  about 
three  or  four  hundred  voters,  nearly  a  thousand  Missourians  arrived 


250 


CHARLES  SUMNER  AT  AUBURN. 


[1855. 


on  the  evening  before,  and  the  morning  of  the  day  of  election,  in 
wagons,  and  on  horseback,  well  armed  with  rifles,  pistols,  bowie- 
knives,  and  two  cannon.  Like  scenes  took  place  at  other  points. 
Threats  and  violence  toward  Judges  of  Election,  false  votes  and  re¬ 
turns,  destruction  of  presses  and  printing-offices,  beating,  tarring  and 
feathering,  shooting  and  drowning  of  “Free  State”  immigrants,  were 
among  the  incidents  of  the  era  of  “  Border  Ruffianism”  thus  inaugu¬ 
rated.  As  the  details  of  these  outrages  were  spread  abroad  in  the 
Eastern  States,  the  “Kansas  Struggle”  between  “Free  State”  and 
“  Slave  State  ”  men  became  a  topic  of  public  discussion.  It  was  one 
destined  to  be  the  engrossing  theme  of  congressional  and  legislative 
debates,  and  of  political  campaigns  for  years  to  come, — convulsing, 
first  the  Territory,  and  then  the  Union. 

New  York,  May  28,  1855. 

I  have  had  two  days  of  pleasurable  exercise.  On  Saturday,  I  went  down  in 
the  new  steamship  Arago ,  a  Havre  packet,  and  looked  out  upon  the  sea.  The 
weather  was  bright,  and  the  sea  calm,  and  almost  glassy.  We  stretched 
thirty  miles  outward  ;  and  I  feel  the  invigorating  influences  of  the  voyage  even 
till  now. 

Yesterday  morning,  I  took  the  Hudson  River  cars,  and  went  up  to  Bowen’s; 
went  to  church  with  Mrs.  Bowen,  and  her  good  husband.  After  dinner, 
visited  my  old  and  fast  and  noble  friend  Mr.  George  Schuyler,  who  lives  in 
a  beautiful  cottage  on  the  bank  of  the  Hudson. 

While  at  home,  this  spring,  Seward  learned  that  Charles  Sumner 
was  about  to  deliver  a  lecture,  prepared  for  New  York  and  other 
cities.  Cordially  inviting  the  lecturer  to  become  his  guest,  Seward 
accompanied  him  to  the  public  hall,  and  there  introduced  him  to  the 
audience,  saying: 

A  dozen  years  ago,  I  was  honored  by  being  chosen  to  bring  my  neighbors 
residing  here,  to  the  acquaintance  of  a  statesman  of  Massachusetts,  who  was 
then  directing  the  last  energies  of  an  illustrious  life,  to  the  removal  of  the 
crime  of  human  slavery  from  the  soil  of  our  beloved  country,  —  a  statesman 
whose  course  I  had  chosen  for  my  own  guidance  —  John  Quincy  Adams,  the 
“old  man  eloquent.”  And,  now,  by  a  rare  felicity,  I  have  your  instructions 
to  present  to  you  another  statesman  of  Massachusetts,  he  on  whose  shoulders 
the  mantle  of  the  departed  one  lias  fallen,  and  who  illustrates  the  spirit  of 
the  teacher,  whom,  like  us,  he  venerated  and  loved  —  a  companion  and 
friend  of  my  own  public  labors  —  the  “  young  man  eloquent,”  Charles  Sumner. 

In  June  the  National  Council  of  the  “American  ”  party  met  at 
Philadelphia  on  the  5th,  and  almost  immediately  plunged  into- an  ex¬ 
cited  debate  over  the  slavery  question.  The  pro-slavery  members,  or 
as  they  preferred  to  call  themselves,  the  “Conservatives,”  or  “Na¬ 
tionals,”  sought  to  have  resolutions  adopted  excusing,  or  at  least 


1855.] 


“  KNOW-NOTHING  ”  DISCORDS. 


251 


ignoring  the  Nebraska-Kansas  policy  of  the  Government.  The  anti- 
slavery  members,  under  the  lead  of  Henry  Wilson,  resisted. 

Earnest  argument,  pro  and  con,  soon  ran  into  hot  words  and  recrim¬ 
inations.  One  of  the  New  York  members  assured  the  Southern  dele¬ 
gates  that  “the  Americans  of  New  York”  were  “sound;”  that  they 
“had  expelled  30,000  members  from  the  party  for  voting  for  Governor 
Clark,  the  Whig  nominee,  and  for  supporting  the  re-election  of  Wil¬ 
liam  H.  Seward  to  the  Senate,  but  that  they  had  180,000  members 
left  and  could  control  that  great  State.”  By  superior  tact  and  ad¬ 
dress,  or  by  superior  numbers,  the  pro-slavery  men  triumphed.  They 
carried  their  “platform  ”  both  in  Committee  and  in  Council.  But  it 
was  a  barren  victory.  The  anti-slavery  members  refused  to  acquiesce. 
They  decided  that  rather  than  abandon  their  principles,  they  would 
abandon  the  “  order.”*  Meetings  were  held,  addresses  made,  and 
resolutions  adopted,  declaring  they  could  no  longer  conscientiously  act 
with  it.  Wilson,  Governor  Johnson  of  Pennsylvania,  Orth,  Colfax, 
and  Cumback  of  Indiana,  and  others  from  East  and  West,  signed  pro¬ 
tests  which  were  widely  distributed.  Their  action  was  followed  with 
alacrity,  by  many  whose  zeal  as  “Know-Nothings  ”  had  melted  away,  in 
the  fervent  heat  of  the  “  Anti-Nebraska  ”  conflict.  These  formed  a 
new  and  important  accession  to  the  ranks  of  the  still  feeble  “Repub¬ 
lican”  party.  The  main  body  of  the  “Americans,”  though  reduced  in 
strength,  was  still  powerful.  It  was  now  harmonious  in  its  “  conserva¬ 
tive”  doctrines,  and  continued  for  two  or  three  years  in  connection  with 
the  “pro-slavery  Whigs,”  to  lend  a  good  deal  of  aid  to  the  Democrats. 

Besides  the  title  of  “  Know-Nothings,”  two  other  nick-names  had 
now  crept  into  common  parlance.  One  was  “  Hindoos,”  based  on  the 
fancy  that  the  proscriptive  doctrines  of  the  order  resembled  those  of 
the  “  Caste  ”  svstem  of  India.  The  other  was  “  Choctaws,"  a  term 

•/  i 

applied  to  those  who,  it  was  asserted,  had  gained  stealthy  admission 
to  the  “  lodges,”  in  order  to  betray  them. 

A  large  portion  of  the  summer  was  devoted  to  professional  labors 
at  Saratoga,  Troy,  Albany,  and  New  York.  He  wrote  home: 

May  16. 

It  is  my  birthday,  a  bright  morning,  and  for  half  an  hour  I  have  a  quiet 
room.  I  write  to  you  a  note  to  express  to  you  my  joy  at  your  returning  health, 
and  my  assurances  of  continued  and  enduring  affection.  I  would  that  I  were 
nearer  to  you.  But  at  fifty-four,  one  is  no  louger  free.  The  independence 
that  age  and  competence  bring,  at  least  that  they  bring  to  me,  are  widened 
spheres  of  obligation  and  duty.  How  happy  I  am,  that  they  bring  no  serious 
and  permanent  disappointment,  to  sour  and  disgust  me  with  family,  friends, 
country,  or  mankind. 


252 


A  CONFIDENTIAL  LETTER. 


[1855. 


Mr.  Sumner  is  riding  the  topmost  wave.  The  world  is  recovering  from  the 
panic  produced  by  the  “Know-Nothings,”  to  stare  slavery  in  the  face.  Let 
us  hope  that  the  fashion  may  not  suddenly  change  again! 

George  E.  Baker,  who  prepared  Seward’s  life  and  works  for  publi¬ 
cation,  had  his  entire  confidence.  Seward  placed  at  his  disposal  all 
public  and  private  manuscripts,  and  spoke  and  wrote  to  him  without 
reserve,  both  as  to  the  past  and  future.  Replying  to  some  queries,  he 
wrote  this  private  letter: 

I  would  prefer  to  talk,  rather  than  to  write  of  that  formidable  question,  that 
coming  next  year,  already  has  thrown  its  shadow  over  us.  We  have  inaugu¬ 
rated  the  movement  that  will,  at  no  distant  day,  work  the  problem  out.  I 
wish  that  we  could  rest,  retire,  withdraw,  and  leave  it  to  work  out.  I  do  so 
for  two  reasons.  First,  because  henceforth  we  can  do  nothing,  but  what  will 
be  set  down  to  the  account  of  an  ambition  we  do  not  feel.  Secondly,  that  I 
think  it  by  no  means  certain,  and  even  hardly  probable,  that  it  is  to  work  out 
completely  and  safely  next  year.  Rash  counsels  will  probably  prevail,  and  the 
first  assault  will  be  repulsed,  not  so  much  because  the  enemy  is  strong,  but  be¬ 
cause  of  the  infatuation  of  the  besiegers.  I  do  not  want  that  you  and  I  should 
bear  the  responsibility  of  such  a  disaster.  For  while  the  world  is  exciting  it¬ 
self  into  all  kinds  of  passions,  about  eagerness  for  the  command,  I  am  by  no 
means  ready  to  accept  it,  if  tendered.  I  do  not'  know  that  I  ever  wrote  so 
freely  on  a  subject  upon  which  a  wise  man  ought  not  to  write  at  all. 

During  this  summer,  Seward  was  enabled  to  spend  more  time  at 
Auburn,  and  visibly  improved  in  health  and  strength.  It  was  any 
thing  but  a  season  of  rest,  for  the  days  were  spent  either  in  studying 
law-cases  in  his  office,  or  in  long  excursions  on  the  0  wasco,  Cayuga, 
or  Skaneateles  lakes.  But  the  studies  were  congenial,  and  the  active 
out-door  exercise  was  invigorating.  He  was  always  the  first  to  move 
and  the  last  to  grow  weary.  His  studies  were  necessarily  broken  by 
frequent  visits  from  his  fellow  townsmen,  or  summer  travelers.  When 
an  old  friend  or  a  new  acquaintance  appeared  at  his  door,  he  would 
cheerfully  throw  aside  books  and  papers,  and  stroll  out  into  the  garden 
with  him,  and  there,  under  the  shade  of  spreading  elms,  discuss  the 
political  outlook,  or  the  social  problems  then  uppermost  in  the  public 
mind. 

As  the  year  went  on,  the  progress  of  affairs  in  Kansas  tended  still 
further  to  inflame  popular  feeling.  The  Territorial  Legislature, 
elected  with  such  glaring  frauds,  convened  in  July,  at  Tawnee  City, 
and  conducted  itself  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  origin.  One  of  its 
first  steps  was  to  oust  every  “Free  State ”  man  whose  seat  was  claimed 
by  any  pro-slavery  one,  even  though  he  held  the  Governor’s  certificate 
that  he  had  been  duly  elected.  Then  usurping  the  Governor’s  authority 
and  in  defiance  of  his  protest,  this  extraordinary  body  moved  itself  to 


1855.] 


TWO  CONVENTIONS. 


*53 


the  Shawnee  Mission,  which  was  just  on  the  line  of  Missouri,  and, 
therefore,  more' convenient  for  its  members,  who  were  mostly  Missou¬ 
rians.  Here  it  proceeded  ;to  pass  laws  for  upholding  and  fortifying 
slavery  in  the  new  Territory.  Among  their  enactments  was  one  de¬ 
claring  that  no  term  of  actual  residence  in  the  Territory  should  be  re¬ 
quisite  to  qualify  any  person  for  a  legal  voter.  Another  declared  it  to 
be  “a  felony  punishable  by  two  years’  imprisonment  at  hard  labor,” 
for  any  person  to  speak,  write,  assert,  or  maintain  that  persons  have 
not  the  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territory.  A  like  penalty  was  im¬ 
posed  on  whoever  should  introduce  into  the  Territory  any  written, 
printed  or  published  book,  paper,  magazine,  pamphlet  or  circular  con¬ 
taining  any  denial  of  the  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territory.  An¬ 
other  section  disqualified  all  anti-slavery  men  from  sitting  as  jurors. 
And  another  declared  assistance  of  fugitive  slaves  to  be  punishable 
with  death. 

Governor  Reeder  was  a  Democrat  and  a  supporter  of  the  Adminis¬ 
tration  that  appointed  him.  But  he  could  not  acquiesce  in  “  legis¬ 
lation”  that  was  merely  trampling  law  and  justice  under  foot.  He 
vetoed  some  of  the  acts.  The  “  Legislature”  summarily  passed  them 
over  his  head  and  memorialized  the  President  for  his  removal.  From 
Washington  came  back  the  complaisant  reply,  that  the  prayer  of  the 
Legislature  was  granted  and  that  the  Governor  was  removed. 

Passmore  Williamson  was  prosecuted  in  Philadelphia  for  aiding  a 
fugitive  mother  and  her  children.  Being  commanded  by  the  court  to 
produce  them,  his  answer  that  they  were  not  in  his  custody  or  power, 
was  adjudged  “  a  contempt  of  court,”  and  he  was  thrown  into  prison 
for  an  indefinite  period.  Of  course,  all  these  efforts  to  fortify  and 
strengthen  slavery  roused  popular  indignation  and  deepened  the  feel¬ 
ing  which  was  finding  expression  in  the  formation  and  growth  of  the 
Republican  party. 

As  the  fall  election  approached,  it  was  felt  that  the  time  had  arrived 
when  it  would  be  wise  to  try  to  combine  the  various  shades  of  anti¬ 
slavery  opinion  in  New  York  into  one  organization,  under  the  “Re¬ 
publican”  banner,  already  unfurled  in  the  other  States.  Two  State 
Conventions  were  called  to  meet  on  the  same  day,  September  26,  at 
Syracuse  —  one  call  being  signed  by  the  “  Whig,”  and  the  other  by 
the  “Republican”  State  Committee  —  for  the  purpose  of  a  formal 
union.  Delegates  were  to  be  chosen  to  one,  by  voters  who  had  hith¬ 
erto  acted  with  the  Whig  party.  To  the  other,  delegates  were  to  be 
sent  by  voters  who  had  hitherto  been  connected  with  the  “  Free  Sod,” 
“Hard,”  “Soft,”  “American,”  or  “Temperance”  parties.  Both 
were  largely  made  up  of  men  of  influence  and  standing.  One  dele- 


I 


254  “WHIG”  AND  “KEPUBLICAN”  UNION.  [1855. 

gate  from  Orange  comity,  on  arriving  at  Syracuse,  said,  “  I  had  in¬ 
tended  from  the  first  to  come  up  here,  but  I  wasn’t  quite  sure  which 
Convention  I  ought  to  be  a  delegate  to.  So  I  asked  Seward,  who  is 
at  Goshen.  He  said  it  didn’t  make  any  difference.  He  said  we  would 
go  in  by  two  doors,  but  ive  would  all  come  out  through  one.” 

On  the  26th,  both  Conventions  assembled,  each  in  a  separate  hall, 
organized,  adopted  resolutions,  and  appointed  committees  of  confer¬ 
ence.  These  speedily  arranged  the  joint  meeting.  This  was  an  im¬ 
posing  scene.  The  “Whig  Convention”  marched  in  procession  into 
the  hall  where  the  “  Republican  ”  one  was  sitting.  The  “Republi¬ 
cans,”  rising,  greeted  them  with  shouts  of  welcome.  Cheers  rent  the 
air.  Handshaking,  mirth,  and  rejoicing  for  a  while  excluded  all 
other  business,  and  when  the  joint  Convention  was  called  to  order  by 
its  two  chairmen,  sitting  side  by  side,  the  acclamations  broke  out 
afresh.  In  the  Whig  Convention,  John  A.  King  and  Edwin  D.  Mor¬ 
gan  had  presided;  in  the  Republican  one,  Reuben  E.  Fenton  —  each  of 
the  three  destined  to  be  afterward  a  Republican  Governor  of  the  State. 
The  joint  Convention  formally  adopted  the  “  Republican  ”  name,  and 
nominated  a  “Union”  ticket,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Preston  King 
for  Secretary  of  State,  the  nominations  being  about  equally  divided 
between  those  of  Whig  and  Democratic  antecedents.  When  the  Con¬ 
vention  adjourned,  the  delegates  separated  with  hearty  good  feeling, 
and  were  received  at  home  with  thanks  and  congratulations.  Local 
“  Republican  ”  committees  and  nominations  were  immediately  begun 
in  different  counties. 

Intelligence  of  the  progress  of  the Republican  ”  movement  came 
from  other  Northern  States.  Those  which  had  not  completed  an  or¬ 
ganization  in  1854  did  so  in  1855.  In  Ohio,  the  new  party  nominated 
Salmon  P.  Chase  for  Governor  and  Thomas  H.  Ford  for  Lieutenant- 
Governor.  In  Pennsylvania,  they  nominated  for  Canal  Commissioner 
Passmore  Williamson,  who  was  still  in  jail. 

Encouraged  by  the  news  of  these  and  similar  signs  of  sympathy,  the 
“Free  State ”  immigrants  in  Kansas  determined  to  maintain  their 
rights.  A  conference  at  Lawrence  resulted  in  the  call  of  a  Conven¬ 
tion,  to  be  held  at  Topeka,  to  take  steps  toward  the  formation  of  a 
Constitution.  The  Convention  met  in  October,  framed  a  Constitution 
•containing  a  bill  of  rights  prohibiting  slavery,  and  submitted  it  to  the 
popular  vote  at  an  election  appointed  to  be  held  in  December. 

Seward  wrote  to  Theodore  Parker: 

I  am  confident,  my  dear  sir,  that  our  great  work  is  now  successfully  in¬ 
augurated.  It  is  not  to  be  set  back  again.  I  would  that  it  might  speedily 
be  completed,  but  I  am  not  impatient,  knowing  that  what  matures  rapidly 


1855.  ] 


THE  ALBANY  SPEECH. 


255 


is  least  enduring.  We  have  conquered  the  reaction  that  Whitney’s  gin  pro¬ 
duced. 

lie  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

October  8. 

Mr.  Weed’s  letter,  which  I  send  you,  will  show  why  I  go  to  Albany,  to  be 
there  on  Friday  night.  I  dislike  this  return  to  political  campaigning,  but  I 
have  no  right  to  be  so  selfish  as  to  refuse  a  call  at  such  a  time. 

At  Albany,  it  had  been  deemed  advisable,  and  even  necessary,  that 
Seward  should  help  forward  the  new  party  by  a  speech  at  the  State 
Capitol.  On  the  evening  of  the  12th  he  found  an  audience  awaiting 
him  in  the  hall  of  the  Capitol  unlike  any  of  the  assemblages  he  had 
previously  met  there.  The  hall,  not  large,  was  not  more  than  two- 
thirds  filled,  and  there  was  an  absence  of  all  the  noisy  enthusiasm 
usually  attending  political  gatherings  of  great  parties.  Those  who 
were  assembled  were  mainly  earnest,  thoughtful-looking  men,  unde¬ 
monstrative,  though  thoroughly  in  accord,  who  realized  that  they  were 
voluntarily  sundering  the  party  ties  of  a  life-time,  and  embarking  m  a 
new  organization  which  wras  confessedly  a  minority.  How  long  it 
would  remain  so,  and  whether  it  would  ever  gain  prestige  and  power, 
must  depend  upon  the  justice  of  its  principles  and  the  wisdom  of  its 
conduct. 

Shortly  before  this  Albany  meeting,  an  old  Whig  friend  and  dis¬ 
tant  relative,  who  had  come  to  hear  the  speech,  said:  “I  do  hope 
Henry  will  not  take  such  advanced  ground  that  it  will  take  us  ten 
years  to  catch  up  with  him.  He  will  be  right,  of  course,  but  I  am 
afraid  he  may  go  ahead  faster  than  the  rest  of  us  can  follow.” 

Standing  in  the  old  building  which  recalled  the  scenes  of  his  legis¬ 
lative  and  executive  experiences,  Seward  began  his  speech,  with  a 
salutation  to  the  Capitol,  and  to  the  statue  of  Justice  surmounting 
the  dome,  “  blind,  that  she  may  not,  through  either  passion  or  preju¬ 
dice,  discriminate  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  Protestant  and 
the  Catholic,  the  native  born  and  the  exotic,  the  freeman  and  him 
Whose  liberties  have  been  cloven  down.” 

Old  familiar  echoes  greet  my  ear  from  beneath  these  embowered  roofs !  The 
voices  of  the  Spencers,  of  Kent,  and  Van  Rensselaer,  and  Van  Vechten,  of 
genial  Tompkins,  of  Clinton,  the  great,  and  the  elder  Clinton,  of  King,  and 
Hamilton,  of  Jay,  the  pure  and  benevolent,  and  Schuyler,  the  gallant  and  in¬ 
flexible.  The  very  air  that  lingers  around  these  arches  breathes  inspiration  of 
moral,  social,  and  physical  enterprise,  and  of  unconquerable  freedom. 

You,  old,  tried,  and  familiar  friends,  ask  my  counsel,  whether  to  cling  yet 
longer  to  traditional  controversies,  and  to  dissolving  parties,  or  to  rise  at 
once  to  nobler  aims,  with  new  and  more  energetic  associations  ? 


256 


THE  NEW  PARTY. 


[1855. 


I  do  not  wonder  at  your  suspense;  nor  do  I  censure  caution  or  even  timid¬ 
ity.  Fickleness  in  political  associations  is  a  weakness,  and  precipitancy  in 
public  action  is  a  crime. 

Sketching  then  the  history  of  the  growth  of  slavery  as  a  political 
power,  and  of  slave-holders  as  a  privileged  class,  he  pointed  out  how 
it  had  grasped,  one  after  another,  the  new  Territories,  as  they  presented 
themselves  for  admission  into  the  Union.  How  it  had  taken  Ken¬ 
tucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama,  almost  at  the  very  outset 
of  the  national  career;  then  Florida,  when  acquired  from  Spain;  then 
as  much  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  as  was  possible;  then  Texas  and 
the  Territories  acquired  from  Mexico, — all  the  while  deluding  the 
free  States  Avith  the  specious  pretense  that  each  successive  seizure  of 
“Free  Soil”  was  a  “Compromise,”  and  a  final  settlement  of  the 
slavery  question. 

Then  turning  to  the  question  of  the  future,  he  said: 

Slavery  is  not,  and  never  can  be,  perpetual.  It  will  be  overthrown,  either 
peacefully  or  lawfully,  under  this  Constitution;  or  it  will  work  the  subversion 
of  the  Constitution,  together  with  its  own  overthrow. 

Saying  that  it  was  best  to  take  an  existing  organization  if  one  could 
be  found,  he  called  up  the  several  parties,  and  passed  them  in  review: 

Shall  we  take  the  “Know-Nothings”  or  the  “American  Party,”  as  it  now 
more  ambitiously  names  itself  ?  It  stifles  its  voice,  and  suppresses  your  own 
free  speech,  lest  it  may  be  overheard  beyond  the  Potomac.  In  the  slave-hold¬ 
ing  States,  it  justifies  all  the  wrongs  committed  against  you. 

Let  it  pass  by. 

Shall  we  unite  ourselves  to  the  Democratic  party?  If  so,  to  which  section 
or  faction?  The  “Hards,”  who  are  so  stern  in  defending  the  aggressions, 
and  in  rebuking  the  Administration  through  whose  agency  they  are  committed? 
or  the  “Softs,”  who  protest  against  the  aggressions,  while  they  sustain  and 
invigorate  the  Administration?  What  is  it  but  the  same  party  which  has  led 
in  the  commission  of  all  those  aggressions,  and  claims  exclusively  the  political 
benefits?  Let  the  Democratic  party  pass. 

Shall  we  report  ourselves  to  the  Whig  party?  Where  is  it?  “Gentle 
Shepherd,  tell  me  where?  ”  It  was  a  strong  and  vigorous  party,  honorable 
for  energy,  noble  achievements,  and  still  more  noble  enterprises.  It  was 
moved  by  panics  and  fears  to  emulate  the  Democratic  party  in  its  practiced 
subserviency;  and  it  yielded  in  spite  of  your  remonstrances,  and  of  mine,  and 
now  there  is  neither  Whig  party,  nor  Whig,  south  of  the  Potomac.  Let,  then, 
the  Whig  party  pass.  It  committed  a  grievous  fault,  and  grievously  hath  it 
answered  it.  Let  it  march  out  of  the  field,  therefore,  with  all  the  honors. 

As  to  the  uew  party,  he  said: 

The  Republican  organization  has  laid  a  new,  sound,  and  liberal  platform. 


1855.] 


SPEECH  AT  AUBURN. 


257 


Its  principles  are  equal  and  exact  justice;  its  speech  open,  decided,  and  frank- 
That  is  the  party  for  us. 

Then  giving  in  his  own  adhesion  to  it,  he  added: 

I  do  not  know,  and  personally  I  do  not  greatly  care,  that  it  shall  work  out 
its  great  ends  this  year,  or  the  next,  or  in  my  life-time;  because  I  know  that 
those  ends  are  ultimately  sure. 

This  speech  was  listened  to  with  deep  interest  and  attention.  Gen¬ 
eral  Nye,  who  had  been  nominated  at  Syracuse,  as  one  of  the  Repub- 
lican  candidates  for  State  officers,  then  followed  as  a  representative 
of  those  who  came  into  the  party  from  the  Democratic  side.  Other 
speeches  followed.  The  proceedings  of  the  meeting  were  widely 
copied,  and  commented  upon.  It  was  felt  to  have  much  more  signifi¬ 
cance  than  its  numbers  seemed  to  imply.  Similar  meetings  were 
held  in  different  counties. 

Returned  to  Auburn  to  speak  at  a  meeting  of  his  Republican  towns¬ 
men,  on  the  night  before  election,  and  to  cast  his  vote  on  the  follow¬ 
ing  morning,  Seward  wrote  from  there: 

November  4. 

“  Reaching  home,  I  found  the  walks  and  grounds  covered  with  leaves, 
boughs  of  locust,  apples,  cherries,  chestnuts,  and  poplars,  detached  by  the 
weight  of  the  snow  strewed  in  the  court-yard.  Catherine  and  her  baby  were 
in  their  lodge,  and  gave  shelter  to  me  with  the  two  enormous  cats,  which  sat 
under  the  huge  stove.  The  house  was  locked  up  tight,  so  that  I  could  not 
enter  through  door  or  window.  But  Catherine  had  the  key,  made  me  a  fire, 
and  arranged  me  a  bed.  I  took  up  my  letters  and  newspapers,  and  these,  to¬ 
gether  with  visits  from  the  town  politicians,  occupied  me  until  ten,  when  I 
found  a  long,  sweet  repose. 

Watch  would  not  be  put  off  w'hen  he  found  me  until  he  had  kissed  my  face. 
Every  time  I  come  in  from  outside  he  goes  searching  for  you  and  Fanny 
throughout  the  house. 

I  say  nothing  of  the  election.  The  result  will  reach  you  as  soon  as  this  letter. 

November  6. 

Last  night  the  “Know-Nothings”  gathered  a  meeting  at  the  court-house, 
with  the  stimulants  of  music,  bonfires,  and  horns,  to  hear  the  speakers  defame 
me,  which  seems  to  be  the  capital  stock  of  their  party,  and  of  all  parties  ex¬ 
cept  our  own.  Their  notices  were  up  three  days.  The  Republicans  an¬ 
nounced  me  in  the  morning  to  speak  at  Stamford  Hall  in  the  evening.  There 
was  no  stimulant.  To  the  surprise  of  everybody,  the  weight  of  the  town  was 
at  Stamford  Hall.  I  spoke  an  hour  and  a  half  to  the  most  numerous  and 
most  respectable  mass  of  citizens  I  have  ever  seen  here.  I  see  a  returning 
spirit  of  sympathy  and  kindness  among  the  people.  I  did  not  spare  them  last 
night,  but  talked  directly,  plainly,  and  boldly. 

17 


258 


A  “know-nothing”  success. 


[1855. 


.  Watch  is  well  and  content.  The  cats  are  with  John  Van  Buren’s  party  — 
“  nowhere.” 

On  election  day  the  Republicans  polled  a  handsome  vote  in  the 
western  and  northern  parts  of  the  State,  but  were  overborne  by  the 
vote  of  the  cities  and  eastern  counties.  The  “  Americans  ”  and  “  Sil¬ 
ver  Gray”  Whigs  were  victorious,  electing  a  majority  of  the  State 
officers  and  Legislature.  The  “  Americans  ”  and  “  Democrats  ”  pointed 
with  exultation  to  the  small  vote  given  to  the  Republican  candidates, 
claiming  that  this  showed  the  anti-slavery  movement  was  dying  out. 
Apparently,  many  who  had  been  willing  to  express  their  dislike  of  the 
Nebraska  Bill  and  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  were  not  yet  prepared  to  per¬ 
manently  sever  old  party  connections.  Seward  said  in  his  letters: 

November  8. 

In  all  this  part  of  the  State  the  Democrats  are  lost  in  the  canvass  and  the 
“Know-Nothings”  reduced  in  strength.  But  the  large  cities  have  probably 
and  almost  certainly  given  to  the  “  Know-Nothings”  a  majority  of  the(  State 
officers.  So  I  am  to  go  to  Washington  to  maintain  the  cause  of  freedom,  sup¬ 
ported  by  only  a  minority  in  the  State.  Nevertheless,  it  is  something  that  the 
Administration  and  the  Democrats  are  weaker  than  the  Republicans,  and  that 
the  “  Know-Nothings”  will  inevitably  disappear  in  the  heat  of  the  great  na¬ 
tional  contest. 

November  10. 

As  usual,  I  am  oppressed  with  conflicting  claims.  The  Plymouth  oration, 
Florida  cares,  and  the  Spike  suit,  all  demand  severally  all  the  time  I  have.  I 
have  not  yet  decided  which  to  give  up.  The  “Know-Nothings”  take 
the  State  by  a  majority  a  little  more  than  half  of  their  majority  in  the  city. 
All  the  west  has  partially  or  fully  redeemed  itself,  but  New  York  and  the 
Hudson  river  country  are  submerged.  Old  friends  came  in  yesterday  panic 
struck  about  the  future.  But  my  philosophy  is  not  disturbed. 

November  18. 

You  perceive  how  I  am  lingering  here.  Last  night  I  took  up  the  speech  for 
Plymouth,  and  I  hope  in  two  or  three  days  to  make  something  out  of  it.  The 
events  of  the  election  show  that  the  “Silver  Grays”  have  been  successful  in 
a  new  and  attractive  form,  so  as  to  divert  a  majority  of  the  people  in  the  cities 
and  towns  from  the  great  question  of  the  day.  That  is  all.  The  country,  I 
mean  the  rural  districts,  still  remain  substantially  sound.  A  year  is  necessary 
to  let  the  cheat  wear  off.  s 

The  “underground  railroad”  works  wonderfully.  Two  passengers  came 
here  last  night.  Watch  attacked  one  of  them.  I  am  against  extending  suf¬ 
frage  to  dogs.  They  are  just  like  other  classes  of  'parvenus. 

The  “  underground  railroad,”*  as  the  stealthy  stream  of  fugitive 
slaves  across  the  free  States  into  Canada  was  called,  was  now  increas¬ 
ing  in  business.  Every  new  case  under  the  detested  “  Fugitive  Law  ” 


lS55-’56.] 


A  NEW  HOME. 


259 


not  only  called  attention  to  the  fugitives,  but  stimulated  the  efforts  of 
those  ready  to  assist  their  flight.  The  fugitive  now  found,  in  nearly 
every  Northern  city,  people  of  his  own  race  ready  to  help  him  forward, 
schooled  by  experience  in  the  ways  of  eluding  observation,  and  know¬ 
ing  where  the  benevolently  disposed  white  people  were  to  be  found,  on 
the  way,  who  would  give  money,  food,  or  shelter.  Volumes  have  been, 
and  more  might  be  written,  narrating  the  “hair-breadth  escapes” 
and  romantic  experiences  of  the  “passengers  by  the  underground.” 

No  vernier  25. 

Amid  many  interruptions,  I  have  brought  out  a  speech  for  Plymouth.  It  has 
been  a  wearisome  work,  and  I  fear  the  result  will  be  dull  and  tedious;  still  it 
seems  to  me  not  unworthy  of  the  theme.  When  all  was  done,  I  sat  down  and 
read  over  Webster’s  immortal  oration  on  the  same  subject,  to  see,  if  (with  my 
vanity  misleading  me)  I  could„  how  far  I  had  fallen  below  the  highest  expec¬ 
tation.  All  the  result  I  arrived  at,  was  the  very  natural  one,  that  I  could  not 
have  written  his  nor  he  mine.  The  world  magnifies  him  exceedingly  for  his 
oration.  It  will  curse  me  bitterly  for  mine;  and  yet  I  cannot  see  any  treason 
in  it. 

He  wrote  to  Baker,  who  was  now  Governor  Clark’s  private  secre¬ 
tary  : 

It  is  apparent  that  we  could  not,  all  at  once,  get  the  whole  public  mind  en¬ 
gaged.  I  grieve  for  the  disappointment  of  so  many  good  friends,  and  I  hang  my 
head  with  shame  for  the  State  ridden  over  by  this  pitiful  faction  of  “Know- 
Nothings;  ”  but  I  doubt  whether  any  other  termination  of  the  canvass  would 
have  been  better  calculated  to  promote  our  ultimate  success.  I  fear  that  those 
“Know-Nothings”  frighten  you.  There  is  just  so  much  gas  in  any  ascend¬ 
ing  balloon.  Before  the  balloon  is  down,  the  gas  must  escape.  But  the  bal¬ 
loon  is  always  sure,  not  only  to  come  down,  but  to  come  down  very  quick. 
The  heart  of  the  country  is  fixed  on  higher  and  nobler  things.  Do  not  dis¬ 
trust  it. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

1855-1856. 

A  New  Home.  Meeting  of  Congress.  Changes  in  the  Senate.  A  Dead-lock.  The  Ora¬ 
tion  at  Plymouth.  Wendell  Phillips  and  Theodore  Parker.  The  Message.  The  Clay  - 
ton-Bulwer  Treaty.  A  Conference  at  Silver  Spring.  Blair,  Chase,  Fremont,  and 
Preston  King.  Battles  in  the  Crimea.  The  Kansas  Struggle.  An  Extraordinary 
Message. 

The  new  residence  was  a  pretty  and  tasteful  house  on  the  corner  of 
G.  and  Twenty-first  streets,  built  by  Lieutenant  Woodhull  of  the  Navy, 


260 


A  HEW  HOME, 


[1855-’56. 


who  now  leased  it  for  three  years  to  the  New  York  Senator.  At  that 
day  it  was  considered  far  away  from  the  center  of  the  town,  and  “  half¬ 
way  to  Georgetown.”  A  few  other  substantial  and  comfortable  resi¬ 
dences,  belonging  to  Washington  families,  were  in  the  vicinity,  and 
one  of  them  was  occupied  by  the  Russian  Minister.  Some  had  gar¬ 
dens  or  pleasure-grounds.  But  there  was  a  dreary  waste  of  muddy, 
nnpaved  roads,  and  vacant  lots,  across  which  a  view  of  Georgetown 
was  had  in  one  direction,  and  the  more  closely-built  part  of  Washing¬ 
ton  in  the  other.  For  once  Seward  had  all  his  family  with  him. 
Books  and  furniture  had  been  supplemented  by  other  fresh  purchases, 
the  old  writing-chair  stood  in  the  cosy  little  library,  and  a  newly-en¬ 
graved  likeness  of  his  old  preceptor,  Dr.  Nott,  hung  over  the  mantel. 
There  were  spacious  parlors  and  a  comfortable  dining-room,  which 
would  enable  him  to  exercise  a  little  more  of  hospitality. 

One  of  the  best  of  the  engraved  portraits  of  Seward  is  that  taken  about 
this  period.  It  shows  him  still  youthful-looking  for  his  years,  slender 
in  build,  and  unchanged  in  face,  except  that  his  features  had  grown 
a  little  more  massive  with  advancing  age.  His  hair  had  lost  its  red. 
tinge  and  was  now  brown,  with  here  and  there  a  slight  streak  of  gray 
He  was  still  apparently  as  active,  cheerful,  elastic,  and  vigorous  as  he 
had  been  twenty  years  before. 

On  the  first  Monday  of  December,  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress  as¬ 
sembled.  Seward’s  credentials  for  the  new  term  were  read,  and  he  re¬ 
newed  his  oath  of  office.  Among  the  other  new  Senators  who  pre¬ 
sented  themselves  at  the  desk  for  that  ceremony,  were  Jacob  Collamer, 
John  J.  Crittenden,  Lafayette  S.  Foster,  James  Bell,  Lyman  Trum¬ 
bull,  and  James  Harlan,  who  now  entered  the  Senate,  and  John 
Slidell,  who  had  been  re-elected. 

Changes  had  come  over  the  Senate  since  Seward  first  came  into  it 
in  1849.  The  old  leaders  of  so  many  years,  Clay  and  Webster,  Cal¬ 
houn  and  Benton,  had  passed  away.  Two  Vice-Presidents  had  come 
and  gone,  and  Jesse  D.  Bright  now  occupied  the  chair.  Of  the  sixty 
Senators  who  had  sat  with  him  in  that  first  session,  only  fourteen 
were  remaining.  One  new  State  was  represented  on  the  floor.  The 
Democrats  held  their  preponderance,  but  the  rising  “  Anti-Nebraska” 
tide  had  swept  away  several  of  their  seats,  and  Seward,  instead  of  only 
having  Chase  and  Hale  for  anti-slavery  associates,  now  found  at  his 
side  Fessenden  and  Hamlin,  Foot  and  Collamer,  and  Bell,  Sumner  and 
Wilson,  Foster,  Fish,  Wade,  Trumbull,  Durkee,  and  Harlan. 

More  and  better  places  on  the  committees  now  had  to  be  accorded 
to  the  minority.  Seward  found  himself  assigned  to  those  on  Com¬ 
merce,  Pensions,  and  the  Pacific  Railroad.  Hale  humorously  re- 


1855-  56.] 


THE  PLYMOUTH  CELEBRATION. 


261 


marked:  “  The  Chair  will  recollect  that,  a  few  years  ago,  the  state  of 
my  political  health  was  such  that  I  was  not  fit  to  go  on  any  commit¬ 
tee.  I  think  it  indicates  progress;  it  shows  that  I  am  so  improved 
that  I  am  fit  to  be  at  the  tail  end  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Build¬ 
ings/’ 

Greater  change,  however,  had  occurred  in  the  popular  branch.  The 
new  House  of  Representatives,  elected  during  the  excitement  cre¬ 
ated  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  had  only  79  sup¬ 
porters  of  the  Administration,  while  117  were  opponents  of  the  Ne¬ 
braska  Bill.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Anti-Nebraska  men  would  easily 

V 

elect  a  Speaker.  But  this  hope  proved  ill-founded.  The  “  Know- 
Nothing”  or  “  American  ”  party  was  still  coherent.  Its  representa¬ 
tives  in  the  House  were  divided  about  the  slavery  question,  but  united 
in  their  desire  for  party  success.  So  it  was  soon  found  that  the  “  Ne¬ 
braska  Know-Nothings  ”  were  ready  enough  to  indirectly  aid  the 
Democrats,  while  the  “  Anti-Nebraska  Know-Nothings”  were  not  all 
prepared  to  go  in  with  the  Republicans.  The  balloting  for  Speaker, 
which  began  on  the  3d  of  December,  was  protracted  through  two 
months  —  the  Republicans  generally  voting  for  Banks,  and  the  Demo¬ 
crats  for  Richardson,  while  the  “Americans”  and  “Old  Line  Whigs” 
divided  their  votes  among  different  candidates.  The  press  chronicled 
the  progress  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  ballotings,  and  the 
public  watched  the  contest. 

Meanwhile,  there  was  little  that  the  Senate  could  do.  The  Presi- 
dent’s  message  was  held  back  from  day  to  day,  and  legislation  was  im¬ 
possible  without  joint  action  of  the  two  Houses.  Seward  introduced 
a  bill  for  the  railroad  to  the  Pacific,  and  resolutions  for  weather  ob¬ 
servations  like  those  afterward  inaugurated  by  the  Signal  Service. 

Fortunately  the  delay  in  public  business  gave  him  time  to  study  his 
Plymouth  speech,  and  complete  it.  Early  on  Tuesday  morning,  the 
18th,  he  set  out  for  Plymouth,  accompanied  by  his  youngest  son, 
reaching  Boston  on  Wednesday  night.  On  Friday  the  celebration  of 
Forefathers’  Day  took  place  in  the  town  the  Pilgrims  had  planted. 

It  was  more  than  usually  enthusiastic.  “  The  Pilgrims  and  Lib¬ 
erty  ”  was  the  title  of  Seward’s  address.  The  theme  was  a  trite  one, 
and  yet  capable  of  original  treatment,  when  viewed  from  the  stand¬ 
point  furnished  by  passing  political  events.  He  said: 

Let  us  consider  now  the  scope  and  the  full  import  of  the  Puritan  principle. 
That  scope  is  not  narrowed  by  any  failure  of  the  Puritans  themselves  to  com¬ 
prehend  it,  or  even  by  any  neglect  on  their  part  to  cover  it  fully  in  their  own 
political  conduct.  The  Puritan  principle  is  the  inviolability  of  all  the  ac¬ 
knowledged  natural  rights  of  man,  as  well  those  which  concern  his  duty  to 


262 


THE  PLYMOUTH  ORATION. 


[1855-’56. 


himself  and  his  duty  to  others,  as  those  which  arise  out  of  his  direct  duties 
toward  God.  The  Puritan  principle  further  involves  the  political  equality  of 
all  men. 

One  of  the  journals  of  the  day  thus  described  the  scene: 

Plymouth  was  thronged.  The  celebration  wras  impressive  and  spirited. 
The  “  Rock  ”  was  carefully  dug  out  for  the  occasion.  The  relics  of  the  “  May¬ 
flower  ”  and  the  mementoes  of  her  passage  across  the  ocean,  and  her  priceless 
freight  and  great  mission  were  displayed  in  Pilgrims’  Hall.  The  streets  were 
filled  with  strangers  from  the  vicinity  of  Plymouth  not  only,  but  from  remote 
States.  A  procession  with  music,  religious  exercises  in  a  church,  an  oration,  a 
costly  and  generous  dinner-feast,  with  toasts  and  speeches,  and  a  ball  in  the 
evening,  constituted  the  celebration.  The  oration,  delivered  by  Governor 
Seward,  is  the  expression  of  that  statesman’s  philosophy  and  policy. 

Among  the  incidents  of  the  dinner  table,  Wendell  Phillips  declared  that  he 
would  not  acknowledge  the  right  of  Plymouth  to  the  “Rock.”  “It  under¬ 
lies,”  said  he,  “  the  whole  country  and  only  crops  out  here.  It  cropped  out 
where  Putnam  said,  ‘Don’t  fire,  boys,  until  you  see  the  whites  of  their  eyes.’ 
It  showed  itself  where  Ingraham  rescued  Martin  Koszta  from  Austrian  despot¬ 
ism.  Jefferson  used  it  for  his  writing-desk,  and  Lovejoy  leveled  his  musket 
across  it  at  Alton.  I  recognized  the  clink  of  it  to-day,  when  the  great  apos¬ 
tle  of  the  ‘Higher  Law’  laid  his  beautiful  garland  upon  the  sacred  altar.” 
“He  says  he  is  not  descended  from  the  Mayflower ;  that  is  a  mistake.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  pedigree  of  mind,  as  well  as  of  body.” 

Though  he  and  Theodore  Parker  had  so  long  been  in  correspond¬ 
ence  with  each  other,  they  met  at  Plymouth  for  the  first  time. 
After  returning  to  Washington,  Seward,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  him, 
wrote: 

I  thought,  and  I  still  think,  you  too  just  to  be  consciously  partial.  So  I 
■will  set  down  your  praise  of  my  Plymouth  effort  to  the  account  of  your  zeal 
in  the  noble  cause  to  which  it  was  dedicated. 

There  are  two  things  that  I  desired  to  say  to  you ,  viz. :  First,  that  I  was 
very  anxious  to  meet  you  at  home,  for  the  purpose  of  assuring  myself  that  you 
have  the  stoicism  necessary  to  enable  you  to  continue  to  a  triumphant  end  the 
contest  with  Boston  demoralization,  which  you  have  so  thoroughly  begun. 
Although  I  only  spoke  six  words  with  you,  I  was  abundantly  satisfied  on  that 
point,  and,  therefore,  I  assured  Air.  Sumner  and  Air.  AVilson,  on  my  return 
here,  that  I  considered  Massachusetts  at  last  regained  to  the  cause  of  human 
nature.  I  found  you  just  such  a  person  as  I  think  only  can  fio-ht  the  battle 
against  slavery  in  Boston  successfully.  . 

The  other  was,  that  the  anti-slavery  ranks,  in  New  England  especially,  con¬ 
tain  men  who  have  no  idea  of  the  principle  of  a  division  of  labor  and  of  a  dis¬ 
criminating  cast  of  parts.  These  have,  for  a  dozen  years,  thought  it  right  and 
wise  to  censure  and  cast  suspicion  on  the  public  laborers,  here  and  elsewhere, 
who  did  not  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions,  great  or  small,  and  even  without 
occasion,  act  with  themselves  and  exactly  in  their  own  way.  Alutual  bicker- 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

JNIVERSITY  OF  ILUNO1 


SEWARD  IN  THE  SENATE. 


MRS,  SEWARD 


1855-’56.J 


THE  CLAYTON-BULWER  TREATY'. 


2G3 


ings  among  the  advocates  of  any  cause  are  very  injurious  to  its  progress. 
What  I  had  seen  of  Wendell  Phillips  had  prepared  me  to  believe  that  he,  more 
wise  than  those  I  have  described,  could  tolerate  in  me  the  exercise  of  discre¬ 
tion  which  they  disallowed.^  What  I  had  heard  of  you  encouraged  me  to  hope 
the  same  from  yourself.  But  I  wanted  expressly  to  see  you  and  Mr.  Phillips 
and  have  a  full  understanding  on  that  subject.  Although  I  failed  to  obtain 
opportunities  for  these  explanations,  my  visit  was  nevertheless  completely  suc¬ 
cessful  in  this  respect  also.  Mr.  Phillips  was  just  and  magnanimous.  Your 
letter  even  divines  my  desires  and  fully  satisfies  them.  I  am  indeed  worth 
little  to  the  cause  of  political  justice  by  myself  alone,  but  I  hope  to  serve  and 
advance  it  by  persuading  some  portion  of  my  countrymen  to  adopt  and  main¬ 
tain  it  also.  When  I  seem  unmoved  and  inactive,  you  rightly  conclude  that 
it  is  only  because  I  am  keeping  steadily  in  view  a  coming  occasion  and  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  move  and  act,  as  I  think,  more  wisely  and  effectively.  I  will  not 
deny  to  you,  my  dear  sir,  the  confession  that  my  life  is  chiefly  dedicated  to 
the  advancement  of  a  reform  which  I  think  cannot  be  hastily  or  convulsively 
made;  that  the  record  by  which  I  mean  to  be  tried  is  one  to  reach,  not  to  any 
period  or  point  of  elevation,  but  to  the  end  of  my  life;  and  the  only  earthly 
tribunal  to  whom  I  submit  myself  is  posterity.  If  this  seem  to  you  egotisti¬ 
cal,  as  I  confess  it  does  to  me,  I  pray  you  remember  that  even  if  you  do  not, 
some  other  Theodore  Parker  will  survive  me,  and  I  fear  such  obituaries  as  you 
have  given  to  a  statesman,  who,  though  infinitely  my  superior  in  ability,  was 
not  subjected  to  any  greater  responsibilities  than  I  am. 

I  am  glad  that  you  sent  your  “Trial”  to  Auburn,  although  I  failed  to  re¬ 
ceive  it  there.  I  went  to  the  book-store  in  Boston,  and  was  buying  one, 
but  my  friend,  Mr.  Ezra  Lincoln,  insisted  on  paying  for  it.  I  read  it  all  on 
my  way  home,  and  found  it  just  what  the  exigency  of  the  hour  demands,  a 
noble  and  effective  alarm  against  judicial  prostitutions,  preparatory  to  a  battle 
that  will  come  next,  after  the  Kansas  question  is  settled. 

Seward  was  in  his  seat  in  the  Senate  when  the  President,  determin¬ 
ing  to  wait  no  longer  than  the  end  of  the  year,  sent  in  his  message. 
One  portion  of  the  document  entered  into  elaborate  argument  to  re¬ 
fute  what  the  President  called  the  “  reiterated  but  groundless  allega¬ 
tion  that  the  South  had  persistently  asserted  claims  and  obtained 
advantages,  in  the  practical  administration  of  the  General  Government, 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  North,  and  in  which  the  latter  has  acquiesced.” 
When  this  was  read,  a  fellow-Senator  leaned  over  to  Seward’s  desk 
with  a  smile,  saying:  “He’s  answering  your  Albany  speech.” 

Immediately  after  the  reading,  Mr.  Clayton  rose  to  comment  on  the 
part  of  the  message  referring  to  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty.  This 
brought  on  a  debate  upon  the  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  and  the  proposed  inter-oceanic  canal.  Seward  took 
occasion  to  say: 

I  am  prepared  to  stand  by  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  and  insist  upon  its 
enforcement,  if  that  will  do.  I  am  ready  to  go  further,  if  need  be;  but  not 


264 


A  CONFERENCE  AT  SILVER  SPRING. 


[1855-’56. 


any  further  unless  need  be.  That  is  to  say,  if  we  cannot  stand  and  hold  the 
British  Government  to  this  treaty,  I  am  ready  then  for  the  assertion  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  the  “Monroe  Doctrine.”  I  co-operated  with  those  who  said  that 
the  Clayton-Bulwer Treaty  secured  all  that  we  required  at  that  time;  that  the 
British  Government  were  held  by  it.  I  am  for  maintaining  peace;  but  at  the 
same  time  we  must  maintain  the  national  rights,  the  continental  rights  of  our 
position. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  he  wrote  to  Weed: 

Washington,  December  31,  1855. 

When  I  came  home  from  Boston,  I  found  that  Governor  Chase  of  Ohio 
had  arrived,  and  called  at  my  house,  two  days  before. 

On  Friday  afternoon,  Mr.  Blair  sent  me  a  note  inviting  me  to  meet  some 
friends  at  his  country  seat,  the  next  day,  at  dinner,  to  take  measures  for  an 
organization  of  the  “Anti-Nebraska”  force  for  the  Presidential  election.  On 
Saturday  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Blair,  approving  of  his  activity,  but  declining  his  in¬ 
vitation  to  the  dinner,  on  the  ground  of  a  rule  which  forbade  me  from  taking 
part,  personally,  in  plans  or  schemes  for  political  action.  He,  however,  had 
before  sent  Dr.  Bailey  to  urge  me  to  come,  and  the  Doctor  had  informed  me 
that  the  party  at  Blair’s  was  to  consist  of  Chase,  Bailey,  Sumner,  Banks,  and 
Preston  King.  The  dinner  then  went  off,  and  the  conference.  To-day,  Pres¬ 
ton  King  desired  to  speak  with  me  about  the  organization  of  the  party,  be¬ 
cause  he  had  promised  Mr.  Blair  he  would.  He  added,  that  measures  were  in 
progress  to  have  a  convention  called  from  Ohio,  to  meet  at  Pittsburgh  or  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  to  nominate  a  ticket.  That  it  was  to  be  on  the  Ohio  plan,  half  Re¬ 
publican,  and  half  “Know-Nothing.”  That  the  thing  was  acquiesced  in,  or 
would  be  in  all  the  free  States  except  New  York;  and  that  while  Mr.  Blair 
favored  Fremont,  Chase  was  personally  a  candidate.  I  answered  Mr.  King  that 
I  took  no  part,  and  no  responsibility  in  conventions  or  organizations.  I  re¬ 
ferred  him  to  you. 

I  said  in  reply  to  his  remark,  “  that  you  had  told  him  I  did  not  think  of  being 
a  candidate,”  that  was  true;  that  I  had  only  one  answer  to  give  him  and  others, 
on  the  subject  of  the  arrangement  proposed.  That  since  my  opinion  was 
asked,  I  must  distinctly  protest  against  any  combination  with  “Know-Noth¬ 
ings”;  and  that  if,  as  he  assured  me,  that  was  inevitable,  then  at  a  proper 
time,  and  in  a  proper  way,  I  should  let  the  world  know  that  I  disavowed  all 
connection  or  sympathy  with  such  a  combination ;  and  my  support  of  candi¬ 
dates  must  be  placed  by  myself  distinctly  on  grounds  other  than,  and  different 
from,  “  Know-Nothingism.”  , 

You  have  the  whole  of  it.  You  will  see  the  proceedings  in  the  Senate  to¬ 
day.  I  had  some  trouble  to  keep  some  of  our  Republican  friends  from  falling, 
or  rather  jumping  into  the  pit,  that  the  President  had  dug  for  us  so  skillfully. 

The  year  now  drawing  to  a  close  had  seen  no  cessation  of  the  great 
struggle  going  on  in  the  Crimea.  The  accession  of  Sardinia  to  the 
French,  English,  and  Turkish  alliance;  the  stubborn  resistance  of  the 
Russians;  the  concordat  between  Austria  and  the  Holy  See;  the  suffer- 


1855— ’56  .J 


AN  EXTRAORDINARY  MESSAGE. 


265 


ings  of  the  troops  in  the  trenches  before  Sebastopol;  the  successive 
changes  of  commanders;  the  battle  of  Tchernaya;  the  storming  of  the 
Malakoff  and  Redan;  the  evacuation  of  Sebastopol;  the  defeat  at  Kars, 
had  followed  in  rapid  succession,  attracting  attention  and  eliciting  sym¬ 
pathies  among  the  New  World  descendants  of  Old  World  nationalities. 

From  the  West,  as  well  as  from  the  East,  came  news  of  interest. 
The  “  Free  State  Constitution  ”  for  Kansas,  framed  by  the  Convention 
at  Topeka,  had  been  adopted  by  the  settlers  in  December.  Under  its 
provisions,  an  election  was  appointed  to  be  held  in  January,  to  choose 
State  officers  and  Legislature.  The  “  Border  Ruffians,”  to  check  and 
defeat  this  movement,  again  invaded  the  Territory,  broke  up  the  bal¬ 
lot-boxes,  and  drove  voters  from  the  polls.  During  the  winter, 
scenes  of  violence  were  frequent.  ‘‘Free  State  men”  were  murdered. 
Armed  gangs  seemed  bent  upon  inaugurating  a  reign  of  terror,  Avith 
bowie-knife  and  revolver.  Appeals  were  made,  not  only  to  slave¬ 
holders  in  the  border  counties  of  Missouri  but  throughout  the  South¬ 
ern  States,  to  help  the  good  Avork  of  “driving  out  the  abolitionists.” 
Slave-holding  regions  Avere  invited  to  contribute  men  and  money,  and 
forward  squads  of  young  men  “  as  rapidly  as  they  could  be  armed,” 
to  the  scene.  It  Avas  realized  by  the  leaders,  that  if  these  elections 
Avere  allowed  to  go  on  quietly,  a  free  State  Avould  be  organized  and 
soon  would  be  asking  admission  into  the  Union. 

Appeals  Avere  also  made  to  the  Administration,  to  lend  Government 
aid  in  thwarting  the  movements  of  the  settlers  and  Emigrant  Aid  So¬ 
cieties.  “If  Ave  are  defeated  this  time,”  said  one,  “the  Territory  is 
lost  to  the  South.”  Atchison  said,  “  We  must  have  the  support  of  the 
South.  We  are  fighting  the  battles  of  the  South.” 

On  the  24th  of  January,  the  President  sent  in  to  the  Senate  a 
special  message,  beginning  AVTith  condemnation  of  the  “  pernicious  agi¬ 
tation  on  the  condition  of  colored  persons  held  to  service,”  and  of  the 
Emigrant  Aid  Societies  of  the  North,  and  then  arraigning  the  course 
of  Governor  Reeder,  indorsing  and  approving  the  pro-slavery  Legisla¬ 
ture,  and  condemning  the  Free  State  Convention  at  Topeka.  Their 
acts  he  considered  “revolutionary”  and  “tending  to  treasonable  in¬ 
surrection.”  To  put  this  down  he  should  call  out  the  public  force; 
and  if  necessary,  the  militia  of  one  or  more  States.  He  recommended 
that  Congress  should  enact  alaAv,  delaying  the  time,  and  prescribing 
the  steps  to  be  taken,  prior  to  application  by  Kansas  for  admission 
into  the  Union.  Then  came  the  most  significant  part  of  the  mes¬ 
sage —  a  request  fora  special  appropriation  to  “defray  any  expense 
which  might  become  requisite  to  execute  the  laws,  and  maintain  pub¬ 
lic  order  in  the  Territory.” 


266 


BANKS  ELECTED  SPEAKER. 


[1856. 


When  this  extraordinary  message  was  received  and  read  it  was  evi¬ 
dent  that  the  pro-slavery  majority  were  not  unprepared  for  it,  and 
were  ready  at  once  to  carry  out  its  recommendations.  It  was  proposed 
to  send  it  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  every  member  of  which  was  an 
Administration  Democrat.  The  remonstrances  of  Seward,  Wilson,  and 
others  only  succeeded  so  far  as  to  get  it  sent  to  the  Committee  on 
Territories,  which  had  one  Republican  member,  Mr.  Collamer.  Sew¬ 
ard  wrote  to  his  son  at  Albany: 

Jan.  26,  1856. 

I  am  attempting  to  hold  the  Senate  off  from  the  Kansas  question  until  the 
House  can  organize. 


CHAPTER  XXXY. 

1856. 

Banks  Elected  Speaker.  Kansas  in  the  House.  Alvah  Worden.  The  Pittsburgh  Conven¬ 
tion.  The  Congressional  Caucus.  The  “  $3,000,000  Bill.”  The  Kansas  Debate.  The 
Investigation.  Seward  Advocates  Immediate  Admission.  Presidential  Conferences. 
Caucuses  and  Conventions.  The  Assault  on  Sumner. 


Late  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  2d  of  February,  came  the 
welcome  news  that  the  long  contest  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
had  been  terminated.  Banks  was  elected  Speaker.  Strangers  and  of¬ 
ficials  from  all  parts  of  the  Capitol  hurried  into  the  brilliantly-lighted 
chamber  to  see  the  oath  administered  to  the  first  Republican  Speaker, 
by  the  white-haired  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  the  “Father  of  the  House,” 
and  to  hear  the  customary  brief  address  on  taking  the  chair. 

Among  those  who  had  been  awaiting  the  organization  of  the  House, 
none  had  better  reason  for  impatience  than  the  settlers  in  Kansas, 
who  were  crushed  “as  between  upper  and  nether  mill-stones  ” —  be¬ 
tween  the  violence  of  the  “Border  Ruffian”  invaders  and  the  hostile 
orders  of  the  General  Government.  Two  candidates,  each  claiming  to 
have  been  elected  to  represent  the  Territory  in  Congress,  had  pre¬ 
sented  themselves  at  the  bar  of  the  House.  One  was  Whitefield,  who 
had  received  some  3,000  votes,  cast  by  the  Missouri  invaders,  when 
there  were  not  1,500  voters  in  the  Territory.  The  other  was  ex-Gov- 
ernor  Reeder,  who,  having  been  turned  out  of  office  by  the  Adminis¬ 
tration  that  appointed  him,  and  stigmatized  as  a  “traitor,”  for  trying 
to  do  his  duty,  had  become  a  “Free  State”  man,  and  had  been 
elected  by  the  settlers.  Whitefield  had  taken  the  seat  at  the  opening 


1856.] 


A  CONGRESSIONAL  CAUCUS. 


267 


of  the  session,  and  Reeder  appeared  as  a  contestant,  with  a  memorial 
claiming  that  Whitefield’s  “  pretended  election  ”  was  “  absolutely 
void/’  The  debate  that  arose  was  long  continued,  and  often  bitter, 
calling  out  the  parliamentary  talent  and  skill  on  both  sides. 

The  Senate,  as  yet,  continued  the  consideration  of  questions  of  di¬ 
plomacy  and  finance. 

About  the  middle  of  February,  Seward  was  summoned  northward 
by  news  of  the  fatal  illness  of  his  brother-in-law,  Alvali  Worden,  at 
Canandaigua.  Mr.  Worden  had  held  a  prominent  place  in  the  legal 
profession,  and  his  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  members  of  the 
Bar  from  Rochester,  Buffalo,  and  Auburn.  His  remains  were  deposited 
in  the  village  cemetery. 

•  Washington's  birthday  had  been  deemed  an  appropriate  time  to 
begin  the  national  organization  of  the  new  Republican  party.  On  that 
day  a  convention,  representing  “those  opposed  to  the  recent  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  invasion  of  Kansas,  and  the  aggres¬ 
sions  of  slavery,”  assembled  at  Pittsburgh.  There  were  delegates 
representing  eacli  of  the  free  States,  besides  some  from  Kentucky, Vir¬ 
ginia,  and  Maryland.  Among  those  from  the  latter  State  was  Francis 
P.  Blair,  who  was  called  to  preside  over  the  assemblage.  A  clear  and 
forcible  “address  to  the  people,”  prepared  by  Lieutenant-Governor 
Raymond  of  New  York,  was  adopted  and  issued.  A  National  Conven¬ 
tion  was  called,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  (June  17),  at  which  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President  would  be  nominated. 

In  March  after  attending  a  caucus  of  “those  opposed  to  the  Ad¬ 
ministration  on  the  Kansas  question,”  Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

March  13. 

I  attended  the  caucus,  and  although  I  left  that  body  evidently  somewhat 
re-inspired,  I  came  away  with  feelings  of  my  own,  sad  and  unhopeful.  I  had 
never  before  seen  strong  and  virtuous  men  writhing  under  the  pressure  of  self- 
assumed  obligations,  inconsistent  with  their  sense  of  duty. 

It  is  manifest  that  here,  the  tone  of  anti-slavery  feeling  is  becoming  daily 
more  and  more  modified,  under  the  pressure  of  the  “  Know-Nothing  ”  influ¬ 
ences.  While  we  met  in  caucus  and  cheered  each  other  with  strong  anti¬ 
slavery  speeches,  those  who  advised  and  got  up  the  affair  announce,  every¬ 
where,  that  the  object  is  to  let  us  down  to  the  level  of  non-committal  and  ques¬ 
tionable  nominations.  They  represent  even  me  as  advocating  their  policy.  Thus 
my  speech,  which  was  of  an  entirely  different  character,  is  so  presented,  I  can¬ 
not  remonstrate,  dispute,  or  complain.  Yet  I  feel  as  if  I  was  already  half 
demoralized.  If  Kansas  comes  here  soon  with  a  Constitution,  I  shall  make  ' 
a  bold  effort  for  her  acceptance,  which  may  present  an  issue  on  which  we  can 
rally  the  party. 


268 


SPEECH  FOR  KANSAS. 


[1856. 


On  the  12th  of  March,  Douglas,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Territories,  had  brought  in  his  report  on  the  Kansas  troubles. 
Of  course,  it  took  the  side  of  the  Administration,  condemned  the 
action  of  the  free  State  men,  and  denounced  the  Emigrant  Aid 
Societies.  Collamer,  on  behalf  of  the  minority,  or  rather  being 
himself  the  minority,  submitted  an  adverse  report,  defending  and 
upholding  the  settlers.  Resolutions  of  inquiry  had  been  answered, 
by  the  President,  with  copious  documents.  Sharp  debate  had  al¬ 
ready  arisen  over  them.  On  the  17th  of  March,  Douglas  reported  a 
bill  providing  that  whenever  the  people  of  Kansas  should  number 
93,420,  they  might  hold  a  convention,  and  form  a  Constitution,  with  a 
view  to  admission  as  a  State.  The  bill  ignored  the  convention  already 
held.  For  this  Seward  offered  a  substitute,  providing  for  the  imme¬ 
diate  admission  of  Kansas,  with  the  Constitution  already  made. 
Thereupon  began  a  long  debate. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  contested  seat  claimed  by 
Whitefield  and  Reeder  led  to  propositions  for  committees  of  investi¬ 
gation.  Finally  a  resolution  was  adopted  that  a  committee  should  be 
appointed  to  go  to  the  Territory,  take  depositions,  examine  witnesses, 
and  investigate  not  only  the  matter  of  the  election,  but  the  “  troubles 
in  Kansas  generally.”  Thus  began  the  celebrated  Kansas  Investigat¬ 
ing  Committee,  of  which  William  A.  Howard  of  Michigan,  John 
Sherman  of  Ohio,  and  Mordecai  Oliver  of  Missouri,  were  the  members. 

Seward  took  the  floor  on  the  9th  of  April,  and  spoke  at  length  in 
favor  of  the  immediate  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  free  State.  He  nar¬ 
rated  how  Kansas,  in  1820,  was  assigned  as  a  permanent  home  for  In¬ 
dian  tribes,  and  with  a  pledge  to  the  American  people  that  “  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  should  be  tolerated  therein  for¬ 
ever;”  how,  in  1854,  Congress  removed  the  Indians  and  “  rescinded 
the  pledge  of  freedom,”  substituting  for  it  another  pledge,  that  the 
settlers  “  should  be  left  perfectly  free  to  establish  or  exclude  slavery;  ” 
how,  in  1855,  this  pledge  was  also  broken,  when  “  armed  bands  of 
invaders  from  the  State  of  Missouri  entered  the  Territory,  seized  the 
polls,  overpowered  or  drove  away  the  inhabitants,  usurped  the  elective 
franchise,  deposited  false  and  spurious  ballots,  and  procured  official 
certificates  of  the  result  by  fraud  and  force.  How  legislative  bodies 
thus  chosen,  afterward  assembled,  set  forth  a  code  of  laws,  created 
public  offices,  and  filled  them,  and  thus  established  a  complete  tyranny 
over  the  people  of  the  Territory.”  He  added,  that  “  these  high¬ 
handed  transactions  were  consummated  with  the  expressed  purpose  of 
establishing  African  slavery  by  force,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  the 
people  solemnly  guaranteed  to  them  by  the  Congress  of  the  United 


1856.] 


CANDIDATES  AND  PLATFORMS. 


269 


States.  The  President  of  the  United  States  has  adopted  the  usurpa¬ 
tion  and  made  it  his  own,  and  he  is  now  maintaining  it  with  the  mili¬ 
tary  arm  of  the  republic.” 

He  then  proceeded  to  analyze  and  answer  the  various  arguments 
presented  on  the  part  of  the  Administration  in  support  of  their  policy, 
and  defended  the  settlers  in  maintaining  their  struggle  for  freedom 
against  such  risks  and  sacrifices.  Then  describing  the  existing  con-  > 
dition  of  affairs  in  the  Territory,  he  said: 

There  has  not  been  one  day  or  night  since  the  Government  of  Kansas  was 
constituted,  in  which  either  the  properties,  or  the  liberties,  or  even  the  lives 
of  its  citizens  have  been  secure  against  violence.  At  this  day,  Kansas  is  becom¬ 
ing  the  scene  of  a  conflict  of  irreconcilable  opinions,  to  be  determined  by  brute 
force.  No  emigrant  goes  there  unarmed;  no  citizen  dwells  there  in  safety 
unarmed;  armed  masses  of  men  are  proceeding  into  the  Territory  to  complete 
the  work  of  invasion  and  tyranny.  This  gathering  conflict  in  Kansas  divides 
the  sympathies,  interests,  passions,  and  prejudices  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 

In  conclusion  he  said: 

Shall  we  confess  that  the  proclamation  of  “popular  sovereignty’’  was  not 
merely  a  failure,  but  was  a  pretense  and  a  fraud?  Or  will  Senators  now  con¬ 
tend  that  the  people  of  Kansas  are  in  the  enjoyment  and  exercise  of  popular 
sovereignty  ? 

This  speech  was  listened  to  with  close  attention.  Republicans  in 
Congress  and  throughout  the  country  read,  quoted,  and  reprinted  it. 

Meanwhile  the  conferences  and  caucuses  in  regard  to  the  coming 
Presidential  campaign  were  going  on  at  the  capital.  Those  who  were 
expecting  to  come  over  from  the  “  American  ”  party  into  the  Repub¬ 
lican  one,  naturally  enough  desired  that  their  path  into  the  new  organi¬ 
zation  might  be  made  smooth.  Seward,  while  ready  to  welcome  their 
accession,  was  not  disposed  to  lend  any  aid  or  countenance  to  the 
“Know-Nothing  doctrines,”  and  was  especially  solicitous  that  no 
action  should  be  taken  which  would  tend  to  divert  public  attention 
from  the  issue  of  freedom  in  the  Territories. 

He  wrote  to  Weed. 

April  4. 

The  consultations  about  organization  have  ripened  here  into  the  general  im¬ 
pression  that  it  will  be  expedient  to  nominate  the  California  candidate.  How 
long  that  will  be  the  public  opinion  here,  or  how  widely  it  will  extend  abroad, 
you  can  calculate  better  than  I.  But  a  consequence  of  these  discussions  re¬ 
quires  attention.  The  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  in  the  House  have 
agreed  to  report  a  general  appropriation  bill  for  the  Territories  (including 
Kansas).  This  is  giving  up  the  new  State ,  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  Presidential 


270 


“REPUBLICANS”  AND  “AMERICANS.” 


[1856. 


issue.  It  is  quite  important  that  the  press  arrest  this  bad  move.  Again,  we 
shall  have  the  New  State  movement  inaugurated  in  the  Senate  next  Monday. 
Public  meetings  and  petitions  for  the  immediate  admission  of  Kansas  are  indis¬ 
pensable  to  bring  the  House  up  to  the  point.  We  are  all  clear  in  the  Senate* 
Will  you  think  of  this,  and  if  you  think  best,  act? 

April  14. 

Mr.  Blair  has  just  called  on  me  to  express  his  fears  that  the  “Know-Noth¬ 
ing  ”  Convention  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  on  the  12th,  may  nominate  a 
candidate,  and  so  embarrass  the  action  of  the  Republican  Convention.  He 
expressed  a  very  earnest  desire  that  I  would  write  and  urge  you  to  come  here, 
he  having  an  idea  that  it  may  be  necessary  to  change  the  day  of  holding  the 
Republican  Convention. 

April  21. 

I  wish  I  could  report  that  things  here  are  as  satisfactory  as  you  contemplate. 
But,  in  truth,  this  House  of  Representatives  is  like  the  moon.  It  shines 
brightest  and  smoothest  at  a  distance.  More  than  half  the  majority  are 
“  Americans,  ”  engaged  in  demoralizing  the  Congress  and  the  country.  The 
speech  is  feared  by  them  almost  as  badly  as  by  Democrats.  The  demand  for  it 
from  the  country,  all  parts,  is  immense,  exceeding  what  I  have  ever  known.  I  am 
giving  the  copies  away  by  the  one  hundred,  and  even  the  one  thousand,  to  appli¬ 
cants,  for  distribution  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  other  States.  It  seems  to 
me,  as  it  does  to  you,  that  the  whole  battle  turns  on  the  points  involved  in  the 
speech,  and  that  with  that  issue  brought  home  to  the  people,  all  can  be  saved; 
without  it,  all  must  be  lost. 

April  27. 

I  am  content  and  quiet  on  the  personal  question  which  occupies  and  en¬ 
grosses  the  public  mind.  I  feel  assured  that  the  men  are  now  educated,  who 
will  carry  forward  to  the  end  the  policy  for  which  we  have  labored  so  long, 
and  under  circumstances  so  discouraging.  Public  life  has  no  attractions  for 
me,  except  the  possibility  of  doing  good,  which  another  might  not  be  willing 
to  do,  if  in  my  place.  I  am  weary  enough  to  leave  my  work  in  other  hands,  as 
soon  as  they  shall  be  ready  to  undertake  it.  It  is  a  delicate  thing  to  go 
through  the  present  ordeal,  but  I  am  endeavoring  to  do  so  without  giving  any¬ 
one  just  cause  to  complain  of  indifference,  on  my  part,  to  the  success  of  the 
cause.  I  have  shut  out  the  subject  itself  from  correspondence  and  conversa¬ 
tion,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  from  my  thoughts.  When  the  array  of  the  battle 
shall  be  set  and  fixed  by  those  to  whom  it  belongs,  I  shall  decide  upon  my 
own  line  of  duty,  so  as  to  save  my  independence,  without  the  exhibition  of 
personal  susceptibilities. 

Day  before  yesterday,  Mr.  Wilson  of  Massachusetts  brought  me  a  general 
call  of  the  caucus  of  the  Anti-Nebraska  members  of  Congress.  I  supposed  that 
it  related  to  some  manner  of  legislative  action.  It  was  signed  by  himself,  Fish, 
Sumner,  and  others  of  the  Senate.  I  signed  it  at  once.  *  Yesterday  Dr.  Bailey 
came  and  informed  me  that  the  object  was  to  issue  a  congressional  call  for  a 
“  People’s  Convention  ”  to  nominate  candidates.  I  wTrote  a  note  to  Mr.  Wilson 
requesting  him  to  erase  my  name.  It  seemed  bad  enough  for  me,  who  despise 


1856.] 


SUMNER  ASSAULTED. 


271 


and  deprecate  congressional  caucuses  concerning  our  party  questions,  to  have 
to  sign  such  a  call,  under  any  circumstances;  but  still  worse  to  sign  a  call  fora 
new  and  different  convention,  when,  as  a  Republican,  I  wras  distinctly  identified 
with  the  call  of  another  and  distiuct  convention.  I  am  able  to  conceive  some¬ 
thing  of  the  perplexities  which  the  “ Know-Nothing”  faction  have  created; 
and,  therefore,  quite  willing  and  anxious  to  see  every  thing  done  that  can  be 
done  to  remove  them. 

Last  night  Mr.  Sage  and  Mr.  Morgan  came  here  to  consult  me  about  a  move¬ 
ment  of  the  Anti-Nebraska  members  of  Congress,  or  rather  of  the  House  of  Repre¬ 
sentatives.  Mr.  Sage  said  it  proceeded  on  the  suggestion  of  Governor  Johnson  of 
Pennsylvania,  that  the  object  was  to  call  a  convention  of  all  the  opponents  of  the 
Administration  and  of  Nebraska,  at  or  about  the  same  time  and  the  same  place, 
with  the  Republican  Convention,  so  that  through  that  distinct  door  “  Ameri¬ 
cans  ”  could  enter.  They  said  the  address  was  being  prepared,  and  that 
L.  D.  Campbell  and  others  would  sign  it,  and  thus  it  would  seem  to  disrupt 
the  ‘‘Americans.”  Sage  approved  heartily,  in  the  right  way,  but  knowing 
what  you  had  lately  thought,  and  seeing  a  possibility  of  misguidance  by 
dividing  counsels,  I  thought  it  best  to  write  you.  As  I  learn,  there  is  an  ex¬ 
pectation  of  haste,  but  such  operations  are  never  hurried  here. 

On  the  19th  and  20th  of  May  Mr.  Sumner  made  his  speech  on 
“  The  Crime  Against  Kansas/’  —  a  speech  which  Whittier  called  “a 
grand  and  terrible  Philippic.”  Two  days  later  the  city  and  the  coun¬ 
try  were  startled  by  the  news  of  the  assault  upon  him  by  Preston  S. 
Brooks. 

Early  in  the  evening  after  the  assault,  all  the  Republican  Senators 
met  at  Seward’s  house  and  held  long  and  anxious  conference  as  to 
their  own  course  in  the  matter.  They  were  but  a  fraction  of  the  Sen¬ 
ate.  Four-fifths  of  that  body  were  controlled  by  the  slave  power,  and 
there  was  little  hope  of  justice  or  fairness  at  the  hands  of  the  majority. 

It  was  agreed  at  this  meeting  that  Wilson,  as  the  colleague  of 
Sumner,  should  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  attack.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  ordinary  parliamentary  usage  and  courtesy,  one  of  the  ma¬ 
jority  would  then  move  for  a  Committee  of  Investigation.  But  if  none 
of  them  did,  Seward  would  make  the  motion  himself.  Iii  the  expecta¬ 
tion  that  some  action  would  be  taken,  crowds  filled' the  galleries  and 
lobbies  of  the  Senate  Chamber  next  morning.  Immediately  after  the 
reading  of  the  Journal,  Wilson  rose  and  said: 

Mr.  President,  the  seat  of  my  colleague  is  vacant  to-day  for  the  first  time 
during  five  years  of  public  service.  Yesterday,  after  the  Senate  had  adjourned, 
my  colleague  remained  in  his  seat,  busily  engaged  in  his  public  duties.  While 
thus  engaged,  with  pen  in  hand,  and  in  a  position  which  rendered  him  utterly 
incapable  of  protecting  or  defending  himself,  Mr.  Preston  S.  Brooks,  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  approached  his  desk,  unobserved,  and 
abruptly  addressed  him.  Before  he  had  time  to  utter  a  single  word  in  reply, 


2?2 


THE  SENATE  AND  THE  ASSAULT. 


[1856. 


he  received  a  stunning  blow  upon  the  head  from  a  cane  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Brooks,  which  made  him  blind,  and  almost  unconscious.  Endeavoring,  how¬ 
ever,  to  protect  himself,  in  rising  from  his  chair,  his  desk  was  overthrown, 
and  while  in  that  condition,  he  was  beaten  upon  the  head,  by  repeated  blows, 
until  he  sunk  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  exhausted,  unconscious,  and 
covered  with  blood. 

Sir,  to  assail  a  member  of  the  Senate  out  of  this  Chamber,  “  for  words  spoken 
in  debate,”  is  a  grave  oflense,  not  only  against  the  rights  of  the  Senator,  but 
the  constitutional  privileges  of  the  House  ;  but  to  come  into  the  Chamber  and 
assault  a  member,  in  his  seat,  until  he  falls  exhausted  and  senseless  on  the 
floor,  is  an  offense  requiring  the  prompt  and  decisive  action  of  the  Senate. 

Senators,  I  have  called  your  attention  to  this  transaction.  I  submit  no 
motion.  T  leave  it  to  older  Senators,  whose  character — whose  position  in 
this  body,  and  before  the  country,  eminently  fit  them  for  the  task  of  devising 
measures  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  a  member  of  this  body,  and  to  vindicate  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  the  Senate. 

There  was  a  pause.  No  one  of  the  Democratic  Senators  stirred.  As 
the  Chair  was  about  proceeding  to  other  business,  Seward  rose  and 
offered  his  resolution : 

Resolved ,  That  a  committee  of  five  members  be  appointed,  by  the  President, 
to  inquire  into  the  circumstances  attending  the  assault  committed  on  the  per¬ 
son  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  a  member  of  the  Senate,  in  the  Senate  Cham¬ 
ber  yesterday ;  and  that  said  committee  be  instructed  to  report  a  statement  of 
the  facts,  together  with  their  opinion  thereon,  to  the  Senate. 

He  asked  for  its  immediate  consideration.  However  much  the 
majority  might  desire  to  overlook,  or  approve  the  assault,  they  saw 
they  could  not  refuse,  at  least,  the  form  of  an  investigation.  So  they 
contented  themselves  with  amending  the  resolution,  so  as  to  have  the 
members  of  the  committee  elected  by  the  Senate.  This  enabled  them 
to  disregard  the  ordinary  rule,  that  the  mover  of  a  resolution  for  a 
committee  is  made  the  Chairman  of  it.  Instead  of  making  Seward 
Chairman,  they  carefully  excluded  all  Kepublicans  from  the  com¬ 
mittee,  and  made  it  up  entirely  of  Sumner’s  political  opponents. 

Mrs.  Seward’s  letters  home  described  some  of  the  incidents  of  this 
period: 

The  telegraph  and  journals  have  by  this  time  told  you  of  the  disgraceful 
scene  in  the  Senate  Chamber  yesterday.  The  Washington  papers,  of  course, 
make  it  as  smooth  as  possible  for  Brooks.  Sumner  was  badly  hurt  —  I  think, 
stunned  —  by  the  first  blow.  He  and  Morgan  were  covered  with  blood,  when 
your  father  arrived  at  the  house.  Sumner  was  on  the  bed,  recovered  from 
the  bewilderment  of  his  faculties,  and  much  in  hopes  that  some  benefit  to  the 
anti-slavery  cause  might  accrue  from  the  affair. 


185G.] 


NORTHERN"  AND  SOUTHERN  FEELING. 


273 


,  May  25. 

As  the  Democracy  would  not  allow  any  “Free  Soil”  Senator  to  be  of  the 
committee,  of  course  there  will  be  no  action  of  any  account.  In  the  mean¬ 
time,  I  fear  Charles  Sumner  is  suffering  more  than  he  admits.  I  called  at 
the  door  of  his  lodgings  —  in  answer  to  a  card  of  inquiry,  was  told  that  the 
physician  did  not  wish  him  to  see  any  one,  as  he  was  very  weak. 

The  telegraph  last  night  brought  the  intelligence  of  the  destruction  of  the 
town  of  Lawrence  by  the  “  Border  Ruffians.”  What  has  become  of  the  in¬ 
habitants  we  are  yet  to  learn.  I  had  some  visions  of  all  this,  at  the  time  of 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  It  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  rule  of 
slavery,  which,  when  white  men  themselves  become  the  slaves,  as  they  are  be¬ 
coming  now,  they  will  find  harder  to  bear,  than  they  have  fancied,  when  it 
was  only  their  black  brethren  who  were  oppressed. 

I  am  told  that  the  members  of  Congress  from  the  North  are  beginning  to 
wear  arms  for  protection  in  our  legislative  halls;  they  are  required  for  self- 
defense.  What  a  comment  upon  our  boasted  free  institutions !  People  here, 
if  they  have  any  sympathy  with  the  wronged,  are  afraid  to  manifest  it.  The 
press,  with  one  exception,  withhold  the  truth,  when  it  conflicts  with  the  in¬ 
terests  of  the  masters. 

I  send  you  the  account  given  of  this  brutal  assault.  This  is  all  that  the 
majority  of  the  people  in  Washington  know  of  the  whole  affair.  Any  other 
version  is  spoken  of  as  the  “  story  of  the  Abolitionists,”  and,  therefore,  un¬ 
worthy  of  credit. 

When  the  Senate  Committee  reported,  a  few  days  later,  it  carefully 
abstained  from  any  condemnation  of  the  assault,  and  cited  precedents 
to  prove  that  the  Senate  had  no  jurisdiction  of  the  case  further  than 
to  make  complaint  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  transmit  the 
papers  to  that  body.  So  this  course  was  adopted. 

In  the  House,  however,  there  seemed  more  likelihood  of  fairness. 
A  committee,  consisting  of  three  Republicans  and  two  Democrats, 
was  appointed,  and  proceeded  with  vigor  and  earnestness.  Meanwhile 
the  news  had  spread  abroad.  At  the  South,  the  act  seemed  to  be 
greeted  with  approval.  At  the  North,  it  was  received  with  an  out¬ 
burst  of  indignation.  Public  meetings  and  presses  denounced  it. 
Wilson,  whose  position  as  Sumner’s  colleague,  was  trying  and  difficult, 
bore  himself  with  fidelity  and  courage.  He  says  of  this  epoch  :* 

The  criminal  and  his  victim  were  very  much  lost  sight  of  in  the  moral  and 
political  significance  of  the  act.  For  the  moment  Sumner  and  Brooks  were 
regarded  mainly  as  representative  men,  exponents  of  the  two  civilizations 
which  divided  the  country ;  while  the  scenes  of  the  22d  of  May,  on  the  floor 
of  the  Senate,  were  looked  upon  as  typical  of  what  was  being  enacted  on  the 
wider  theater  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Sumner,  though  confessedly  the  superior  of 
his  assailant  in  stature  and  physical  strength,  sitting  and  cramped  beneath  his 

*  “  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power.”  By  Henry  Wilson. 

18 

/  • 


274 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  SUMNER  AFFAIR. 


[1858. 


writing-desk  over  which  he  was  bending,  with  pen  in  hand,  taken  unawares 
and  at  disadvantage,  and  his  assailant  raining  blows  upon  his  unprotected 
head,  fairly  represented  freedom  and  slavery  as  they  stood  at  that  time  con¬ 
fronting  each  other.  Freedom,  though  intrinsically  stronger  than  its  antago¬ 
nist,  was  yet  practically  weaker.  *  *  *  This  blow  at  free  speech,  and  personal 
safety  as  well,  like  a  flash  of  lightning  in  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  revealed 
by  its  lurid  glare,  the  grim  facts  of  the  situation;  and  the  people,  for  good 
reason,  trembled  as  they  gazed  apprehensively  into  the  immediate  and  more 
remote  future. 

Resolutions  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  Legislatures 
condemning  the  outrage  as  a  violation  of  freedom  of  speech  and  de¬ 
bate,  led  to  extended  discussion  in  the  Senate,  in  which  Seward  par¬ 
ticipated.  Denouncing  the  assault,  he  said: 

Every  one  knew  that  the  sufferer  in  that  scene  was  my  cherished  friend  and 
political  associate.  Every  one  knew  that  he  had  fallen  senseless,  and  for  all 
that  was  at  first  known,  lifeless  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
for  utterances,  which  whether  discreet,  or  indiscreet,  were  utterances  made  in 
the  cause  of  truth,  humanity,  and  justice. 

He  then  proceeded  to  point  out  that  the  effects  of  such  an  outrage 
were  of  far  more  than  personal  consequence,  since  they  affected  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  the  individual  rights  of  every  citizen  : 

We  are  not  merely  here  in  our  individual  character  —  we  are  the  represen¬ 
tatives  of  States.  Their  rights,  opinions,  and  policies  cannot  be  defended  and 
maintained,  unless  their  representatives  are  perfectly  free  aud  secure  in  their 
persons,  while  attending  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  *  *  * 

The  Legislature  of  Rhode  Island  protests  against  any  proceedings  of  either 
House  of  Congress  to  screen  an  offender  who  has  violated  the  person  of  a  Sen¬ 
ator  for  words  spoken  in  debate.  The  State  thus  speaking,  speaks,  I  think, 
as  becomes  a  State  which  values  her  own  rights,  and  at  the  same  time  is  re¬ 
solved  to  uphold  and  maintain  law,  order,  and  the  Constitution. 

The  subsequent  phases  and  incidents  of  the  matter,  the  long  and 
serious  suffering  of  Mr.  Sumner,  the  report  of  the  House  Committee 
recommending  the  expulsion  of  Brooks,  and  the  censure  of  his  assist¬ 
ants  aud  abettors,  the  resignation  of  Brooks,  and  his  re-election  and 
return  from  South  Carolina,  the  Brooks  and  Burlingame  “  affair,” 
the  personal  altercations  and  challenges,  and  preparations  for  street 
encounters,  which  grew  out  of  it,  all  tended  to  intensify  Northern 
feeling  on  this  subject.  Like  many  another  act  of  violence  done  in 
the  interest  of  slavery,  it  reacted  with  damaging  effect  upon  those 
who  conceived  and  those  who  approved  it. 


1856. J 


PRESIDENTIAL  NOMINATIONS. 


275 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1850. 

The  Kansas  Struggle.  “Border  Ruffians”  and  “Free  State”  Men.'  The  Presidential 
Canvass.  National  Conventions.  Fillmore  and  Donelson.  Buchanan  and  Brecken- 
ndge.  Fremont  and  Dayton. 

Meanwhile,  the  Kansas  struggle  was  taking  on  more  alarming  pro¬ 
portions.  The  sacking  and  the  burning  of  the  town  of  Lawrence,  the 
destruction  of  the  village  of  Osawatomie,  the  “  battle  of  Black  Jack,” 
ending  in  the  surrender  of  Pate’s  Gang,  the  breaking  up  of  k‘  Free  State” 
printing  offices,  the  attacks  upon  and  murder  of  “Free  State  ”  inhab¬ 
itants  were  among  its  incidents.  The  wonder  was,  that  the  immigra¬ 
tion  of  ‘‘Free  State”  settlers  still  continued  steadily  to  pour  into  the 
Territory,  becoming  the  nucleus  of  its  future  population.  The  “  Bor¬ 
der  Ruffian”  invaders  were  better  armed  and  organized,  and  were  bold 
and  reckless  in  their  attacks.  Yet  they  had  neither  patient  industry 
to  till  the  soil,  nor  thrift  and  intelligence  to  build  up  farms  and 
villages.  So  the  ravaged  Territory  gradually  grew  up  as  a  “  Free 
State,”  in  spite  of  them. 

Four  years  had  again  brought  round  the  time  for  Presidential  nomi¬ 
nations.  The  conservative  “  Americans  ”  had  selected  Mr.  Fillmore 
as  their  candidate,  in  February.  Both  the  Democratic  and  the  Re- 
publican  National  Conventions  had  been  called  to  meet  in  June.  The 
Democrats  gathered  on  the  2d,  at  Cincinnati.  Pierce  and  Douglas 
had  been  the  two  prominent  leaders  of  the  party,  in  its  recent  action. 
But  both  were  closely  identified  with  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
question,  the  great  issue  of  the  day.  Buchanan  had  been  three  years 
out  of  the  country,  as  Minister  to  England,  and  was  readily  seen  to  be 
the  more  “  available  ”  candidate.  He  was  nominated  for  President, 
with  Brecken ridge  for  Vice-President.  The  Convention  then  rounded 
off  its  labors  by  a  platform,  affirming  the  doctrines  and  approving  the 
course  of  Pierce  and  Douglas,  in  regard  to  slavery  and  “popular  sov¬ 
ereignty.” 

The  Republican  Convention  was  to  assemble  at  Philadelphia.  Many 
who  were  coming  into  the  new  party,  from  the  Democratic  and  the 
“  American”  organizations,  naturally  enough  desired  candidates  and  a 
platform  reflecting  their  own  sentiments.  On  the  other  hand,  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  delegates  were  made  up  of  anti-slavery  Whigs, 
who  had  followed  the  lead  of  Seward.  But  these  were  divided  in 
opinion,  as  to  the  wisdom  of  nominating  him.  The  more  cautious 
and  experienced  foresaw  defeat  in  November,  and  were  unwilling  to 


276 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  QUESTION. 


[1856. 


expose  him  to  its  hazards.  The  more  sanguine  felt,  rather  than  rea¬ 
soned,  that  he  was  their  proper  standard-bearer;  that  there  was  more 
likelihood  of  success  with  him  than  with  another;  and  that  if  the  new 
party  were  to  be  defeated  in  its  first  campaign,  he  would  still  remain 
its  leader.  Seward’s  own  feelings  would  have  inclined  him  to  this 
view,  but  he  contented  himself  with  following  his  usual  course-  in 
regard  to  questions  about  his  own  candidacy.  He  left  the  whole 
matter  to  the  judgment  of  his  friends,  only  signifying  his  readiness  to 
accept  the  decision  whatever  it  might  be.  His  letters  to  Mrs.  Seward 
narrated  some  of  the  aspects  of  the  question,  as  they  presented  them¬ 
selves  to  him. 


Astor  House,  June  6. 

A  cannonade  of  one  hundred  guns  in  the  Park,  was  celebrating  the  nomina¬ 
tion  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  when  I  arrived,  and  Tammany  Hall  blazes  forth  in 
brilliant  illumination  at  this  later  hour. 

Mr.  Weed  was  prepared,  in  part,  to  show  me  that  letter  which  I  was  to  write, 
and  which  was  to  be  equally  right  in  the  event  of  a  nomination,  of  anybody, 
at  the  approaching  convention.  The  first  attempt  at  discussing  its  merits 
elicited  the  revelation,  that  Buchanan’s  nomination  at  Cincinnati,  by  a  unani¬ 
mous  convention,  rendered  the  nomination  of  the  preferred  person  at  Phila¬ 
delphia  probably  impossible  —  certainly  undesirable.  This  being  clearly 
settled,  the  question  arose  next,  what  then  was  the  use  of  the  proposed  letter? 
This  inquiry  brought  forth  the  further  revelation  that  the  object  was  to  save 
that  preferred,  but  now  unavailable  candidate,  from  being  a  soured  man,  by 
laying  an  anchor  into  the  vale  of  the  future.  Nothing  else.  This  object 
being  fully  understood,  I  was  of  the  opinion,  first,  that  self-respect  forbade 
the  writing  of  such  a  letter,  for  such  an  object ;  second,  that  there  was  no 
danger  of  that  unhappiness,  that  was  to  be  thus  prevented;  and,  third,  that 
the  remedy  proper  for  the  occasion,  was  withdrawal  from  public  and  political 
life,  at  the  close  of  the  present  session  of  Congress.  Without  coming  to  any 
agreement  on  these  points,  the  letter  was  torn  up.  And  here  I  am,  now,  writ¬ 
ing  to  you,  certainly  in  no  soured  spirit,  the  truthful  account  of  the  explosion 
of  the  bubble  of  ambition,  and  the  closing  days  of  twenty  years,  devoted,  from 
the  opening  of  to  the  ripening  of  manhood,  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause 
of  justice  and  humanity.  I  trust  that  the  record  will  not  be  a  trivial  one,  or 
one  destitute  of  the  power  to  stimulate  others. 

Good  night. 

Washington,  June  10. 

I  arrived  here  at  six  this  morning.  My  coming  was  seasonable.  The  Sen¬ 
ate  had  up  the  Kansas  subject  in  a  new  form  to-day,  and  it  would  have  been 
unfortunate  if  I  had  been  absent,  as  you  will  understand  from  reading  the 
paper,  to-morrow. 

Everybody  asks  me  what  is  to  be  done,  who  is  to  be  nominated,  etc.,  at 
Philadelphia,  and  whether  our  candidate  can  be  elected?  To  which  I  answer, 


1856.] 


DELEGATES  TO  PHILADELPHIA. 


277 


that  I  do  not  know,  I  do  not  inquire.  We  might  succeed,  if  we  do  not  perse¬ 
vere  in  demoralizing  ourselves.  Probably  we  shall  overcome  even  that. 

The  temper  of  the  politicians,  I  see,  is  subdued  by  Buchanan’s  nomination, 
and  indicates  retreat,  confusion,  rout  in  the  election.  I  listen  and  lament  the 
divisions  that  produce  and  continue  disasters,  that  I  may  not  attempt  to  cure. 

June  11. 

I  seize  a  few  minutes,  which  are  left  me,  before  going  out  to  dine  with 
Governor  Marcy.  Mr.  Crittenden  and  Mr.  Bell  and  Mr.  Clayton  broke  ground 
to-day,  not  in  favor  of  freedom  in  Kansas,  but  in  favor  of  modifying  the  per¬ 
secution  against  freedom  there.  It  is  auspicious  of  better  times,  hereafter, 
though  not,  perhaps,  immediately.  I  made  a  little  speech,  which  pleased  me 
well  enough  to  make  me  think  of  sending  the  Globe,  which  will  contain  it,  to 
you,  to-morrow. 

From  all  I  learn,  I  remain  of  the  opinion  that  “availability”  is  to  be  in¬ 
dulged  next  week,  and  that  my  own  friends  are  to  make  the  sacrifice.  Be  it 
so;  I  shall  submit  with  better  grace  than  others  would. 

June  13. 

Yesterday,  Mr.  Butler  began  a  reply  to  Mr.  Sumner,  which  he  will  finish 
to-day.  The  excited  sensibilities  of  the  North  have  served  to  alarm  the 
Southern  politicians  in  the  slavery  interest.  So,  Mr.  Butler's  reply  is  more 
moderate  than  it  would  probably  have  been  in  other  circumstances.  The 
anger  of  both  parties  in  Congress  is  cooled ;  the  threats  of  violence  are  dying 
away. 

Everybody  here  talks  of  nothing  but  the  anticipated  Convention  at  Phila¬ 
delphia,  next  week,  and  the  indications  are  quite  decisive  of  a  “compromise,” 
that  threatens  me  with  peculiar  embarrassments ;  while  I,  alone,  foresee  that 
it  will  be  even  more  injurious  to  the  great  cause  in  whose  name  the  com¬ 
promise  is  to  be  made.  No  word  from  New  York  reaches  me.  I  am  quite 
satisfied  that  I  am  to  be  left  to  look  on  at  a  distance,  and  learn  events  as  they 
transpire.  It  tries  my  patience  to  read  and  hear  what  is  said,  and  to  act  as  if 
I  assented,  under  expectations  of  personal  benefits,  present  and  prospective! 
Just  as  soon  as  the  Convention  has  done  its  work,  the  appeals  will  come  from 
every  quarter  to  me  to  bring,  into  the  capital  stock,  what  little  of  character  for 
independence  and  firmness  I  have  saved.  When  I  think  of  this,  I  turn  to 
Douglas  and  Cass  and  Pierce,  and  see  the  humiliations  they  are  practicing,  in 
their  party,  to  a  similar  end,  under  similar  circumstances,  and  I  perceive  that  I 
am  to  be  obliged  to  choose  between  that,  on  the  one  side,  or  a  reserve  that 
will  seem  selfish  and  factious,  on  the  other. 

June  14. 

Mr.  Wilson,  yesterday,  made  a  triumphant  reply  to  Mr.  Butler,  and  the 
best  possible  vindication  of  Mr.  Sumner. 

The  Philadelphia  delegates  are  passing  through  here,  and  the  state  of 
things  is  odd  enough.  The  understanding  all  around  me  is,  that  Greeley  has 
struck  hands  with  enemies  of  mine,  and  sacrificed  me  for  the  good  of  the 
.cause,  to  be  obtained  by  a  nomination  of  a  more  available  candidate,  and  that 


278 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION. 


[1856. 


Weed  has  concurred  in  demanding  my  acquiescence.  The  nomination  of 
either  the  California  candidate  or  the  Ohio  judge  is  regarded  as  a  foregone 
conclusion ;  and  as  a  conclusion  arrived  at  with  my  own  approval  and  con¬ 
sent.  But  there  are  continually  arriving  here  one  delegate  or  more,  from  each 
of  the  States,  who  are  suspicious,  distrustful,  and  apparently  obstinate  in  re¬ 
fusing  to  acquiesce  in  the  bargain.  Tied  up  as  I  am,  I  am  unable  to  give  them 
any  explanation  or  consolation.  If  I  were  to  pursue  the  course  prescribed  to 
me,  I  should  avow  myself  in  favor  of  the  course  that  they  say  has  been  agreed 
upon.  But  I  have  concluded  to  preserve  my  own  self-respect,  by  speaking 
only  what  I  think,  so  far  as  I  speak  at  all.  I  hope  that  my  ingenious  tor¬ 
mentors  will  find  somebody  else  to  subject  to  their  screws,  when  I  shall  have 
exhausted  myself. 

To  Baker  he  wrote: 

June  15. 

1  am  glad  to  see  that  you  had  so  good  a  Sumner  meeting  at  Albany.  It  is- 
not  pleasant  to  see  the  signs  of  success  in  demoralizing  the  Republican  party; 
but  the  masses  must  be  allowed  to  advance  toward  truth,  zig-zag,  if  they  will 
not  go  in  a  straight  line.  Let  us  rejoice  that  they  do  advance. 

To  Mrs.  Seward,  he  said: 

June  15. 

There  is  nothing  to  be  done  this  week,  in  Congress,  and  I  would  go  home, 
if  I  could  get  there  and  back,  without  encountering  the  curious  and  excited 
people  who  concern  themselves  in  politics.  As  things  are,  I  shall  remain 
here,  and  dispose  of  my  correspondence,  which  is  too  much  in  arrear  —  and 
possibly  study  something  for  the  Senate. 

June  17. 

A  messenger  came  through  by  night,  from  Philadelphia,  bringing  School¬ 
craft’s  letter,  saying  that  my  nomination  now  would  be  unwise  and  unsafe,  on 
the  ground  that  the  election  would  be  impossible;  while  earnest  friends  re¬ 
fused  to  forego  my  nomination,  without  my  own  authority;-  also  a  letter  from 
Webb,  saying  that  my  nomination  and  election  would  be  certain,  if  I  would 
persist.  I  remitted  a  peremptory  declension,  on  the  ground  that  the  Republi¬ 
can  Convention  was  not  prepared  to  adopt  all  my  principles  and  policy;  and 
that  I  would  not  modify  them  to  secure  the  Presidency. 

The  next  day  brought  news  of  the  assembling  of  the  Convention 
at  Philadelphia,  its  reception  of  the  overtures  from  the  “Americans,” 
the  choice  of  E.  D.  Morgan  as  presiding  officer,  the  adoption  of  a 
strong  anti-slavery  “  platform  ”  reported  by  Wilmot,  and  the  active 
and  earnest  participation  in  the  proceedings,  of  Preston  King,  John 
A.  King,  Robert  Emmet,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Henry  Wilson, 
John  Jay,  Thurlow  Weed,  Horace  Greeley,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  and 
Caleb  B.  Smith.  Then  followed  the  news  that  on  the  first  ballot, 
Colonel  Fremont  had  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  votes,  and  Judge 
McLean  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine.  On  the  second,  the  vote 


1856.] 


FREMONT  NOMINATED. 


279 


stood  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  to  thirty-seven  for  the  same  candi¬ 
dates. 

The  names  of  Seward,  Chase,  and  others  were  withdrawn  before  any 
ballot  was  taken.  For  Vice-President,  on  an  informal  ballot,  Mr. 
Dayton  received  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  Abraham  Lincoln  one 
hundred  and  ten,  David  Wilmot  forty-three,  and  Charles  Sumner, 
thirty-six. 

Meanwhile,  Seward  wrote  from  Washington: 

June  19. 

The  nomination  at  Philadelphia,  I  hope,  will  not  disappoint  its  inventors. 
Mr.  Sumner  is  at  Blair’s,  beginning  to  recover  strength,  while  George  is  writ¬ 
ing  letters,  to  silence  doctors,  who  insist  that  he  is  well  already. 

I  am  revising  for  the  press  my  remarks  on  Crittenden’s  resolution,  and,  also, 
my  remarks  made  on  Monday  last,  on  the  Sumner  affair.  Besides  this  duty, 
I  am  preparing  an  appeal  for  the  wagon  road  to  California,  and  beyond  that, 
lies  the  duty  of  answering  Mr.  Clayton’s  speech  on  his  new  and  delusive 
Kansas  Bill.  Washington  is  yet  lifeless.  The  members  do  not  return  from 
Philadelphia.. 

June  20. 

The  truth  is,  between  us,  that  it  was  intended  to  have  the  platform  silent 
on  the  “American  ”  question;  but  to  have  the  nominations  represent  a  coalition 
of  Republicans  and  “Americans”  (ignoring  my  principles  for  this  time). 
But  Dr.  Bailey’s  protest,  through  Mr.  Giddings,  prevented  that,  and  now  we 
have  a  complete  Seward  platform,  with  new,  representative  men  upon  it. 

Augustus  is  at  Baltimore.  He  has  sent  over  to  me  a  great  green  turtle 
weighing  sixty  pounds.  I  am  in  as  great  trouble  as  the  man  who  bought  an 
elephant. 

Jane  27. 

Greeley  came  on  last  night,  and  has  been  here  this  morning,  exultant  that 
he  has  done  the  very  best  thing  in  the  lightest  way.  Our  friends  are  quite 
sanguine  of  Fremont’s  success;  and  the  enemy  are  alarmed. 

The  Kansas  question  will  be  disposed  of  in  Congress,  shortly.  In  the  Senate 
there  will  be  an  ingenious  dodge  of  the  issue.  I  wish  I  could  hope  that  it 
would  fail  in  the  House.  But  you  know  what  Houses  of  Representatives,  and 
even  great  parties  are  capable  of. 

June  28. 

Our  people  are  beginning  to  be  confident  that  Fremont  will  be  elected,  and, 
what  is  more  indicative,  is,  that  the  Democrats  are  alarmed.  Mason  had  a 
resolution  in  his  hand,  to  rescind  the  former  one,  by  which  the  Senate  pro¬ 
nounced  Brooks’  assault  on  Sumner  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  called  on  the 
House  to  punish  it;  and  rose,  after  my  answer  to  Hunter,  to  present  it;  but 
held  back  at  the  instance  of  his  friends. 

June  29. 

Colonel  Webb  invites  me  to  spend  the  4th  with  him,  at  his  country-seat. 
Fremont  and  Mrs.  Fremont  are  to  be  there.  This  week  we  are  to  have  the 


280 


KANSAS  AT  THE  DOOR. 


[1856. 


struggle  for  Kansas,  in  both  Houses.  I  wish  it  were  well  through.  I  am 
weary,  and,  although  animosities  have  died  away  around  me,  I  feel  much 
alone.  Hundreds  of  kind  letters  come,  bidding  me  hope  for  “justice ;  ”  and  the 
writers  scarcely  misunderstand  me  more  than  others  do,  who  promise  me  a 
place  in  Col.  Fremont’s  Cabinet.  I  am  content  with  my  earnest  wishes  to  have 
done  more  than  I  could,  for  the  cause  of  truth. 

So  opened  the  Presidential  campaign.  Popular  conventions  are 
not  infallible.  The  mass  of  voters  and  of  delegates  in  1856  were 
doubtless  impelled  by  patriotic  motives.  But  the  outcome  of  their 
joint  wisdom  was,  that  neither  Seward  nor  Lincoln  were  desirable 
candidates;  and  that  Buchanan  and  Breckenridge  were  deemed  the 
most  fit  persons  to  be  intrusted  with  the  national  safety. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

1856. 

Kansas  at  the  Doors  of  Congress.  The  Investigating  Committee’s  Report.  Stormy  De¬ 
bates.  A  Midnight  Speech.  Passage  of  his  Bill  by  the  House.  Sumner.  Watching 
and  Waiting.  General  Webb.  The  Army  Bill.  The  House’s  Proviso.  “Hurly 
Burly.”  A  Projected  Sea  Trip.  Wrecks.  The  Conference  Committee.  An  Extra 
Session.  “  Executive  Theatricals.”  The  Surrender. 


Midsummer  found  high  debates  over  Kansas  resounding  in  both 
wings  of  the  Capitol.  On  the  last  day  of  June,  Mr.  Douglas  reported 
a  new  “  enabling  act,”  differing  in  detail  from  the  former  one,  but 
having  the  same  general  purpose. 

Seward  wrote. 

Washington,  July  1,  1856. 

Yesterday  the  Kansas  Bill  was  lost  in  the  House  by  one  vote.  So  much  for 
this  vicious  “Americanism.”  To-day  and  to-morrow  will  close  the  debate  in 
the  Senate,  and  then  a  new  and  deceptive  measure  will  pass  there. 

July  2. 

I  had  the  Republican  Senators  at  dinner  yesterday  on  turtle  soup  and  steaks. 
They  express  great  concern  about  Sumner,  who  is  yet  at  Mr.  Blair’s.  I  shall 
go  to  see  him  as  soon  as  I  can.  To-day  the  debate  in  the  Senate  is  to  close, 
and  the  new  sham  evasive  Kansas  Bill  is  to  pass  the  Senate.  The  Republican 
members  are  largely  absent.  We  shall  have  a  spirited  debate.  I  am  very 
weary,  but  I  shall  try  to  be  heard  amid  the  storm. 

The  “Know-Nothing”  farce  of  two  years  ago  in  the  North  is  now  doing 
its  wretched  work  in  trying  to  defeat  my  bill  for  the  immediate  admission  of 


1856.] 


THE  KANSAS  DEBATE. 


281 


Kansas,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  I  fear  it  will  pass  this  new  bill. 
One  needs  patience  in  this  long  strife  with  popular  perverseness. 

It  is  probable  that  we  shall  sit  nearly,  or  quite  through  the  night,  and  then 
adjourn  until  Monday. 

The  closing  debate  in  the  Senate  lasted  twenty  hours.  The  major¬ 
ity  kept  together  and  steadily  voted  down  every  amendment  proposed 
by  Seward,  AVilson,  Foster,  or  Trumbull.  It  was  nearly  daylight  when 
Seward  rose  to  make  his  final  speech  against  it.  He  advised  “the 
honorable  gentlemen  to  consider  well  the  pass  to  which  they  have 
brought  things  in  this  country.  They  have  brought  the  country  to 
the  verge  of  civil  war.”  Recalling  how  the  country  had  fared  by  its 
successive  concessions  to  the  slave  power,  he  remarked: 

It  was  my  fortune  to  have  just  come  into  Congress  when  California,  a  free 
State,  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union.  I  insisted  upon  her  admission 
without  condition,  qualification,  or  compromise.  I  was  overruled.  I  was 
censured,  how  widely,  how  severely,  all  the  world  knows,  for  my  refusal  to 
join  a  measure  expected  to  terminate  the  discussion  of  slavery  in  Congress, 
and  to  restore  harmony  throughout  the  country  forever.  Only  four  years 
elapsed,  when  those  who  had  effected  that  compromise  found  it  necessary  to 
open  to  slavery  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas. 

Then  describing  the  condition  of  those  Territories,  he  pointed  out 
how  slavery  was  practically  established  there  by  force;  how  a  portion 
of  the  people  were  slain,  and  others  expelled  from  the  Territory;  how 
freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  of  the  electors  were  subverted, 
while  the  leaders  of  the  party  of  freedom  were  either  dispersed  be¬ 
yond  the  Territory,  or  imprisoned  within  it,  on  charges  of  pretended 
crimes. 

Replying  to  Mr.  Crittenden,  who  asked  whether  the  Senator  from 
New  York  would  do  any  thing  “  to  compose  the  fatal  strife  in  Kan¬ 
sas,  which  no  one  has  depicted  in  deeper  colors  than  himself,”  Seward 
said,  “  I  answer,  yes;  I  will  vote  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  into 
the  Union,  under  the  Topeka  Constitution.  That  measure,  and  that 
measure  only,  will  restore  peace  and  harmony,  while  it  will  rescue 
freedom.” 

While  the  Senate  was  engaged  with  this  debate,  the  House  of  Rep¬ 
resentatives  was  receiving  the  report  of  the  Kansas  Investigating 
Committee.  It  produced  a  profound  sensation.  The  testimony  formed 
a  bulky  volume.  The  recital  of  the  crimes  and  oppressions  commit¬ 
ted  by  the  “  Border  Ruffians  ”  seemed  almost  incredible. 

July  4 . 

Our  debate  in  the  Senate  was  protracted,  but  tame  and  quiet,  compared 
■with  previous  scenes  of  like  sort. 


282 


DEBATES  OVER  KANSAS. 


[1856. 


My  last  speech  will  be  out  in  a  day  or  two.  By  almost  surprise  upon  itself,, 
the  House  of  Representatives  yesterday  passed  the  Kansas  Bill  (my  own  bill). 
It  will  reach  the  Senate  on  Monday,  and  be  considered  on  Tuesday. 

July  5. 

I  kept  the  4th,  by  correcting  my  notes  of  that  stormy  night  debate,  until 
dinner-time,  and  then  I  rode  with  Mr.  Foster  of  Connecticut,  to  Blair’s,  to  see 
Charles  Sumner.  He  was  at  dinner  when  we  arrived.  He  is  much  changed 
for  the  worse.  His  elasticity  and  vigor  are  gone.  He  walks,  and  in  every 
way  moves,  like  a  man  who  has  not  altogether  recovered  from  a  paralysis,  or 
like  a  man  whose  sight  is  dimmed,  and  his  limbs  stiffened  with  age.  His  con¬ 
versation,  however,  was  like  that  of  his  season  of  better  health.  It  turned 
altogether  on  what  the  Senate  were  doing,  and  the  course  of  debate  and 
conduct  therein.  When  he  spake  of  his  health,  he  said  he  thought  he  was 
getting  better  now,  but  his  vivacity  of  spirit,  and  his  impatience  for  study 
are  gone.  It  is  impossible  to  regard  him  without  apprehension.  He  comes 
to  town  to-morrow.  He  proposes  to  make  his  way  Northward  next  week,  by 
slow  stages.  I  think  it  is  best. 

The  Senate  you  know  have  fixed  the  28th  of  July  as  the  day  for  adjourn¬ 
ment.  Our  majority  in  the  House  is  so  unreliable,  that  our  friends  there 
think  it  will  be  safest  for  us  to  accept  the  proposition,  and  get  away  as  soon 
as  possible.  As  things  stand  now,  the  House  standing  for  freedom  in  Kansas, 
is  at  issue  with  the  Senate;  and  the  question  will  go  fairly  before  the  country. 
All  things,  however,  change  so  often  that  I  cannot  promise  myself  any  thing 
definite.  The  Democrats  are  profoundly  alarmed.  Hence  their  change,  from 
denunciation  to  compromise,  concerning  Kansas. 

July  6 . 

It  was  the  occupation  of  Friday  and  Saturday  to  revise  the  speeches  I  made 
in  that  long  debate  on  Wednesday  night.  They  are  now  ready  for  the  press. 
They  will  be  useful,  I  trust.  The  temper  and  tone  of  the  House  have  improved 
so  much,  that  I  have  a  hope  they  will  stand  by  the  issue  they  have  made.  The 
report  of  the  Kansas  Committee  in  the  House  is  a  publication  that  must  pro¬ 
duce  a  stunning  effect.  If,  indeed,  the  party  shall  fail,  and  the  cause  be 
overborne,  in  this  election,  I  can,  and  probably  ought  to  remain  at  m.y  post, 
to  try  and  save  it  for  another  trial.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  shall  succeed,  as 
I  most  earnestly  hope  that  it  will,  then  I  think  I  can  consistently  take  an  hon¬ 
orable  discharge.  In  that  case  I  shall  desire  to  retire  from  a  position  which 
exposes  me  to  the  whole  fire  of  the  enemy;  while  my  own  friends,  or  rather 
the  friends  of  my  own  cause,  shrink  from  maintaining  and  defending  me.  So 
let  us  have  the  old  house  made  ready,  to  begin  the  scenes  of  retirement  and 
study,  which  befit  the  close  of  a  man’s  life,  when  his  utmost  service  has 
been  rendered  to  his  country. 

The  contracting  parties  who  engaged  to  make  a  coalition  ticket,  part  anti¬ 
slavery  and  part  “  Know-Nothing,”  and  even  excluded  me  from  their  consulta¬ 
tions,  are  in  trouble,  because  the  Philadelphia  Convention  failed  to  adopt  the 
“Know-Nothing”  nominee  for  Vice-President,  pursuant  to  previous  engage¬ 
ment,  as  they  say.  Several  are  here  to  seek  my  advice  and  assistance  in  get- 


1856.] 


SENATE  AND  HOUSE. 


283 


ting  that  difficulty  settled.  It  is  quite  amusing;  but  I  think  I  am  entitled  to 
excuse  myself  from  entering  into  these  transactions. 

July  7. 

I  had  at  dinner  yesterday  two  members  of  the  late  seceding  “Know-Noth¬ 
ing”  Convention  in  New  York;  and  they  stated  to  me  that  that  Convention 
accepted  Fremont,  on  an  understanding  that  the  Philadelphia  Convention 
would  nominate  a  Vice-President  acceptable  to  them;  and  named  Mr.  Johnson 
of  Pennsylvania.  At  Philadelphia,  however,  Greeley  got  alarmed,  lest  so  great 
a  concession  to  the  “Know-Nothings”  might  lose  too  many  Germans;  and 
so,  through  his  influence,  Mr.  Dayton  was  nominated;  so  that  we  have,  in 
New  England,  Fremont  and  Johnson,  in  other  States,  Fremont  and  Dayton. 
The  joke  of  this  business  wras  that  these  embassadors  applied  to  me ,  to  redress 
the  wrongs  they  had  sustained! 

July  8. 

How  happily  mankind  are  constituted  in  the  article  of  temperament!  On 
my  way  to  Mr.  Blair’s,  on  the  4th,  I  found  all  Washington  colonized  in  the 
woods  —  white  and  black,  master  and  slave,  old  and  young.  Of  all  its  deni¬ 
zens,  it  seemed  that  I  alone  toiled,  nay,  that  I  alone  thought  that  day. 

There  seems  to  be  no  hope  of  a  day’s  rest  from  watching,  until  the  end  of  the 
session.  Yesterday  morning  the  House  bill  for  admitting  Kansas,  under  the 
Topeka  Constitution,  came  into  the  Senate.  To-day  we  are  to  have  it  under 
consideration;  and  to  contend  for  it  against  its  enemies,  hopeless  of  success, 
and  under  what  measure  of  abuse  and  vituperation,  I  don’t  know.  In  the 
mean  time,  one  finds  it  no  easy  matter  to  arrange  plans  to  secure  concert. 
One  member  thinks  it’s  no  use.  Another  wont  talk.  A  third  is  dissatisfied 
with  the  positions  to  be  taken.  Another  is  absent.  Getting  out  of  the  Senate 
into  the  House,  it  increases.  Our  majority  there  is  only  two,  and  it  is,  there¬ 
fore,  necessary  to  watch  continually,  and  see  that  every  member  is  present. 
These  cares  affect  us  all,  and  make  us  anxious. 

July  9. 

I  have  been  down  to  the  old  market,  and  bought  the  corn  and  beans  for 
succotash,  and  have  instructed  Louisa  how  to  make  it.  The  weather  is  hot,  hot¬ 
ter,  hottest!  Mr.  Weed  is  at  Willard’s  organizing  his  campaign.  I  quit  this 
letter  to  revise  my  midnight  speech,  which  I  hope  you  read. 

July  19. 

After  an  intense,  the  most  intense  day  of  the  summer,  we  got,  last  night,  a 
thunder  storm,  with  rain,  and  this  morning  we  have  a  clear  and  bracing 
breeze. 

Edward  Stanley  is  here  from  San  Francisco,  the  same  true,  loyal  friend  that 
he  always  was,  and  improved  moreover  by  his  emancipation  from  serfdom  in 
slave  State.  He  comes  to  dinner  to-day. 

July  21. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  my  church-going  habit  has  quite  fallen  off,  since  I 
have  been  left  alone  here.  I  occupied  myself  yesterday  until  dinner-time  with 
the  duty  of  bringing  up  my  arrears  of  correspondence,  and  at,  and  after  dinner, 


284 


THE  CANVASS. 


[1856. 


with  friends.  Mr.  Weed,  Mr.  Morgan,  Mr.  Murray,  and  Mr.  McCarthy  came  to 
dine  on  succotash,  and  spent  the  afternoon. 

The  Republicans  here  are  less  sanguine  than  the  Democrats  are  alarmed. 
What  seems  to  be  the  difficulty  is,  to  call  off  the  “  Know-Nothings”  from  their 
absurd  hunt  after  the  Pope.  I  cannot  but  regret  that  all  who  acted  with  me 
did  not  agree  with  me  in  denouncing  the  folly,  and  defying  it  from  the  first. 
We  should  not  now  be  so  much  plagued  with  it. 

July  30. 

We  have  had  magnificent  and  noisy  showers  through  the  night.  The  earth 
is  yet  moist. 

The  House  of  Representatives,  growing  bolder  under  the  popular  demon¬ 
strations  against  slavery,  has  passed  one  or  two  bills  which  tender  a  direct 
issue  to  the  Senate.  These  may,  I  hope,  be  the  beginning  of  that  divergence 
between  the  House  of  Representatives  sustaining  freedom,  and  the  Senate  sus¬ 
taining  slavery,  which  may  bring  the  question  home  to  the  people,  for  their 
decision.  For  three  weeks  past,  I  have  thought  our  issue  was  fairly  made  up. 
But  if  the  House  adheres  to  its  present  position,  then  the  most  earnest  and  try¬ 
ing  part  of  the  session  is  yet  before  us.  I  dread  it;  but  I  shall  try  to  do  my 
duty. 

July  31. 

We  are  having  tedious  sessions  in  the  Senate.  Our  Southern  associates  are 
noisy,  vituperative,  and  abusive,  in  their  opposition  to  Rivers  and  Harbors. 
Their  Northern  allies,  such  as  Cass,  Stuart,  Pugh,  and  others,  are  restless,  and 
fight  back  coraplainingly.  Fessenden,  yesterday,  pointed  out  to  me  in  the 
Bible,  the  appeal  of  the  animal  to  Balaam —  “Am  I  not  thine  ass,  on  which 
thou  hast  ridden  ever  since  I  was  an  ass?” 

General  Webb,  after  dinner,  sits  on  the  front  steps,  and  attracts  Stoeckl,  and 
his  guests,  and  so  we  have  long  and  large  cigar  parties. 

August  3. 

There  is  no  Republican  organization  or  life  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  and 
New  Jersey.  I  think  that  the  well-informed  even  despair  of  both  of  these 
States,  and  so  of  the  election  itself.  Meantime,  Democrats  and  “Know-Noth¬ 
ings”  are  taking  courage,  and  it  begins  to  be  difficult  for  me  to  resist  the 
pressure  upon  me  to  take  the  field  and  bear  up,  as  well  as  I  may,  the  banner. 

August  6. 

Our  sessions  of  the  Senate  are  becoming  fatiguing  and  exhausting.  I  go 
now  to  the  Capitol,  and  on  Committee  at  eleven,  and  sit  in  debate  until  six. 
Dinner  comes  at  that  hour,  and  then  one  hour  or  two  only  before  sleep.  General 
Webb  leaves  to-morrow  morning  for  the  North,  and  does  not  return.  He  has 
relieved  the  solitude  of  my  home  considerably,  and  is,  indeed,  a  very  kind 
friend. 

August  7. 

Last  night  I  finished  my  task  of  carrying  the  River  and  Harbor  Bills 
through  the  Senate.  It  had  been  the  constant  labor  of  two  weeks,  against  the 


1856.] 


285 


“BORDER  RUFFIAN”  LAWS. 

violent  opposition  of  the  extreme  men  of  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  the  Caroli- 
nas,  and  Georgia.  By  some  accidental,  but  tacit  consent,  the  duty  fell  on  me 
to  lead,  and  I  found  the  battle  one  requiring  all  my  skill. 

Now  came  the  closing  struggle.  The  usual  Appropriation  Bill  for 
the  Army  had  passed  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  a  proviso  at¬ 
tached  to  it,  that  the  Army  should  not  be  employed  by  the  President 
to  enforce  the  so-called  “  laws  ”  of  the  “  Border  Ruffian  ”  Legislature. 
The  majority  in  the  Senate  had  insisted  on  striking  this  out.  An 
earnest  debate  followed.  Seward,  in  speaking  on  this  question,  re¬ 
marked: 

I  have  devoted  heretofore  a  part  of  my  life  to  mitigating  the  severity  of 
penal  codes.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  now  informs  us,  that  if  I  desire 
the  privilege  of  voting  for  this  bill  to  maintain  the  Army  of  the  United  States, 
I  must  consent  to  send  that  Army  into  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  to  fasten  chains 
of  iron,  six  feet  long,  with  balls  of  iron,  four  inches  in  diameter,  with  strong 
locks,  upon  the  limbs  of  offenders  guilty  of  speaking,  printing,  and  publish¬ 
ing  principles  and  opinions  subversive  of  the  system  of  slavery ! 

Then  quoting  some  of  the  other  provisions  of  the  “laws,”  such  as 
the  number  of  lashes  to  be  inflicted  on  female  slaves,  the  punishment 
by  death  for  aiding  slaves  to  escape,  etc.,  he  said: 

Call  these  provisions,  which  I  have  recited,  by  what  name  you  will  —  edicts, 
ordinances,  or  statutes  —  they  are  the  laws  which  the  House  of  Representatives 
says  shall  not  be  enforced  in  Kansas,  by  the  Army  of  the  United  States.  I 
give  my  thanks  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  sincere  and  hearty  thanks! 
I  salute  the  House  of  Representatives  with  the  homage  of  my  profound  re¬ 
spect!  It  has  vindicated  the  Constitution  of  my  country;  it  has  vindicated 
the  cause  of  freedom;  it  has  vindicated  the  cause  of  humanity.  Even  though 
it  shall  rescind  this  vindication  to-morrow,  yet  I  shall,  nevertheless,  regard 
this  proviso,  standing  only  for  a  single  day,  as  an  omen  of  more  earnest  and 
firm  legislation. 

Alluding  to  the  confident  expectation  of  the  Senators,  that  they 
would  compel  the  House  to  recede,  he  remarked: 

Ever  since  I  adopted  the  policy  of  opposing  the  spread  of  slavery,  my  hopes 
have  been  fixed,  not  on  existing  Presidents,  Senates  or  Houses  of  Representa¬ 
tives,  but  on  future  Presidents  and  future  Congresses  —  and  my  hopes  and  my 
faith  grow  stronger  and  stronger  as  each  succeeding  President,  Senate,  and 
House  of  Representatives  fails  to  adopt  and  establish  that  policy,  so  eminently 
constitutional  and  conservative.  My  hopes  and  my  faith  thus  grow  on  disap¬ 
pointment;  because  I  see  by  degrees,  which  are  marked,  although  the  pro¬ 
gress  seem  slow,  my  countrymen,  who  alone  create  Presidents  and  Congresses,, 
are  coming  to  apprehend  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  that  policy. 


286 


CLOSING  OF  THE  SESSION. 


[1856. 


On  the  following  day  he  wrote  home: 

August  8. 

Yesterday  was  the  day  which  it  seemed  had  been  set  apart  to  try  my  capac¬ 
ity,  to  an  effort  to  rally  the  Republicans  and  friends  of  freedom,  in  the 
House  and  in  the  country,  to  a  noble  stand  against  executing  those  infamous 
laws.  It  was  eight  o’clock  when  I  got  the  floor,  and  a  quarter  past  nine  when 
I  gave  it  up.  I  dined  at  half-past  ten.  Have  slept  seven  hours,  and  here  I 
am  in  my  arm-chair,  fresh  and  new  again.  It  will  be  a  day  or  two  before  I 
shall  get  my  speech  out  of  the  reporter’s  hands. 

Wade  and  I  have  about  concluded  to  go  home,  after  the  adjournment,  by 
sea.  We  are  to  take  passage  in  a  schooner  or  brig  at  Baltimore,  for  St.  Johns, 
or  Halifax,  or  Quebec,  and  go  home  by  railroad  or  steamboat  from  the  place 
of  debarkation.  Thus  we  shall  get  a  sea-voyage  of  about  seven,  eight  or  ten 
days,  free  from  society,  and  amusing  ourselves  with  playing  jack-straws,  and 
balloting  for  Fremont.  What  do  you  think?  Can  I  be  allowed  this  indul¬ 
gence? 

August  9. 

I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  Senate  yesterday.  We  met  at  eleven, 
and  the  new  Senator  from  Ohio,  Mr.  Pugh,  successor  of  Chase,  a  sharp, 
clear-headed  lawyer,  entertained  us  three  and  a  half  hours  with  an  argu¬ 
ment  on  a  private  claim.  Fatigue,  heat,  aud  depression  had  made  us  all  lan¬ 
guid.  Except  the  Chairman,  not  one  man  listened,  and  yet  we  could  not  leave. 
We  adjourned  at  five  to  go  through  a  wearisome  round  of  speeches  to-day,  on 
partisan  topics,  to  be  used  by  their  authors  at  home. 

The  result  of  the  elections  in  the  Southern  States  adverse  to  Mr.  Fillmore, 
will  render  the  success  of  Mr.  Fremont,  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  pos¬ 
sible.  If  I  do  not  over-rate  the  value  of  the  speech  I  made  yesterday,  it  will 
be  effective  in  those  States.  I  want  it  to  be  so. 

August  10. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  say,  that  as  the  session  draws  to  a  close,  it  is  likely 
to  end  in  more  pleasant  relations  between  other  members  of  the  Senate  and 
myself  than  have  ever  before  existed.  The  Democrats  are  generally  respectful 
and  kind  —  Cass,  Douglas,  Bright,  Brown,  Butler,  etc.,  etc.  I  shalLpart  from 
Mr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Toombs  on  worse  terms  than  heretofore;  but  with  all 
others  my  relations  are  vastly  improved.  Strangest  of  all  things,  I  have  given 
to  Mr.  Weller  a  certificate  of  character  to  counteract  the  calumnies  which  his 
recklessness  of  political  animosity  have  provoked.  He  is  grateful.  Bright  is 
so,  also,  for  other  favors. 

August  12. 

Hurly-burly !  Bills  to  be  paid,  bills  for  wagon  roads,  Pacific  railroads,  and 
steamboat  lines  to  be  passed  — all  at  once.  Everybody  here  calling  and  occu¬ 
pying  every  minute.  Everybody,  everywhere,  writing  all  manner  of  letters, 
and  urging  immediate  and  elaborate  replies.  This  is  the  condition  of  things 
here.  Printers  holding  back  my  own  speeches,  and  other  printers  thrusting 
on  me  speeches  for  revision.  Papers  lost,  nobody  to  search  for  them.  Thank 
God,  I  am  better  aud  stronger  to-day  than  yesterday!  Amen! 


1856.] 


WRECKS  OF  SCHEMES  AND  HOPES. 


287 


August  1G. 

The  Senate  sat  last  night  until  eleven,  and  then  adjourned  to  meet  at  eleven 
to-day.  We  shall  probably  sit  all  through  the  night.  Things  are  looking 
very  well.  I  believe  the  House  will  be  firm.  But  its  virtue  has  been  under¬ 
mined  in  a  way  unlooked  for.  A  bill  has  passed  giving  members  of  Congress 
a  salary,  which  I  fear  will  make  a  point  in  the  election. 

At  length  we  have  arranged  our  departure.  Wade  and  I  (with  Lewis)  em¬ 
bark  on  Tuesday  next  at  noon,  in  the  brig  Ellen  Barnard  (300  tons),  for  Hali¬ 
fax,  and  we  shall  probably  be  out  at  sea  ten  or  twelve  days.  That  you  may 
have  no  unnecessary  fears  for  us,  I  will  telegraph  you  on  our  arrival  at  Halifax 
if  possible. 

August  17. 

I  left  the  Senate  Chamber  this  morning  at  half-past  four;  have  had  a  nap 
and  a  breakfast.  Practically,  this  session  of  Congress,  for  me  one  of  the 
longest  and  quite  the  most  laborious  and  trying  one,  is  at  an  end.  We  hold 
a  session  of  three  hours  to-morrow  to  wind  up  the  business  unfinished,  and 
then  all  will  be  off,  and  most  trying  to  secure  a  return  to  another  Congress. 

All  around  me  are  wrecks  of  schemes  and  hopes.  Kansas  is  left  a  prey  to 
civil  war  and  slavery.  Fremont,  who  was  preferred  over  me  because  I  was  not 
a  bigoted  Protestant,  is  nearly  convicted  of  being  a  Catholic.  Collins’  steam¬ 
ers  have  been  ruined  by  Vanderbilt’s  rivalry;  and  Vanderbilt  himself  is  even 
worse  olf.  G.’s  bill  lies  on  the  table,  and  there  are  buried  with  it  the  little 
savings  of  his  fretful  life,  and  the  present  hopes  of  a  marriage  that  was  to 
give  him  peace,  stability,  and  character.  Sumner  is  contending  with  death  in 
the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania.  Who  would  not  be  a  politician  ?  As  for 
myself,  I  have  labored  hard,  and  I  can  only  console  myself  with  the  reflection 
that  if  I  had  done  less,  things  might  have  been  even  worse. 

And  now,  after  this  brief  time  spent  in  moralizing,  I  am  about  beginning 
the  work  of  preparation  for  departure  —  departure,  of  course,  in  a  hurry. 

August  18. 

Just  adjourned.  Army  Bill  lost — by  reason  of  Kansas.  President  threat¬ 
ens  to  reconvene  us  to-morrow.  If  so,  I  wait  here.  If  not,  I  sail  to-inorrow 
at  twelve  for  Halifax.  Voyage,  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  days.  Write  to  me  at 
Halifax  until  August  28.  God  bless  and  keep  you  and  the  children  until  we 
meet  soon. 

August  19. 

Who  cares  for  Halifax?  Who  would  leave  a  gay  metropolis,  with  its  court 
and  its  spoils,  to  flounder  on  a  treacherous  ocean  a  fortnight,  with  no  better 
end  than  to  be  cast  off  from  it  into  a  dingy  provincial  town  like  Halifax? 
Not  I. 

Well!  I  was  advanced  on  Saturday  to  the  high  honor  of  a  seat  in  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Conference  of  the  two  Houses,  on  their  disagreement  on  the  Army 
Bill.  The  Committee  was,  for  the  Senate,  Toombs,  Douglas,  and  Seward;  for 
the  House,  Campbell,  Orr,  and  Spinner.  We  met  at  Toombs’  house  and  found 
no  difficulty  in  agreeing  that  we  were  to  disagree.  The  debates  in  this  long 


288 


THE  EXTRA  SESSION. 


[1856. 


session  had  been  winning  respect  for  us  “  Black  Republicans.”  Some  of  the 
members,  I  shall  not  say  who,  thought  the  champagne  bottle  a  happy  inven¬ 
tion  to  promote  good  feeling,  though  insufficient  to  produce  concurrence  in 
opinion.  It  was  finally  proposed  by  the  Democrats  that  this,  the  last  Commit¬ 
tee  of  Conference  on  the  Army  Bill,  should,  immediately  after  the  adjourn 
ment,  meet  again  at  Whitehurst’s  and  be  ambrotyped.  We  met  on  Monday 
and  disagreed,  and  adjourned  in  the  Senate  and  the  House  in  admirable  tem¬ 
per.  I  had  only  just  reached  home,  having  forgotten  the  ambrotype,  when  a 
message  came-for  me.  I  went  to  Whitehurst’s  and  the  picture  was  made.  I 
found  a  large,  uninvited  dinner-party  on  my  return  home.  After  a  short  din¬ 
ner,  I  tumbled  every  thing  very  promiscuously  into  trunks  and  mail-bags,  and 
at  seven  o’clock  sat  down  in  my  lonely  house  to  contemplate,  when  in  came 
the  President’s  proclamation  calling  an  extra  session!  And  here  I  am,  fast 
bound  for  about  a  week,  while  the  Ellen  Barnard  is,  I  suppose,  spreading  her 
canvas  and  making  her  way  down  the  Chesapeake.  May  she  have  speed  and 
safety,  and  may  her  captain  and  crew  enjoy  the  canteloups,  watermelons, 
peaches  and  ice  I  sent  aboard  of  her  yesterday!  They  are  very  unlucky  fel¬ 
lows  to  miss  the  claret,  champagne,  and  cigars  that  Lewis  had  put  up  for  her 
table. 

Of  course,  the  voyage  fails  me.  What  next.  I  suppose  I  shall  be  kept  here 
until  adjournment.  If  any  other  scheme  of  relaxation  gains  favor  with  me,  I 
will  advise  you  of  it  without  delay. 

August  20. 

I  am  here  yet  and  waiting  for  what  is  not  pleasant  to  contemplate  —  the 
House  of  Representatives  betrayed  by  the  “Know-Nothings ”  to  the  Executive. 
It  must,  however,  be  borne  with  what  patience  we  can  command. 

I  think  nothing  will  be  done  at  the  extra  session,  but  the  passage  of  the 
Army  Bill.  Owing  to  the  lately  passed  Compensation  Bill,  Congressmen  get 
neither  mileage  nor  pay  for  this  extra  session.  So  it  will  be  mighty  short. 

August  21. 

I  am  going  to  the  Capitol  to  see  how  long  it  will  take  the  House  of  Repre¬ 
sentatives  to  surrender  to  this  President  and - Senate.  I  think  it  will  not 

be  long.  I  look  for  a  dispersion  in  a  day  or  two. 

August  22. 

Quite  to  my  own,  and  the  general  surprise,  the  House  of  Representatives 
turned  up  firm  and  strong  yesterday,  and  the  President  finds  he  has  caught  a 
“  Tartar.’’  It  is  now  quite  uncertain  when  we  shall  adjourn/ 

August  24. 

The  House  yet  holds  out  firmly.  The  Senate  as  firmly.  Mr.  Clayton  wants 
to  compromise  —  I  wont  agree  to  that.  Strange  that  a  child  burnt  by  com¬ 
promise,  as  Clayton  has  been,  should  rush  into  the  same  flame.  Compromise 
is  the  statesmanship  of  the  last  generation. 

August  26. 

Never  have  you  seen  a  body  of  more  excitable  men  than  this  Congress,  re¬ 
called  here  in  their  very  act  of  departure  after  a  session  of  nine  months.  The 


1856.] 


EXECUTIVE  THEATRICALS. 


289 


tt 


y> 


House  is  the  sport  of  mere  accident.  It  has  a  majority  for  freedom  to-day; 
to-morrow  it  may  vote  for  slavery.  The  Senate  is  small  in  numbers,  and  can 
act  with  unity  of  purpose.  I  do  not  doubt  that  it  will  win  the  victory,  perhaps 
to-day,  perhaps  later. 

August  27. 

While  the  Democrats  are  drumming  up  their  absentees  to  overpower  our 
friends  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  schism  is  breaking  out  in  their  ranks 
in  the  Senate.  They  adjourned  hastily  yesterday  to  cover  .their  discords  and 
conceal  them  from  the  public  eye.  I  don’t  know  how  the  thing  will  end.  The 
House  has  found  out  the  strength  that  dwells  in  consistency  and  firmness,  and 
prefers  my  counsels. 

Of  course,  the  contest  was  over  the  proviso  in  the  Army  Bill. 
The  hope  of  the  Administration  lay  in  getting  some  of  the  te  Ameri¬ 
cans  ”  in  the  House  to  change  their  votes  from  the  Republican  to  the 
Democratic  side.  Ho  effort  was  spared  to  accomplish  it.  In  a  speech 
on  the  2?th,  Seward  humorously  described  the  situation  : 

The  House  of  Representatives  inserted  in  the  Army  Bill  a  provision  which 
practically  prohibits  the  President  from  employing  the  Army  to  enforce  tyran¬ 
nical  laws.  The  Senate  refused  even  that  small  act  of  grace  to  the  people  of 
Kansas.  So  the  Army  Bill  failed.  That  is  the  true  state  of  the  case  between 
the  two  Houses,  now  at  this  extra  session.  Alarms  are  sounded  forth  through¬ 
out  the  halls  of  Congress.  The  President  raises  the  key-note  by  striking  upon 
the  fertile  string  of  Indian  depredations.  The  honorable  and  venerable  Sen¬ 
ator  from  Michigan  chimes  in.  Never  in  his  eventful  life  has  he  seen  a  period 
so  portentous.  And  the  honorable  Senator  from  Delaware  seriously  gives 
forth  the  prediction  that  the  Army  must  be  disbanded,  and  the  Union  itself 
will  fall  asunder.  It  is  a  piece  of  stage  management.  Congress  is  called  back 
into  the  theatre,  the  curtain  rises  slowly,  amid  the  jarring  discords  which 
make  the  thunder  of  the  political  play-house,  and  then  the  air  is  filled  with 
signs  and  ghastly  spectres. 

On  the  fatal  day,  the  18th  of  August,  when  at  high  noon,  this  Congress  ad¬ 
journed,  I  too  went  forth  from  the  Senate  Chamber,  haunted  by  spectres  of  dis¬ 
cord  which  threatened  to  rend  this  country  asunder,  because  the  Army  Bill 
had  failed,  and  these  spectres  pursued  me  along  the  avenues  and  humbler 
pathways  to  my  quiet  dwelling  on  the  bank  of  the  Potomac.  Then  I  sat  down 
to  meditate  on  that  mighty  and  fearful  ruin  which  I  had  been  warned  was  to 
fall  on  the  Capitol  and  on  the  country,  in  swift  revenge  of  the  failure  of  the 
Army  Bill. 

The  evening  shades  gathered  around  me,  but  they  brought  no  notes  or  signs 
of  sorrow,  fear,  or  sadness.  The  parlors  of  my  neighbor  on  the  right  resounded 
with  the  tinkling  of  the  guitar.  Fairy-footed  children  were  dancing  in  the 
halls  of  my  neighbor  on  the  left  to  the  merriest  notes  the  violin  could  breathe 
through  its  mirth-moving  strings.  Across  the  way,  the  Russian  Minister, 
always  watchful  of  portents  of  dissension  here,  worthy  the  notice  of  his  sover¬ 
eign,  was  entertaining  a  joyous  company  in  his  lordly  halls,  as  undisturbed  by 
19 


290 


THE  ADJOURNMENT. 


[1856. 


the  crashing  and  falling  of  this  great  republic  over  his  head,  as  the  deaf- 
mutes,  who,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  way,  were  joining  with  happier  youths 
than  themselves  in  the  amusements  of  the  eventide.  And  though  it  is  strange, 
it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  this  condition  of  happy  ignorance  of  political  evil 
or  danger  has  continued  in  that  neighborhood  ever  since. 

Here  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  Senators,  you  can  repeat  it  to  each  other.  You 
can  even  produce  conviction  upon  the  galleries.  They  are  filled  with  your 
clients.  The  streets  around  the  Capitol  are  filled  with  them.  They  perhaps 
will  groan,  or  would,  if  it  were  respectful  to  do  so,  when  I  express  a  doubt 
whether  the  ruin  is  not  exaggerated  in  your  speeches.  But,  Senators,  do  not 
let  their  sympathy  mislead  and  deceive  you.  They  are  interested  clients  and 
dependents.  They  all  have  long  arms  and  wide-spreading  fingers  to  dip, 
by  your  gracious  permission,  into  the  Treasury,  but  no  strong  shoulders 
to  support  and  bear  up  the  Constitution  of  their  country.  If  you  rely  on  their 
applause  and  their  sympathies,  and  go  down  with  us  before  the  people  upon 
this  issue,  you  may  look  out,  at  the  next  session  of  Congress,  for  galleries  filled- 
with  other  clients  just  as  patriotic  but  at  the  same  time  just  as  well  satisfied 
that  this  country  can  only  be  saved  by  an  administration  of  the  Government 
which  will  overturn  the  Missouri  usurpation  and  restore  “perfect  freedom  to 
the  people  of  Kansas.”  I  know  something  of  the  temper  of  legislative  gal¬ 
leries,  and  of  the  atmosphere  of  executive  chambers.  I  warn  you  not  to  rely 
too  much  on  the  purity  of  the  one  or  the  constancy  of  the  other. 

Writing  home,  he  said: 

August  28. 

We  had  a  high  day  in  the  Senate  yesterday,  and  another  attempt  upon  the 
virtue  of  the  House  is  to  be  made  to-day.  The  telegraph  will  inform  you 
before  this  reaches  you  whether  my  fears  are  just.  I  do  not  see  how  the  House 
can  stand  against  the  Senate.  At  all  events,  things  are  coming  to  a  crisis.  I 
do  not  think  we  shall  last  through  this  week.  Well !  well!  what  can  one  man 
do  alone?  What  more  could  I  do  than  I  have  done? 

At  last,  on  the  30th,  the  coveted  votes  were  gained  by  the  Adminis¬ 
tration  from  “Know-Nothing”  members,  and  the  House  gave  up  its 
proviso  by  ayes  101  to  nays  98.  Slavery  had  a  fresh  triumph,  and 
though  by  only  a  slender  majority  of  three,  it  was  enough.  Adjourn¬ 
ment  immediately  followed,  and  the  members  scattered  to  their  homes* 


1856-  57.] 


291 


“OX  THE  STUMP”  FOR  FREMONT. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

—  %  1856-1857. 

The  Presidential  Canvass.  Seward  “  On  the  Stump.”  Northern  Responsibility  for 
Slavery.  The  “Ancient  and  Eternal  Conflict.”  Buchanan  Elected.  The  Short  Ses¬ 
sion.  An  Explanation  in  Three  Volumes.  Kidnapping  Cases.  Solomon  Northrup. 
Georgetown  and  Brooklyn.  Rights  of  Witnesses.  The  Atlantic  Telegraph.  The 
Electoral  Count.  Another  Kansas  Bill.  Minnesota. 

The  presidential  canvass  was  in  full  swing.  Processions  and 
“mass-meetings/’  waving  banners,  martial  music,  and  impassioned 
oratory  were  at  work  in  every  important  town.  The  Congressmen, 
just  emerged  from  debate’under  the  dome  of  the  Capitol,  were  called 
upon  to  renew  and  continue  it  on  the  platform  and  on  the  “stump.” 
Xo  less  than  six  “  National  Conventions”  had  been  held  —  one  Dem¬ 
ocratic,  one  Republican,  one  Whig,  and  three  “American.”  While 
the  Democrats  were  united  for  Buchanan,  their  opponents  had  put  in 
nomination  Fremont,  Fillmore,  Banks,  and  Stockton.  Banks  had'de- 
clined,  and  his  supporters  were  generally  going  for  Fremont;  Stock- 
ton  withdrew,  and  his  were  expected  to  go  for  Fillmore,  who  had  also 
received  the  indorsement  of  the  Baltimore  Convention  of  “  Old  Whigs.” 
The  two  great  parties  of  preceding  contests  had  been  so  far  disorgan¬ 
ized  and  re-combined  as  to  render  the  result  exceedingly  doubtful. 
The  Democratic  party  had  lost  largely  at  the  North  by  the  going  over 
of  its  “Free  Soil”  element  to  the  Republicans;  while  on  the  other 
hand  it  had  gained  at  the  South  by  the  accession  of  the  Southern 
Whigs.  The  “American”  party  was  dwindling,  while  the  tide  of  Re¬ 
publican  feeling  was  manifestly  rising  throughout  the  free  States, 
augmented  by  the  Sumner  assault  and  the  events  in  Kansas.  But 
there  was  still  a  large  number  of  former  Whigs  who  were  unwilling 
to  embark  in  an  anti-slavery  movement.  Seward  hastened  to  lend  his 
aid  in  behalf  of  Fremont  and  Dayton.  In  his  speech  at  Detroit,  he 
drew  a  picture  of  the  Federal  capital,  showing  how  the  slave-holding 
class  had  contrived  to  intrench  itself  in  every  department  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment. 

He  called  up  a  picture  of  the  White  House,  and  Capitol,  and  their 
incumbents.  Proceeding  then  through  each  committee  room,  and 
each  executive  department,  he  showed  how  each  Avas  controlled  by 
slave-holders,  and  conducted  in  the  interest  of  slavery.  Then,  turn¬ 
ing  upon  his  auditors,  he  startled  them  with  an  unexpected  arraign¬ 
ment  of  themselves: 

You  will  claim  to  be  merely  innocent  and  unfortunate,  and  will  upbraid  the 
slave-holding  class,  as  the  builders  of  this  impending  ruin.  But  you  cannot 


292 


“ON  THE  STUMP”  FOR  FREMONT. 


[185 6-’ 57. 


escape  in  that  way.  The  fault  is  with  yourselves.  The  slave-holders  only  act 
according  to  their  constitutions,  education,  and  training.  It  is  the  non-slave¬ 
holding  classes,  in  the  free  States,  who  are  recreant  to  their  own  constitu¬ 
tions,  and  false  to  their  own  instincts  and  impulses,  and  even  to  their  own 
true  interests!  Who  taught  the  slave-holding  class  that  freedom  could  be 
yielded  in  successive  halves  by  successive  compromises?  Who  taught  the 
slave-holding  class  the  specious  theories  of  “non-intervention,”  and  “popu¬ 
lar  sovereignty,”  and  the  absolute  obligation  of  tyrannical  laws  enacted  by 
armed  usurpation?  Who  established  them  at  Washington,  and  gave  them  the 
power  to  march  their  slave-holding  armies  into  Kansas?  The  non-slave-hold¬ 
ing  society  in  the  free  States;  and  no  portion  of  that  society,  more  willingly 
and  more  recklessly  than  you,  the  people  of  Michigan! 

Finally,  he  remarked: 

Harsh  as  my  words  may  have  seemed,  I  do  my  kinsmen  and  brethren  of 
the  free  States  no  such  injustice,  as  to  deny  that  great  allowances  are  to  be 
made  for  the  demoralization  I  have  described.  We  inherited  complicity  with 
slave-holding,  and  with  it,  prejudices  of  caste.  We  inherited  confidence  and 
affection  toward  our  Southern  brethren;  and  with  these,  our  political  organi¬ 
zations,  and  our  profound  reverence  for  political  authorities.  Above  all,  we 
inherited  a  fear  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  But  if  we  have  inherited 
prejudices  of  caste,  we  have  also  risen  to  the  knowledge  that  political  safety 
is  dependent  on  the  rendering  of  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men. 

As  to  opposing  parties,  and  the  respective  candidates,  he  remarked: 

The  question  now  to  be  decided  is,  whether  a  slave-holding  class,  exclu¬ 
sively,  shall  govern  America.  It  concerns  all  persons  equally,  and,  therefore, 
it  seems  to  me,  that  this  is  no  time  for  trials  of  strength,  between  the  native- 
born  and  the  adopted  freeman. 

The  whole  of  the  month  was  engrossed  by  these  political  labors. 
His  speeches  were  at  different,  and  often  widely  distant  points.  Chief 
among  them,  perhaps,  was  Ins  speech  at  AubuTn,  on  the  21st.  In  this 
he  again  enunciated  the  doctrine,  since  become  so  memorable: 

It  is  an  ancient  and  eternal  conflict  between  two  entirely  antagonistic  sys¬ 
tems  of  human  labor,  existing  in  American  society,  not  unequal  in  their  forces, 
a  conflict  for  not  merely  toleration,  but  for  absolute  political  sway  in  the  re¬ 
public,  between  the  system  of  free  labor,  with  equal  and  universal  suffrage, 
free  speech,  free  thought,  and  free  action,  and  the  system  of  slave  labor,  with 
unequal  franchises  secured  by  arbitrary,  oppressive,  and  tyrannical  laws.  It 
is  as  old  as  the  republic  itself,  although  it  has  never  ripened  before.  Hereto¬ 
fore  opposing  political  combinations  have  concurred  in  suppressing  this  great 
and  important  question,  but  they  have  broken  under  its  pressure  at  last.  Hence¬ 
forth,  the  two  interests  will  be  found  contending  for  the  common  ground, 
claimed  by  both,  and  which  can  be  occupied  only  by  one  of  them. 

I  do  not  predict  the  times  and  seasons,  when  one  or  the  other  of  the  con¬ 
tending  political  elements  shall  prevail.  I  know,  nevertheless,  that  this  State, 


185(5— ’  57 .  ] 


BUCHANAN  ELECTED. 


293 


this  Nation,  and  this  earth,  are  to  be  the  abode,  and  happy  home  of  freemen. 
Its  hills  and  valleys  are  to  be  fields  of  free  labor,  free  thought,  and  free 
suffrage. 

He  wrote,  the  following  week: 

Auburn,  October  27. 

i  ’ 

I  had  a  spirited,  and,  as  I  hope,  a  profitable  meeting  at  Buffalo.  The  tide 
has  evidently  turned  there,  but  the  result  is  yet  uncertain.  I  go  to  speak  to¬ 
morrow  night,  at  Lyons;  on  Thursday,  at  Havana,  in  Schuyler  county;  and 
on  Friday  night,  at  Rochester.  On  Monday  I  shall  go  to  Oswego,  reaching 
home,  as  I  trust,  on  Tuesday. 

On  Tuesday  came  the  election.  It  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Bu¬ 
chanan  and  Breckenridge,  who  secured  174  of  the  electors.  Yet  they 
fell  short  of  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote.  There  were  1,838,169 
votes  for  Buchanan,  while  there  were  2,215,748  divided  between  Fre¬ 
mont  and  Fillmore. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Republicans,  though  defeated  in  the  general 
result,  had  abundant  cause  for  rejoicing.  They  had  developed  tre¬ 
mendous  power.  They  had  carried  all  the  free  States  but  five,  and 
given  Fremont  114  electoral  votes;  they  had  a  party  1,300,000  strong, 
and  the  only  one  that  was  growing  stronger;  they  had  swept  the 
State  of  New  York  by  a  plurality  of  80,000,  electing  Governor  King, 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  Selden,  and  twenty-five  out  of  thirty-three 
Members  of  Congress.  During  the  next  week,  after  the  returns  were 
in,  it  was  a  common  remark  in  the  streets,  that  the  victors  were  not 
half  so  cheerful  or  so  hopeful  as  the  vanquished. 

Congress  met  on  the  1st  day  of  December,  and  all  seemed  to  prom¬ 
ise  a  calm,  as  well  as  a  short  session.  Seward  took  his  seat,  but  was 
not  long  allowed  to  remain  there  in  quiet.  The  next  day  came  in 
President  Pierce’s  last  message,  in  which  he  defended  his  own  action 
in  regard  to  Kansas,  and  bitterly  censured  the  Northern  States  and 
the  Republican  party.  In  the  debate  which  followed  the  reading,  one 
of  the  Southern  Senators,  following  the  President’s  lead,  called  upon 
Seward  for  an  explanation,  as  to  what  he  meant  by  saying  in  one  of 
his  speeches  that  “  Slavery  can  and  will  be  abolished,  and  you  and  I 
can,  and  must  doit?”  Seward,  with  his  usual  imperturbable  cool¬ 
ness  and  courtesy,  replied: 

I  suppose  he  refers  to  a  speech  which  I  made  in  the  year  1848,  at  Cleve¬ 
land,  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  in  support  of  Zachary  Taylor,  a  slave-holder  of 
Louisiana,  for  President  of  the  United  States.  I  shall  not  recall  that  speech 
here,  nor  shall  I  explain  it,  nor  shall  I  defend  it,  nor  shall  I  say  one  word 
further  about  it,  except  to  declare  that  what  I  have  to  say  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  or  any  other  subject,  is  not  said  in  a  corner,  but  it  is  said  in  public 


294  “TWELVE  YEARS  A  SLAVE.”  [1856-’ 57. 

places;  and  that  speech,  and  every  other  one  which  I  have  ever  made  on  that 
subject,  or  any  kindred  subject,  or  any  public  question,  so  far  as  depended  on 
me,  has  been  gathered,  collected,  and  will  be  found  in  the  library  of  the  Con¬ 
gress  of  the  United  States,  in  three  volumes  octavo,  published  by  Kedfield,  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  The  honorable  Senator  will  find  there  exactly  the 
head  and  front  of  my  offending  in  that  particular  speech. 

The  death  of  John  M.  Clayton,  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  was 
followed  in  the  early  days  of  the  session  by  the  usual  tributes  of  re¬ 
spect.  Seward  made  a  feeling  eulogy,  referring  to  his  vigorous  hand¬ 
ling  of  great  questions  while  Secretary  of  State. 

The  validity  of  the  election  of  Senator  Harlan  was  a  subject  of 
contest.  Seward  made  earnest  argument  in  his  behalf,  but  the  major¬ 
ity  of  the  Senate  decided  adversely,  thus  obliging  Mr.  Harlan  to  wait 
until  the  Iowa  Legislature  re-affirmed  their  choice  at  their  next  ses¬ 
sion. 

In  1840,  during  Seward’s  first  term  as  Governor  of  New  Yrork,  a 
law  was  passed,  with  his  aid  and  approval,  “to  more  effectually  pre¬ 
vent  the  free  citizens  of  the  State  from  being  kidnapped,  or  reduced 
to  slavery.”  It  empowered  the  Governor  to  appoint  and  send  out 
agents  to  recover  and  restore  to  liberty  any  such  kidnapped  person  — 
the  expense  to  be  defrayed  from  the  State  treasury.  One  of  the  cases 
where  this  law  proved  effective,  was  that  of  Solomon  Northrup,  a  col¬ 
ored  man  from  Saratoga  Springs,  who  was  beguiled  to  the  city  of 
Washington,  by  promise  of  employment  as  a  musician,  and  there  kid¬ 
napped,  thrown  into  the  slave-pen  and  sold  into  slavery.  After 
twelve  years’  service,  under  various  masters,  he  was  finally  found  on  a 
Louisiana  plantation,  whence  Henry  B.  Northrup,  who  had  gone  out 
under  this  law,  brought  him  back  to  his  family  and  to  liberty.  His  ex¬ 
periences  were  narrated  in  a  volume,  entitled  “  Twelve  Years  a  Slave,” 
published  in  1853,  by  Derby  and  Miller,  and  dedicated  to  Mrs.  Har¬ 
riet  Beecher  Stowe,  whose  novel  of  “Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  ”  was  now 
stirring  the  popular  heart  throughout  the  North,  and  potently  aiding 
the  progress  of  anti-slavery  opinions. 

A  similar,  though  less  aggravated  case,  was  alluded  to  in  a  letter 
from  Mrs.  Seward: 

Washington,  December. 

Mr.  Murray  of  Orange  county  called  with  Mr.  Bennet,  who  has  returned 
from  North  Carolina  with  the  colored  man.  He  passed  through  Washington 
on  Friday,  intending  to  go  directly  home,  but  at  Baltimore  he  was  stopped 
and  required  to  give  bonds.  Not  knowing  any  one  in  Baltimore  to  whom  he 
could  apply,  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  your  father.  He  was  told  a*t  the  jail 
that  he  was  at  liberty  to  take  the  man  since  he  had  come  for  him  and  paid  the 
jail  fees,  but  that  he  would  have  been  sold  the  last  of  this  month. 


1856-’ 57.] 


THE  ATLANTIC  TELEGRAPH. 


‘^95 


There  was  a  lull  in  the  congressional  debates  this  winter,  as  usual 
during  the  last  months  of  an  outgoing  Administration,  and  while  both 
parties  are  waiting  the  development  of  the  purposes  of  the  incoming 
one.  Matters  of  commercial  and  non-political  importance  received 
attention.  Seward  took  part  in  the  discussion  over  Revolutionary 
claims,  giving  a  detailed  history  of  the  question,  quoting  from  the 
journals  of  Congress  and  the  writings  of  Washington.  Various  com¬ 
mercial  measures  were  either  reported  by  him  from  the  Commerce 
Committee  or  advocated  on  the  floor;  among  them,  the  establishment 
of  life-saving  stations,  the  surveys  of  rivers,  and  the  fisheries.  He 
opposed  the  coinage  of  the  new  three  dollar  and  three  cent  pieces,  as 
tending  to  mar  the  alreadv  excellent  decimal  svstem. 

He  also  opposed  a  project  for  the  retrocession  of  Georgetown  to 
Maryland,  and  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  said: 

I  remember  —  it  cannot  be  much  more  than  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  years 
ago  —  when  the  then  village  of  Brooklyn,  opposite  to  New  York,  situated  on 
Long  Island,  desired  a  charter  of  incorporation  as  a  separate  city.  I  voted 
against  it  in  the  Legislature  of  New  York.  I  did  so  because  I  thought  it 
ought  to  be  a  part  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in  time  would  become  neces¬ 
sary  to  that  city.  I  have  the  same  idea  of  the  prosperity  and  growth  of  both 
these  towns,  Georgetown  and  Washington.  The}1"  are  indispensable  to  each 
other. 

When  a  bill  came  up  for  debate  whose  purpose  was  to  compel  testi¬ 
mony  by  witnesses  before  congressional  committees,  imposing  pains 
and  penalties  upon  “any  person  refusing  to  answer  any  question,” 
.  Seward  pointed  out  that  to  abridge  the  rights  and  destroy  the  privi¬ 
leges  of  witnesses  at  common  law  was  a  step  toward  legislative  tyranny, 
arrogating  to  congressional  committees  powers  which  the  Constitution 
denied  to  courts. 

Seward  had,  in  December,  submitted  a  resolution  calling  upon  the 
President  for  information  concerning  the  present  condition  and  pros¬ 
pects  of  the  proposed  plan  for  an  Atlantic  telegraph.  On  the  7th  of 
January,  the  President  replied,  transmitting  a  report  from  the  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State.  Seward,  on  the  9th,  introduced  a  bill  “to  expedite 
telegraph  communication  for  the  use  of  the  Government  in  foreign 
intercourse.”  The  bill  provided  that  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  the 
discretion  and  under  the  direction  of  the  President,  “mav  contract 
with  any  competent  persons  or  association,  for  the  aid  of  the  United 
States  in  laying  down  a  sub-marine  cable,  to  connect  existing  tele¬ 
graphs  between  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  and  the  coast  of  Ireland, 
and  for  the  use  of  such  sub-marine  communications,  when  established, 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  on  such  terms  as  shall  seem 


296 


THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE. 


[1856- ’57. 


just  and  reasonable.”  In  advocating  the  bill,  be  had  to  encounter 
and  answer  many  arguments  that  now  seem  curious  enough.  One 
was  that  the  British  Government  would  use  it  for  its  own  advantage, 
and  whenever  disposed  to  be  unfriendly  would  send  out  ships  of  war 
to  cut  the  cable  at  Newfoundland.  Another  objection  was  that  it 
was  an  extravagant  expense  to  send  out  ships  to  lay  a  cable  which 
never  could  be  of  any  use.  Another  was  that  the  project  originated 
with  individuals  and  not  in  Congress.  After  a  long  debate  the  bill 
was  passed  by  a  vote  of  29  to  18. 

Among  the  Senators  whose  terms  were  to  expire  on  the  4th  of 
March,  was  Charles  Sumner.  His  re-election,  however,  was  a  fore¬ 
gone  conclusion.  The  assault  upon  him  by  Brooks,  which  was  in¬ 
tended  to  degrade  him  and  disable  him,  added  to  his  popularity.  He 
wrote  to  Seward: 

Boston,  January  12,  1857. 

I  read  your  letter  on  my  bed  this  evening  and  was  liappy  in  its  kindness. 

The  election  here  has  not  cost  me  one  moment’s  solicitude.  I  sought  no¬ 
body,  and  said  nothing,  pursuing  now  the  course  which  I  adopted  six  years 
ago.  I  did  not  make  even  a  single  inquiry  with  regard  to  it.  What  has  been 
done  has  been  the  utterance  of  the  State,  without  a  hint  from  me. 

My  health  shows  improvement  from  week  to  week,  but  I  am  still  limited  in 
what  I  can  do.  Of  all  who  saw  me  during  the  weeks  I  was  in  Washington 
after  my  disability,  you  showed  the  keenest  appreciation  of  my  actual  condi¬ 
tion.  I  did  not  believe  you  then. 

I  hope  to  see  you  before  long,  and  then  I  sail  for  France.  Remember  me 
always  to  Mrs.  Seward. 

Ever  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

In  February  came  the  appointed  time  for  the  official  count  of  the 
electoral  votes.  There  was  no  question  as  to  the  election  of  Buchanan 
and  Breckenridge  by  a  decided  majority.  But  an  informality  in  re¬ 
gard  to  the  transmission  of  the  vote  of  Wisconsin  gave  rise  to  some 
discussion. 

Among  the  bills  which  he  introduced  or  reported  this  session,  was- 
one  for  the  inspection  of  steamers;  another  to  promote  the  exploration 
of  the  interior  of  Africa;  another  for  revenue  cutters  to  relieve  dis¬ 
tressed  vessels  upon  the  coast;  and  another  to  amend  the  revenue 
laws. 

The  House  of  Representatives  now  passed  and  sent  to  the  Senate  a 
bill  proposing  to  restore  peace  in  Kansas  by  annulling  all  laws  of  dis¬ 
puted  validity,  and  enabling  the  people  of  the  Territory  to  establish 
a  government  for  themselves.  Little  hope  was  entertained  that  it 
would  pass  the  Senate;  but  it  was  a  significant  mark  of  progress  when 


1857.] 


297 


buchanan’s  inauguration. 

Senators  Bell,  Broadhead,  Houston,  James,  Pugh,  and  Stewart  voted 
with  Seward  and  the  other  Republicans  in  its  favor. 

Amendments  to  the  tariff,  further  reducing  duties,  occupied  con¬ 
siderable  time  at  this  session.  Some  of  them  were  opposed  by  Seward 
as  detrimental  to  the  iron  manufacturers  and  wool-growers.  The  two 
Houses  disagreeing,  a  Committee  of  Conference  was  appointed,  of 
which  he  was  a  member.  This  Committee  succeeded  in  reporting 
modifications,  which  were  concurred  in  by  both  Houses. 

Minnesota  was  now  ready  for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  State. 
The  pro-slavery  element,  of  course,  wanted  no  more  free  States,  and 
gladly  seized  any  pretext  to  keep  her  out.  They  found  a  plausible 
one  in  the  charge  of  her  having  allowed  aliens  to  vote  on  the  question 
of  admission,  before  being  duly  naturalized.  This  enlisted  some 
“  Know-Xothing  ”  aid  in  rejecting  her.  Seward  advocated  her  ad¬ 
mission  as  a  right  and  a  duty. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

1857. 

Buchanan’s  Inauguration.  The  “  National  Hotel  Disease.”  The  New  Cabinet.  Lord 
Napier.  Walker  and  Stanton.  The  Dred  Scott  Decision.  Northern  Indignation. 
Lincoln  and  Douglas.  The  Atlantic  Cable. 

On  the  4th  of  March  came  the  end  of  the  session,  and  the  busy 
scenes  attending  the  inauguration  of  a  new  President.  Visitors, 
as  usual,  flocked  to  the  capital;  hotels  were  filled  to  overflowing; 
music  and  military  parades  enlivened  the  crowded  avenue  between  the 
White  House  and  the  Capitol.  Among  the  incidents  of  the  day,  were 
the  visits  of  military  companies.  The  Burgesses  Corps  from  Albany, 
a  well-drilled,  and  handsomely-uniformed  body  of  citizen  soldiers, 
embracing  in  its  ranks  many  old  acquaintances,  and  sons  of  old 
friends,  had  come  to  participate  in  the  national  pageant.  They  called 
to  pay  their  respects  to  Seward  in  the  morning,  and  later,  came  a 
similar  greeting  by  the  Willard  Guards  of  Auburn.  There  were  said 
to  be  a  hundred  thousand  strangers  in  town.  Various  amusements' 
were  proffered  to  them;  —  balls,  fairs,  concerts,  balloon  ascensions, 
exhibitions  of  fat  oxen,  dwarfs,  etc.,  etc. 

Mr.  Buchanan’s  high  character,  and  long  public  experience,  induced 
many  outside  his  own  party,  as  well  as  in  it,  to  cherish  the  belief 


298 


THE  NEW  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1857. 


that  his  Administration  would  prove  wiser  than  that  of  his  predeces¬ 
sor.  Democratic  enthusiasm  manifested  itself  in  flags  and  portraits, 
adorned  with  deers’  horns,  and  other  trophies  of  the  chase,  in  pun¬ 
ning  allusion  to  his  popular  nickname  of  “  Old  Buck.”  There  was 
nothing  offensively  partisan,  however,  and  the  inauguration  day,  as 
usual,  was  marked  by  courtesy  and  good  feeling.  Governor  Fish 
gracefully  closed  his  senatorial  term,  by  offering  the  complimentary 
resolutions  to  the  presiding  officers  of  the  Senate,  his  political  oppo¬ 
nents.  The  evening  reception  was  attended  by  large  numbers  of 
ladies,  and  by  gentlemen  of  all  shades  of  political  belief. 

One  painful  incident,  however,  cast  a  cloud  over  the  opening  of  the 
new  Administration.  Guests  at  one  of  the  principal  hotels  were  seized 
with  sudden  and  alarming  symptoms  of  disease,  of  which  the  nature 
and  cause  were  unknown.  Some  died,  many  lingered  long  on  beds  of 
sickness,  and  could  only  be  carried  to  their  homes  after  weeks  of  suf¬ 
fering.  None  were  exempt.  Transient  visitors,  and  habitues,  Demo¬ 
crats,  Republicans,  and  “Americans,”  Senators,  Congressmen,  and 
Judges,  military  and  naval  officers,  and  even  the  new  President  were 
attacked  with  more  or  less  violence,  by  the  “  National  Hotel  disease.” 
Physicians  pronounced  it  to  he  poisoning,  and  there  were  various 
theories  as  to  its  origin.  Some  attributed  it  to  criminal  malice;  others 
to  leaden  water-pipes  and  defective  drainage.  It  was  a  pestilence  that 
soon  cleared  the  hotel  of  occupants;  and  the  apprehensions  it  excited 
led  many  people  to  quit  the  city. 

The  Senators  came  together,  in  the  customary  special  session  to  con¬ 
firm  the  President’s  Cabinet,  and  other  prominent  appointments. 
Preston  King,  whom  the  Legislature  of  New  York  had  now  elected 
as  Seward's  colleague,  appeared  and  took  his  seat.  Among  other 
newly-elected  Senators,  were  James  Dixon  of  Connecticut,  Simon 
Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi,  Andrew 
Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Zachariah  Chandler  of  Michigan,  James  R. 
Doolittle  of  Wisconsin;  while  Wade,  Sumner,  and  Crittenden  returned 
by  re-election. 

The  new  Cabinet  comprised  General  Cass  for  Secretary  of  State, 
Howell  Cobb  for  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  John  B.  Floyd  for  Secre¬ 
tary  of  War,  Isaac  Toucey  for  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Jacob  Thomp¬ 
son  for  the  Interior,  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  Attorney-General,  and  Aaron 
V.  Brown  for  Postmaster-General. 

Among  the  notable  diplomatic  changes  of  the  period,  was  the  coming 
of  a  new  Minister  from  Great  Britain  in  place  of  Mr.  Crampton.  Lord 
Napier  was  presented,  and  entered  upon  his  official  duties  in  March. 
The  acquaintance  which  began  at  this  period  between  him  and  Seward, 


1857.] 


THE  DRED  SCOTT  DECISION. 


299 


ripened  into  a  friendship,  afterward  renewed  in  distant  countries. 
Seward  wrote  to  his  son  at  Albany  : 

March  30. 

It  is  our  purpose  to  leave  for  home  ou  Thursday.  Lord  and  Lady  Napier  dine 
with  us  enfamille  to-morrow.  It  is  for  your  private  and  not  public  ear,  that  1 
am  cooperating  with  this  new  British  diplomatist,  in  setting  up  an  informal 
cooperation  by  our  G-overnment,  in  the  great  enterprise  of  opening  China  to 
foreign  commerce,  and  bringing  her  antique  Court  into  the  family  of  civilized 
States. 

There  is  some  room  to  think  that  our  political  affairs  at  home  are  to  undergo 
some  new  complications.  Mr.  Robert  J.  Walker  and  his  secretary,  Mr.  F.  P. 
Stanton,  are  uncommon  men,  independent,  self-seeking,  and  quietly  ambitious. 
They  don’t  mean  to  play  parts  subordinate  and  ministering  to  the  ambition  of 
Cass,  Buchanan,  Marcy,  Douglas,  or  other  aspirants,  as  their  predecessors 
have,  but  to  establish  a  power  of  their  own.  Walker  sees  his  wTay  through 
the  Governorship  of  Kansas  to  the  Senate,  and  through  the  Senate  to  the  Presi¬ 
dency.  I  am  to  give  him  a  private  conference  at  one  to-day.  He  lets  me 
think,  if  I  will,  that  he  will  be  content  to  let  Kansas  reverse  the  contest  in  favor 
of  freedom,  only  stipulating  gentleness,  prudence,  and  indemnity.  I  shall  be 
wiser,  and  perhaps  he,  after  we  meet.  But  this,  too,  is  for  your  own  private 
ear. 

April  1. 

Since  Congress  has  adjourned,  I  have  turned  my  thoughts  to  a  political  pro¬ 
gram,  with  a  view,  if  it  shall  be  wise,  to  bring  it  out,  at  some  time  during 
the  season,  as  a  relief  and  direction  rendered  necessary  by  the  Dred  Scott 
case. 

• 

Every  human  tribunal,  however  venerable,  is  fallible.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  LTnited  States,  which  all  Americans  had  hitherto  re¬ 
garded  with  profound  respect,  this  spring  made  its  remarkable  de¬ 
cision  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott,  —  a  decision  that  startled  the  nation. 
Going  out  of  its  way  to  enunciate  political  dogmas,  the  Court  not  only 
decided  adversely  to  the  plaintiff,  but  proceeded  to  announce  that  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  did  not  include  negroes;  that  they  could 
be  made  property  but  not  citizens,  and  were  regarded  as  so  far  inferior 
that  they  had  no  rights  which  the  white  man  was  bound  to  respect. 
Starting  with  these  extraordinary  premises  in  regard  to  the  case  in 
hand,  it  was  not  difficult  for  the  Court  to  proceed  to  apply  them  to 
matters  which  were  not  before  it  at  all.  So  it  was  solemnly  announced 
that  the  Missouri  Compromise  Act  was  unconstitutional  and  void,  and 
inf erentially, that  the  Constitution  carried  with  it  the  right  and  power 
to  hold  slaves  anywhere  —  in  short,  that  slavery  was  a  national  insti¬ 
tution.  Of  course,  the  explanation  of  this  remarkable  decision  was  > 
tha  the  slave  power  wanted  it.  The  slave-holders  led  the  Court  into 
the  obiter  dicta ,  and  the  Court  by  the  obiter  dicta  was  to  lead  the 


300 


THE  DRED  SCOTT  DECISION. 


[1857. 


slave-holders  onward  in  their  path  of  extension.  It  was  a  notable  proof 
of  the  ease  with  which  “  when  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  they  both  fall 
into  the  ditch.”  * 

Justices  McLean  and  Curtis  dissented  from  the  majority,  and  placed 
on  record  their  opinions,  which,  probably,  are  the  only  features  of  the 
case  that  the  future  student  of  judicial  history  will  regard  with  satis¬ 
faction.  Fortified  by  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  the  extensionists  pushed 
forward  their  preparations  for  consummating  the  plan  to  make  Kan¬ 
sas  a  slave  State.  Their  “  Legislature  ”  called  a  Convention  to  frame 
a  Constitution,  and  fixed  a  day  for  the  election  of  delegates,  taking  care 
to  so  arrange  both  election  and  Convention  as  to  insure  a  Constitution 
sanctioning  slavery. 

But  while  the  Administration  was  thus  backed  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  it  had  encountered  unexpected  insubordination  in  its  Kansas 
Governors.  Though  its  appointees  were  in  political  accord  with  the 
appointing  power,  they  were  not  willing  to  connive  at  all  the  proceed¬ 
ings  of  the  “  Border  Ruffians.”  Governor  Reeder  had,  therefore,  been 
replaced  by  Governor  Shannon,  and  Governor  Shannon  by  Governor 
Geary,  and  now  President  Buchanan  was  about  sending  out  Governor 
Walker. 

And  now,  like  all  the  previous  concessions,  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
increased  the  “agitation”  which  it  had  been  expected  to  finally  and 
forever  settle.  Press,  pulpit,  and  popular  meetings  throughout  the 
free  States  denounced  it  as  a  blow  to  the  rights  of  the  States,  as  well 
as  the  rights  of  man.  The  Legislature  of  New  York  adopted  resolu¬ 
tions  declaring  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  by  its 
action  in  this  matter,  “has  impaired  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
people  of  this  State;”  and  that  “this  State  will  not  allow  slavery 
within  her  borders,  in  any  form,  or  under  any  pretense,  or  for  any 
time.”  Other  Northern  legislative  bodies  made  similar  protests. 

During  the  early  summer,  three  other  subjects  began  to  engross 
public  attention.  One  was  the  election  of  the  delegates  in  Kansas,  to 
the  Convention  to  be  held  at  Lecompton.  Another  was  the  debate, 
since  become  historic,  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  in  Illinois.  An¬ 
other  was  the  shipping  of  the  proposed  Atlantic  Cable,  on  board  of  the 
Niagara  and  Agamemnon,  preparatory  to  their  attempt  to  lay  it  under 
the  ocean  between  the  two  continents. 


1857.] 


ON  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE. 


301 


CHAPTER  XL. 

1857. 

A  Canadian  Journey.  Niagara.  Lake  Ontario.  The  Thousand  Islands.  The  St.  Law¬ 
rence.  Montreal.  Quebec.  A  Cruise  to  Labrador.  The  “  Emerence.”  Life  on  a 
Fishing  Schooner.  St.  Thomas.  Wrecks.  Kamouraska.  Tadoussac.  The  Sague¬ 
nay.  Hudson’s  Bay  Stations.  Bic.  Point  de  Monts.  Mackerel  Catching.  The  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence.  Cod-Fishing.  The  Labrador  Coast.  Mingan  Islands.  An  Indian 
Camp.  A  Lost  Whale.  Salmon  and  River  Trout.  The  Island  of  Anticosti.  Lobster 
Fishing.  Bears  and  Wolves.  A  Whale  Story.  Homeward  Bound.  Fogs  and  Col¬ 
lisions.  Canada’s  Future. 

Summer  had  come,  and  with  it  leisure  for  travel.  Seward  at  Au¬ 
burn,  in  July,  was  planning  a  journey  through  Canada,  with  his  son 
and  daughter-in-law.  One  day,  while  visiting  at  “  Willowbrook,”  he 
mentioned  his  project,  and  found  some  of  the  guests  were  quite  will¬ 
ing  to  join  the  party.  One  was  his  colleague,  Preston  King,  who 
could  “go  around  that  way  to  his  home,”  at  Ogdensburg.  Francis  E. 
Spinner,  having  been  elected  to  represent  St.  Lawrence  and  Herkimer 
in  Congress,  said  it  would  give  him  an  opportunity  to  “see  the  north¬ 
ern  half  of  his  district.”  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  P.  Blair  of  Washing¬ 
ton  deemed  it  a  pleasant  way  of  seeing  a  region  they  had  not  yet  vis¬ 
ited.  So  the  party  was  made  up.  They  proceeded  first  to  Niagara. 
From  there  they  went  to  Hamilton,  Toronto,  and  Kingston,  passing  a 
day  or  two  in  each  city.  Then  in  the  Thousand  Islands,  a  longer  stay 
was  made  at  the  hotel  at  Alexandria  Bay.  The  Islands  had  not  yet 
become  a  fashionable  summer  resort.  But  they  had  all  the  natural 
beauty  they  have  now.  Fishing  and  picnic  excursions  occupied  the 
hours.  Floating  lazily  and  dreamily  in  a  cushioned  boat,  to  the  slow 
and  measured  stroke  of  the  oarsman  in  the  placid  water,  pausing  only 
every  few  minutes  to  pull  in  a  slender  pickerel,  shining  bass,  or  huge 
muscalonge  —  was  found  to  be  the  very  poetry  of  angling.  Mr.  Spin¬ 
ner  proved  himself  an  expert  fisherman.  Preston  King  was  “  to  the 
manner  born,”  and  had  his  pleasure  in  watching  how  his  friends  “en¬ 
joyed  Northern  New  York.” 

One  moonlit  evening,  Seward,  with  his  son  and  daughter-in-law, 
embarked  in  a  row-boat  and  spent  the  summer  night  in  pulling  down 
the  river,  pausing  for  a  midnight  supper  on  a  wild,  rocky  islet,  and 
reaching  Ogdensburg  about  nine  o’clock  the  next  morning,  where  the 
friends  who  had  been  expecting  him  were  somewhat  mystified  by  his 
sudden  appearance  before  the  arrival  of  the  steamboat.  When  it  came 
it  brought  the  other  members  of  the  party.  His  letter  home,  describ¬ 
ing  this  night  voyage  in  a  canoe,  was  written  on  a  piece  of  birch  bark 


302 


A  CRUISE  TO  LABRADOR. 


[1857* 


picked  up  on  the  islet.  Two  or  three  days  of  hospitalities  at  Ogdens- 
burg  were  followed  by  a  picturesque  trip  by  daylight  “down  the 
rapids”  to  Montreal.  When  the  party  finally  separated,  Seward  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  Quebec,  and  then,  in  accordance  with  a  long-cherished  de¬ 
sire,  decided  to  hire  a  fishing  schooner  and  explore  the  St.  Lawrence 
down  to  the  Gulf.  With  the  courteous  aid  of  Mr.  Dunscombe,  the 
Collector  of  the  Port,  a  vessel  was  found  and  chartered.  While  tak¬ 
ing  in  the  necessary  supplies,  there  was  time  to  look  at  the  old  French 
town,  the  walls  and  gate-ways,  the  citadel,  the  Heights  of  Abraham, 
the  spots  where  Montgomery  fell  and  Wolfe  expired,  the  Falls  of 
Montmorenci,  Point  Levi,  etc.,  etc. 

On  this  “  Cruise  to  Labrador,”  Seward  kept  a  journal,  which  was 
sent  home  for  the  entertainment  of  the  family  circle  and  afterward 
published  in  the  Albany  Journal  and  New  York  Tribune.  The  chief 
portion  of  it  follows  here: 


LOG 

Of  The  Schooner  Emerence. 

Quebec,  July  31,  1857. 

Provisions  for  the  voyage :  — 

2  blue  flannel  shirts,  one  for  each  gentleman. 

2  pair  sailor’s  woollen  trousers  “  “ 

3  grey  woollen  pea  jackets,  one  for  each  of  the  party. 

2  sailor’s  woollen  caps  and  1  flannel  comforter  for  cap  for  A. 

1  bag  of  potatoes,  16  chickens,  1  dozen  cabbages,  8  cauliflowers,  6  bunches 
parsley,  6  bushels  turnips,  6  cucumbers,  2  dozen  onions,  8  bunches  radishes, 
9  bunches  salad,  4  quarts  beans,  4  quarts  peas,  12  dozen  eggs,  flour,  bread, 
biscuit,  corned  beef,  mess  pork  and  pickled  tongues  sufficient  to  supply  the 
party  three  weeks.  3  codfish  lines  with  1  dozen  hooks,  3  mackerel  lines  with 
1  dozen  hooks,  3  salmon  lines  with  flies  and  gimlet,  teapot,  spider,  teakettle, 
boiler,  frying  pan,  6  knives  and  forks,  6  spoons,  6  teaspoons,  6  plates  and 
platters,  etc.,  to  match,  3  beds  and  bedding,  12  towels,  etc.,  etc.,  borrowed  at 
the  hotel,  a  spy-glass  borrowed  from  the  Custom-House,  and  a  tent  from  the 
British  Army. 

Saturday ,  August  1,  1857. 

At  two  o’clock,  p.  m.,  we  followed  the  above  inventory  of  sundries  on  board 
the  schooner  Emerence  of  Quebec,  Captain  Couillard  de  Beaumont.  The  ves¬ 
sel  has  a  tonnage  of  thirty-three  tons,  and  the  force  on  board  consists  of  the 
captain,  a  pilot,  and  a  seaman.  The  schooner  is  to  be  subject  to  our  direction 
and  control,  and  to  go  and  come  when  and  where  we  please.  Mr.  Dunscombe, 
Collector  of  the  Customs,  attended  us  on  board,  as  did  also  two  or  three  Ameri¬ 
can  friends,  beside  the  ship’s  broker.  Mrs.  Dunscombe  and  her  daughter, 
very  accomplished  and  estimable  ladies,  parted  with  us,  the  one  on  the  wharf 
the  other  in  the  channel.  The  British  flag  was  raised,  as  the  captain  assured 


1857.] 


A  CRUISE  TO  LABRADOR. 


303 


us,  only  because  he  had  no  American  one  to  substitute.  The  wind  was  ahead 
'  and  blew  violently.  After  two  or  three  hours’  manful  contest  with  it,  A.,  wiser 
than  the  rest,  gave  orders  for  the  schooner  to  come  to,  and  she  drew  up  into 
St.  Patrick’s  cove,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  and  anchored  for 
the  night.  Our  supper  was  taken  with  not  the  best  appetites  in  the  world, 
and  we  went  to  sleep  in  the  cabin  at  nine  o’clock. 

Sunday ,  August  2. 

It  rained  hard  all  night,  and  this  morning  we  had  a  head  wind  from  the 
north-east.  The  sun  shone  about  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  we  have  made 
about  twenty-two  miles  by  beating  across  the  river. 

The  captain  and  pilot  live  at  St.  Thomas,  thirty-three  miles  from  Quebec. 
They  have  strained  every  effort  to  reach  their  home,  but  ineffectually,  and  we 
have  come  to  anchor  at  last  at  eight  o’clock,  p.  m.,  in  a  bay  opposite  to  the 
mouth  of  the  harbor  of  St.  Thomas.  It  is  as  cold  and  bleak  as  if  it  were  No¬ 
vember  or  March. 

St.  Thomas.  Monday,  August  3,  1857. 

At  four  this  morning  the  schooner  was  dragged  across  the  river  by  a  rope 
attached  to  the  small  boat.  We  entered  the  port.  The  village  consists  of 
about  100  to  150  houses,  situate  on  the  south  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  on  a 
strip  of  intervale  land.  All  the  inhabitants  are  Canadian  French,  and  their 
dwellings,  hotels,  conversation,  and  manners  are  marked  by  contentment, 
simplicity,  and  comfort. 

After  taking  a  room  at  Madame  Fournier’s  excellent  but  old-fashioned  inn, 
we  took  a  French  car  drawn  by  one  horse,  and  rode  seven  or  eight  miles  into 
the  country,  noting  the  heavily-laden  lands,  the  neat  farm-houses,  the  con¬ 
tented  peasantry,  with  here  and  there  the  more  ambitious  residence  of  a 
Colonel,  a  Minister  of  State,  a  Seigneur,  or  a  Priest.  I  called  on  Colonel 
Tacher,  a  member  of  the  Royal  Council,  whom  I  had  before  met  at  Quebec, 
and  he  received  us  with  great  courtesy.  So,  also,  did  the  Priest  and  the 
ladies  who  have  charge  of  the  Female  Seminary.  The  graceful  manners  of 
the  Lady  Superior  —  with  her  equal  temper  and  easy  address,  made  her  relig¬ 
ious  profession  seem  any  thing  but  hideous.  Madame  Fournier  served  us  a 
very  fine  dinner,  and  we  took  leave  of  the  hospitable  villagers  at  six  p.  m., 
pleased  with  them  and  with  ourselves  for  having  had  the  forethought  to  study 
these  kind  and  simple  provincials.  An  hundred  years  since  the  conquest,  has 
made  them  contented  subjects  of  England,  but  not  at  all  altered  their  habits 
as  colonists  of  “  La  Belle  France .” 

Tuesday ,  August  4. 

At  five  this  morning  we  got  under  way,  with  a  fair  wind  and  a  balmy  atmos¬ 
phere.  We  have  run  thirty-three  miles  down  the  coast  and  are  now  sixty-six 
miles  from  Quebec.  We  have  had  a  fair  view  of  the  coast,  for  such  the  shore 
really  is.  The  river  here  is  twenty-five  miles  wide,  and  its  navigation  is  ren¬ 
dered  dangerous  by  violent  winds  and  frequent  shoals.  We  have  passed  a 
large  ship  stranded  on  the  Isle  d’Orleans,  the  wreck  of  the  steamer  Arabia  on 
Isle  aux  Reaux  beach,  and  the  half  sunken  steamship  Canadian  hanging  by 
her  bows  on  a  reef  near  the  Stone  Pillar  Light.  At  two  o’clock  the  wind  fell 


304 

and  we  came  to  anchor,  and  here  we  are  left  to  read  and  write,  and  converse, 
and  amuse  ourselves  as  we  can.  We  have  passed  .village  after  village,  all  cast 
in  the  same  mould,  and  that  mould  long  since  broken  up  and  disused 
everywhere  else.  Our  fishing-tackle  are  arranged,  and  we  are  ready  for  the 
sport  when  we  reach  the  fishing  grounds.  The  steamship  Clyde ,  from  Europe, 
has  just  hove  in  sight  coming  up  the  river.  We  can  make  out  with  our  tele¬ 
scopes  that  her  decks  are  crowded  with  passengers  and  that  signals  are  flying 
at  her  mast-head. 

August  5,  Wednesday. 

The  tide  was  full  again  yesterday  at  four  o’clock,  p.  m.,  just  as  we  had  finished 
the  second  hand  of  a  game  of  whist  in  which  the  captain  was  a  partner,  and 
we  then  hoisted  anchor,  and  by  force  of  the  current  of  five  miles  an  hour,  we 
made  ten  miles  against  a  head  wind,  coming  to  anchor  at  last  at  eleven,  p.  m., 
in  a  rain  storm,  on  a  shoal  off  the  village  of  Kamouraska.  It  rained  all  night. 
This  morning  boots  and  shoes,  and  pea-jackets,  are  wet  all  alike,  but  we  have 
slept  soundly  and  the  sun  smiles  though  the  wind  is  adverse.  We  have  left 
Kamouraska  with  its  church,  and  St.  Andre  with  its  spires,  behind  us,  and  are 
now  passing  the  Pilgrim  Islands.  At  noon  we  expect  to  reach  La  Riviere  du 
Loup,  at  the  mou-th  of  which  is  a  watering-place,  resorted  to  by  the  people  of 
Montreal. 

How  ice  live  on  hoard. 

Our  cabin  is  twelve  feet  square,  berths  included.  We  rise  at  six  to  seven 
o’clock.  I  make  my  toilet  on  deck,  leaving  the  cabin  to  A.  for  her  operations 
of  the  same  sort.  We  have  with  us  a  servant,  John  Smith,  who  is  man-of  all¬ 
work.  He  prepares  a  breakfast  of  broiled  chicken,  ham  and  eggs,  fried  po¬ 
tatoes,  pancakes,  radishes  or  cucumbers,  and  although  we  are  all  either  deli¬ 
cate  persons  or  invalids,  it  is  amusing  that  fragments  are  seldom  left.  After 
breakfast,  we  arm  ourselves  with  books,  the  spy-glass,  and  the  charts,  and 
make  inspection  of  the  coast.  Dinner  comes  at  twelve  to  one,  and  consists  of 
boiled  tongue,  or  pork,  or  corned-beef  with  cabbage,  turnips,  and  other  vege¬ 
tables.  Then  we  sleep  an  hour  and  return  to  our  studies  and  our  observations, 
closing  the  day  with  a  supper  of  hearty  food,  after  which,  if  the  weather  per¬ 
mits,  we  sit  on  deck  studying  the  stars  and  watching  the  manoeuvres  of  the 
fleet  around  us.  Last  night  we  counted  thirty  sail  in  view,  brigs,  schooners, 
barques  and  ships.  We  are  above  the  47th  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and 
there  is  seldom  an  hour  that  it  is  comfortable  to  leave  off  our  pea-jackets. 

How  the  river  and  the  coast  appear. 

The  St.  Lawrence  is  little  else  than  a  long  winding  lake  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  miles  wide,  and  presenting  islands,  both  great  and  small,  and  picturesque 
in  an  eminent  degree.  If  Don  Quixote  had  made  this  the  field  of  his  adven¬ 
tures,  he  could  have  rewarded  Sancho  with  an  island  or  two  after  every  day’s 
perils  were  over.  The  river  flows  between  ranges  of  hills  or  mountains  which 
rise  from  1,000  to  2,000  and  2,500  feet  high,  and  are  generally  rocky  and 
always  covered  with  the  native  forests.  These  mountains  sometimes  crowd 
closely  on  the  river,  but  generally  rise  from  it  at  a  distance  of  one  to  three 


LIFE  ON  A  FISHING  SCHOONER.  '  [1857. 


QUEBEC. 


ON  THE  ST,  LAWRENCE 


LIBRARY 
Of  THE 

jNlYtRol I  Y  OF  ILUNOJC 


1857.] 


THE  CANADIAN  FRENCH. 


305 


miles — the  intervale  being  rich  and  highly  cultivated.  Originally  these 
strips  of  land  on  the  banks  were  granted  by  feudal  gift  to  favorites  of  the 
French  Crown  and  were  subdivided  into  farms,  an  acre  or  two  acres  wide  on 
the  bank,  and  running  back  to  the  hills.  The  roads  on  the  banks  run  gener¬ 
ally  near  the  shore  on  the  front  of  the  farms.  So  it  happens  that  each  shore 
exhibits  a  single  road  closely  lined  on  both  sides  with  farm-houses,  from  Mon¬ 
treal  so  far  down  as  we  have  come.  Every  six  or  eight  miles  the  settlement 
becomes  more  dense.  There  is  a  church,  a  mill,  and  a  wharf,  some  stores  and 
shops,  and  so  a  village.  Behind  these  river  settlements  the  land  is  exclusively 
mountainous  and  covered  with  forests,  except  where  civilization  has  advanced 
up  some  of  the  greater  rivers,  such  as  the  Ottawa  and  the  Saguenay.  So  it 
may  be  said  that  we  see  the  whole  of  Lower  Canada  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

The  vessels  ascending  the  river  seem  to  gather  into  fleets.  Those  descend¬ 
ing  gather  into  similar  groups,  and  thus  we  are  all  the  while  in- company  with 
a  squadron,  the  names  and  rig  of  which  we  soon  become  familiar  with.  All 
are  moving  at  the  same  time.  All  anchor  at  one  place,  at  the  same  hour.  As 
we  watch  them  they  are  tacking  and  crossing  each  other’s  courses  with  all  the 
intricacy  of  a  contre  dance.  This  morning  we  all  weighed  anchor  at  the  same 
moment,  and  from  on  board  a  ship  under  full  sail,  there  came  a  matin  hymn, 
sung  apparently  by  a  full  choir.  Our  pilot  reverently  pointed  to  the  ship  and 
said,  “  Les  Catholiques .” 

Thursday ,  August  6,  1857  ) 

Off  Point  Saguenay,  j 

All  calculations  on  progress  dependent  on  tides  and  winds  are  uncertain. 
We  were  becalmed  yesterday,  while  writing  our  notes,  and  delayed  so  much 
that  we  only  reached  La  Riviere  du  Loup  at  eight  o’clock,  p.  m.  To  enter  the 
port  so  late  would  be  useless.  To  wait,  and  enter  the  port  this  morning,  was 
to  lose  one  day.  So  we  passed  by  that  village,  and  another  one  six  miles 
below,  named  Cacouna.  At  Quebec,  the  region  we  have  now  reached  is  called 
“  the  seashore,’’  although  not  even  within  the  banks  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law¬ 
rence.  Riviere  du  Loup  and  Cacouna  are  watering-places,  resorted  to  for  sea¬ 
bathing.  At  nine  o’clock  we  were  becalmed  again,  and  we  rested  on  our  an¬ 
chors,  during  a  long  but  beautiful  moonlit  night,  in  sight  of  the  villages  we 
had  passed,  as  well  of  this  point,  which  still  conceals  from  us  the  floods  of  the 
Saguenay. 

There  was  a  dispute  kept  up  for  some  time,  yesterday,  between  the  cook  and 
the  pilot,  whether  the  waters  around  us  were  fresh  still,  or  salt.  We  compro¬ 
mised  by  boiling  our  soup  with  fresh  water  from  the  cask,  and  our  pork  with 
that  brought  up  from  the  depth  beneath  us.  Toward  night,  myriads  of  ducks 
dotted  the  waves,  and  so  late  as  ten  o’clock  birds  were  heard  singing  in  notes  not 
unlike  those  of  the  robin  and  the  mocking-bird.  Here  and  there  a  huge  porpoise 
disturbed  the  glassy  surface,  as  he  came  up  to  inhale,  and  once  or  twice  a 
seal  thrust  his  black  and  hairy  dog-like  head,  like  a  buoy  above  the  water.  We 
studied  the  geography  of  the  moon  through  our  spy-glass,  after  the  headlands 
of  our  planet  became  indistinct  in  the  darkness.  We  returned  to  the  cabin, 
20 


AT  TADOUSSAC. 


[1857. 


duG 

and  completed  our  game  of  whist,  begun  the  day  before,  and  we  slept  soundly 
afterward. 

This  morning  Neptune’s  reign  is  fully  vindicated.  Large  shoals  of  im-, 
mense  porpoises  whiten  the  sea  in  one  quarter,  while  the  waves  in  another  are 
blackened  with  equally  broad  shoals  of  seals.  The  coasts  around  us  are  iron- 
bound,  the  villages  are  lost  behind  us,  and  no  human  habitation  in  sight,  ex¬ 
cept  the  frail  and  moving  dwellings  of  a  few,  who,  like  ourselves,  “go  down 
upon  the  deep  waters.”  If  I  understand  it  rightly,  we  are  passing  beyond  the 
border  of  civilized  districts,  and  shall,  henceforth,  see  only  here  and  there  a 
settlement  of  lumbermen,  or  of  fishermen  plying  their  trades,  as  the  husband¬ 
man  does,  only  when  the  sun  shines. 

.  Friday ,  August  7,  1857. 

At  two  p.  m.  yesterday  we  passed  a  high  rocky  point,  and  the  river  Sague¬ 
nay  was  disclosed  to  our  view.  It  is  a  mile  wide  at  its  mouth,  but  this  mag¬ 
nificent  flood  seems  narrow  in  contrast  with  the  twenty  miles  breadth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  Saguenay  inspired  admiration,  when  first  seen,  three  hun¬ 
dred  years  ago,  by  white  men,  and  it  is  marvelous  yet.  It  flows  from  Lake 
St.  John  (eighty  miles  northward  from  here)  in  a  defile  between  mountains 
1,500  to  2,000  and  2,500  feet  high,  and  its  depth  lower  than  that  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Far  up  as  we  could  see,  and  those  acquainted  say  so  far  as  it  is 
navigable,  its  banks  are  rugged,  and  scarce  a  habitation  is  found  upon  it.  The 
shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  almost  equally  rugged.  Here  and  there  is  a  hamlet 
hung  on  the  mountain-side,  surrounded  by  sterility  itself.  After  passing  the 
river  a  beautiful  bay  appears,  which  was  the  first  resting-place  of  Jacquqs  Car- 
tier,  the  discoverer  of  Canada,  and  which  he  named,  or  found  named,  Tadoussac. 
On  the  shore  of  this  bay  we  found  a  hamlet  of  eight  dwellings,  with  a  dispro¬ 
portionate  number  of  store-lfouses  and  depots.  Our  flag,  the  British  Jack, 
brought  two  or  three  stragglers  to  the  beach,  while  we,  having  cast  anchor,  wTent 
ashore  in  our  small  boat.  We  landed  on  the  rocks,  where  a  dead  porpoise 
and  a  dead  seal  had  been  washed  by  the  tide.  On  the  beach  we  were  kindly 
received  by  a  young  Scotchman,  who  lives  in  a  long,  low  and  old  building, 
which  proves,  inside,  to  be  a  very  respectable  mansion,  and  wdiich  overlooks 
the  bay.  A  flag-staff  graces  the  ridge,  and  beneath  it  are  two  miniature  can¬ 
non.  These  told  the  story  of  the  place.  It  is  a  station  of  the  Hudson’s  Bay 
Company,  and  our  host  is  the  resident  agent.  He  at  this  time  has  under  his 
roof  two  visitors,  in  the  same  employment,  from  other  stations.  He  gave  us 
brandy  and  water,  and  tendered  us  hospitalities  under  his  roof  for  a  day  or 
a  week.  He  showed  us  peltries  and  snow-shoes,  and  the  Indian-made  apparel 
which  he  uses  in  his  excursions  in  the  winter. 

In  summer  Tadoussac  is  visited  twice  a  week  by  a  steamer  from  Quebec. 
But  in  winter  it  is  shut  out  from  all  the  world,  except  those  who  can  travel 
the  forests  on  snow-shoes. 

On  the  very  brow  of  the  hill,  which  overhangs  the  bay,  is  a  little  chapel  or 
church,  exceedingly  rude,  hardly  equal  to  the  plainest  rustic  school-house  — 
yet  pictures,  tinsel,  and  candles  indicated  its  Catholic  character,  and  an  old 
rusty  iron  basin  holds  an  infinitessimal  quantity  of  holy  water.  There  is  no 


1857.] 


AT  TADOUSSAC. 


307 


organ,  but  a  rough  gallery  in  the  attic  serves  for  a  rude  choir.  A  little  patch 
of  ground  around  it  is  inclosed  with  a  stockade  of  pickets.  It  occupies  the 
very  site  of  the  first  Catholic  mission  chapel,  established  by  the  French  on 
this  continent,  and  its  walls  are  graced  with  portraits  of  its  early  missionaries. 
The  Indians  have  long  since  disappeared,  and  the  Church  survives  to  the 
use  of  the  Agency  and  the  few  peasants,  or  habitans ,  who  surround  it. 

Our  host,  Mr.  Scott,  led  us  by  a  winding  path  to  the  top  of  the  naked  moun¬ 
tain,  that  forms  the  south  bank  of  the  Saguenay,  where  we  had  a  fair  view, 
far  up  that  dark  and  deep  water.  Returning,  we  saw  at  our  feet,  in  a  dell,  a 
cluster  of  houses,  some  four  or  five,  with  a  wharf  in  front.  On  one  of  these 
houses  was  a  small  belfry,  which  indicated  the  post-office.  Here  our  letters 
and  the  preceding  sheets  of  this  Log  were  deposited,  with  the  expectation 
that  they  will  reach  the  United  States  next  week.  Mr.  Scott’s  house-keeper, 
a  French  woman,  furnished  us  with  a  bottle  of  milk  —  the  first  of  that  luxury 
we  have  enjoyed.  We  left  amid  many  salutations  of  respect  and  good  wishes, 
at  four  o’clock,  p.  m.  We  were  held  fast  in  the  harbor,  however,  by  counter- 
currents,  until  six,  when  we  cleared  the  headlands,  and  stood  down  the  river 
before  a  fair  wind. 

At  this  hour,  ten  a.  m.,  the  wind  has  almost  died  away,  but  we  have  made 
good  progress,  having  passed  Bic  Island,  and  the  Bersimis  river,  and  being 
now  at  the  distance  of  about  two  hundred  miles  from  Quebec.  We  are  keep¬ 
ing  midway  between  the  shores  of  the  river,  and  see  nothing  distinctly  of 
either  of  them.  If  the  wind  continues  fair,  we  hope  to  reach  the  islands  of 
Mingan,  in  Labrador,  off  the  island  of  Anticosti,  in  two  days  more,  which 
point  is  the  destination  fixed  upon  by  us  when  we  left  Quebec.  The  sun  is  shin¬ 
ing  brightly  and  it  is  pleasantly  warm,  but  not  so  hot  that  we  could  dispense 

with  o-reat-coats  or  shawls.  The  sea  is  calm  and  we  are  content  in  the  belief 
© 

that  health  is  not  evading  our  pursuit. 

August  8,  Saturday,  4  P.  M. 

Last  night  our  fishing-tackle  was  all  arranged,  and  as  we  were  to  reach 
Point  de  Monts  (where  the  River  St.  Lawrence  loses  itself  in  the  Gulf  of  the 
same  name),  at  three  this  morning,  we  stipulated  to  be  called  at  that  hour. 
Unnecessary  precaution.  At  three,  and  at  four,  I  was  on  deck;  but  Point  de 
Monts  was,  for  all  practical  purposes,  as  far  off  as  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  At 
six,  when  we  all  arose,  it  was  to  a  painful  experience.  We  were  becalmed  — 
dead  and  languid  —  within  six  miles  of  the  Point,  before  us,  and  within  two 
miles  of  the  Goodbout  fishing-ground,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  Not  a 
breath  visited  our  sails.  They  flapped  on  the  masts,  and  the  waves  formed 
troughs  in  which  the  schooner  rocked  uneasily  and  wearily.  We  threw  out  our 
lines,  but  the  water  was  one  hundred  fathoms  deep,  and  not  a  fish  of  any  kind 
grasped  the  tempting  bait.  Breakfast,  as  usual,  was  served  on  the  deck,  but  the 
uneasy  motion  of  the  vessel  sufficed  to  take  away  the  usual  appetites  for  the 
morning  meal.  Presently  the  rain  fell,  and  we  were  driven  to  the  cabin,  an 
alternative  which  we  did  not  long  prefer  to  the  drenching  on  the  deck.  Our 
sailors  could  not  make  the  vessel  move  either  way,  nor  yet  did  they  dare  (inas¬ 
much  as  they  could  not  anchor)  to  put  us  on  the  fishing-ground  with  a  small  boat. 


308 


COD  FISHING. 


[1357.. 


Thus  the  time  dragged  heavily  on  till  noon,  when  the  men  summoned  cour¬ 
age  to  convey  us  two  miles  over  the  waves  in  the  small  boat  to  a  fishing 
schooner.  It  hailed  from  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  and  had  been  lying  here 
a  month.  An  hundred  barrels  of  mackerel  covered  the  deck.  One  small  boat 
lay  alongside  filled  with  mackerel,  newly  caught,  and  the  seine,  doubtless 
filled  with  the  same  fish,  was  in  the  act  of  being  drawn  in.  A  small  sum  of 
silver  secured  to  us  as  many  as  we  can  keep  fresh  for  two  or  three  days,  and 
we  returned  to  our  schooner  having  a  new  luxury  for  our  simple  table.  Hardly 
had  we  dined,  when  we  were  called  on  deck  to  witness  the  playing  of  a  whale, 
who  had  approached  to  introduce  us  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  to 
stimulate  us  in  our  voyage  to  the  now  nearing  coast  of  Labrador.  We  had,  at 
last,  a  slight  breeze,  and  are  passing  the  long  delayed  Point  de  Monts,  — a 
rocky  promontory,  covered  with  evergreens,  which  have  never  been  smitten 
bv  human  hands. 

Sunday  Morning ,  August  9,  1857. 

The  events  recorded  in  this  Log  are  not  great  nor  brilliant.  They  determine 
neither  the  fate  of  States  nor  the  character  of  heroes.  But  they  are  neverthe¬ 
less  dramatic  in  one  respect.  They  are  various  and  sudden  in  their  transition. 
Yesterday  at  noon  we  were  humbly  suing  a  Yankee  fisherman,  with  our  silver 
in  hand,  for  a  few  mackerel.  At  tea  we  were  called  off  by  the  pilot  to  attend 
to  our  lines.  I  drew  up  from  the  depth  of  one  hundred  feet,  a  huge  cod. 
Hardly  had  we  disengaged  him  from  the  hook,  when  F.  drew  up  two  at  once, 
and  then  even  A.  brought  up  one,  large  enough  for  an  alderman’s  feast,  from 
his  watery  home.  We  continued  enjoying  this  sport  for  two  hours,  when  we 
relinquished  it,  simply  because  it  was  inhuman,  and  a  waste  of  time  to  add  to 
our  stores  at  present.  In  the  bay  opposite  we  saw  another  Yankee  schooner, 
with  barrels  and  deck  full  of  mackerel.  But  we  flourished  our  hands,  and  said 
that  now  ice  had  fish  to  sell.  As  night  drew  on  we  had  rounded  Point  de 
Monts,  and  entered  Trinity  bay,  where  we  cast  anchor  for  the  night.  The 
light-house,  which  sends  down  its  illumination  from  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  lighted  up  the  bay,  in  which  lay  a  wrecked  merchantman, 
a  boat  full  of  pilots  and  a  schooner  —  the  two  last,  like  ourselves,  at  anchor. 
On  the  shore,  bleak  and  dreary,  was  a  solitary  house  and  store  —  an  agency  of 
the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company.  The  pilots  came  aboard  and  entertained  us  with 
fragments  of  sea  news  until  nine  o’clock.  It  was  fortunate  that  we  anchored, 
for  a  strong  Nor’wester  rose  in  the  night,  that  seemed  as  if  it  would  sweep 
not  only  us,  but  the  waters  themselves  from  the  bay. 

At  five  o’clock  the  captain  took  in  fresh  water  from  a  small  river  that  puts 
into  the  sea  at  that  point.  We  hoisted  anchor  and  bore  away  almost  due 
North,  against  the  strong  wind  of  the  night,  that  had  not  yet  gone  down.  At 
this  point  the  coast  line  runs  almost  due  North,  rapidly  advancing  to  the  52d 
parallel  of  north  latitude.  The  bay  or  gulf  widens  to  the  breadth  of  ninety 
miles.  We  are  now  leaving  behind  us,  and  receding  out  of  view  the  Moun¬ 
tains  of  Gaspe.  We  hug  the  coast  on  the  North,  which  consists  altogether  of 
rugged  rocks,  sometimes  rising  into  mountains,  and  always  more  or  less  cov¬ 
ered  with  evergreens. 


1857.] 


LANDING  IN  LABRADOR. 


309 


From  this  coast  to  Hudson's  Bay,  and  for  aught  I  know  to  the  Pole  beyond 
it,  there  are  no  habitations  of  civilized  men,  except  where  here  and  there  a 
solitary  agent  of  the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company  has  fortified  himself  behind  a 
stockade,  and  brought  in  a  supply  of  goods  wherewith  to  furnish  the  Indian 
hunters  for  their  long  tramps  in  pursuit  of  furs,  in  the  very  recesses  of  the 
continent. 

If  the  wind  continues,  and  shall  become  a  little  more  favorable,  we  hope  to 
reach  the  Seven  Islands,  and  so  look  off  upon  Labrador  to-morrow  morning. 
You  see  that  I  set  down  names  here,  as  familiarly  as  if  the  coast  was  lined 
with  cities,  towns,  and  villages.  But  the  truth  of  the  case  is,  that  sea-faring 
men  have  delineated  all  this  coast  on  charts  as  distinctly  as  our  scientific  men 
are  marking  out  the  coast  of  our  own  country.  To  every  headland,  bay,  or 
promontory  a  name  has  long  since  been  given,  and  we  have  only  to  look  at  any 
moment  upon  the  chart  aud  ascertain  where,  and  in  what  latitude  and  longi¬ 
tude  we  are.  If  I  remember  rightly,  we  are  nowin  the  heat  of  the  dog-days. 
It  is  eleven  o’clock,  a.  m.,  and  the  sun  is  shining  brightly,  and  yet  we  are  una¬ 
ble,  with  all  the  accumulation  of  coats  and  shawls,  to  keep  warm  on  the  deck. 

Just  as  we  are  leaving  the  south  coast,  we  see  a  long  range  of  mountains. 
Our  seamen  tell  us  that  they  are  covered  with  perpetual  snow.  I  hardly  be¬ 
lieve  this,  because  I  do  not  remember  such  a  geographical  fact.  Our  men, 
nevertheless,  are  truthful,  and  not  at  all  accustomed  to  exaggerate. 

August  10,  1857. 

The  10th  day  of  August,  and  the  tenth  also  of  our  voyage.  We  expected  to 
reach  our  destination  in  half  the  time,  and  it  is  not  even  in  sight  now.  Never¬ 
theless,  we  are  content  and  thankful.  We  have  encountered  no  accident.  No 
one  of  us  has  been  seriously  sick,  or  even  long  ill  of  the  sickness  of  the  sea, 
which,  like  the  toothache,  wins  no  pity.  We  have  seen  and  are  seeing, 
climes  strange  and  unnatural.  Beneath  us  is  the  mighty,  fathomless  and  bound¬ 
less,  the  dark,  the  mysterious,  the  flexible,  the  relentless  ocean.  The  doves  do 
not  strut  and  swell  around  our  home  at  Auburn  more  freely,  or  more  plenti¬ 
fully  than  the  great  whales  are  at  this  moment  spouting  and  rolling  all  around 
us,  in  these  their  own  proper  waters.  Then  this  coast  of  Labrador  that  fills  up 
the  horizon  on  our  left,  rocky  with  ridges  of  hills  ascending  from  the  beach 
by  tiers,  until  they  shut  out  the  great  waters  of  the  North  by  mountain  barriers. 

Only  one  vessel  is  in  sight,  and  that  is  a  majestic  ship,  with  all  sail  set,  beat¬ 
ing  up  in  the  gulf  against  the  gentle  wind  that  is  moving  us  forward  in  our 
frail  bark,  toward  the  island  of  Anticosti.  We  hope  soon  to  come  within 
sight  of  Mingan,  the  end  of  our  voyage,  and  to  anchor  there  to-night. 

Tuesday  Morning ,  9  P.  M.,  August  11,  ) 
Mingan  Islands,  Labrador.  \ 

I  make  up  my  Log  to-day  in  the  act  of  preparing  to  go  ashore  and  for  the 
first  time  set  foot  on  the  land  of  Labrador.  We  are  in  port.  What  do  you 
think  the  port  looks  like  ?  First,  the  shipping.  There  are  two  schooners 
anchored  in  the  harbor,  engaged  in  cod  and  whale  fishing.  There  are  a  house 
and  a  store  occupied  by  Donald  Henderson,  Esq.,  agent  of  the  Hudson’s  Bay 


310 


AT  MINGAN  HARBOR. 


[1357- 


Company.  The  beach  stretches  away  interminably  on  both  sides,  arid  i& 
beautifully  shaded  by  a  forest  of  spruce  and  larch,  tall,  straight,  and  densely 
crowded.  Between  the  rocky  ledge  and  the  water’s  edge,  we  note  the  coun¬ 
try-seats  of  two  Esquimaux  gentlemen,  which  were  indicated  to  us  by  the  pilot 
as  “ Engine  House,”  according  to  his  French  pronunciation;  bat  which  we 
find  on  applying  the  spy-glass  to  be  Indian  wigwams. 

At  five  this  morning  the  forest  was  whitened  with  puffins  leaving  their 
roosts,  and  cawing  and  clamorous,  so  as  to  be  heard  for  miles.  Ducks  are 
sailing  round  us  with  the  utmost  nonchalance;  porpoises  are  taking  air-baths : 
and  last  evening,  after  we  had  wearied  ourselves  with  drawing  cod-fish  up 
from  their  recesses,  and  the  sun  had  just  set,  a  young  whale  calf,  almost  as 
large  as  an  elephant,  appeared  just  off  the  after  quarter-deck,  and  moved 
around  to  the  bows,  near  enough  to  be  taken  with  a  noose. 

It  is  a.  drizzling  morning,  with  a  north-easterly  wind,  but  we  are  cased  in 
pea-jackets,  and  have  come  to  be  indifferent  to  the  weather. 

August  12,  1857. 

Mingan  Harbor,  Labrador. 

Notwithstanding  the  promise  of  yesterday  morning,  it  was  not  until  noon 
that  we  reached  our  anchorage  at  Mingan,  and  by  that  time,  a  cold,  wet, 
North-easter  had  set  in.  As  we  looked  off  toward  the  coast,  the  question  was 
whether  the  lady  should  go  ashore  in  the  rain  with  her  protectors.  It  was 
decided  in  the  affirmative,  by  herself,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  necessary  to 
get  warm. 

We  found  the  town  on  the  beach  to  consist  only  of  the  Agent  of  the  Hud¬ 
son’s  Bay  Company,  and  his  servants  and  laborers.  These  consist  of  a  clerk,  a 
farmer,  a  cooper,  a  carpenter,  and  a  blacksmith,  with  a  domestic  or  twTo.  But 
there  is  not  a  woman  at  the  station,  and  the  agent  pronounces  our  lady  pas¬ 
senger  the  only  white  woman  who  was  ever  here.  Her  appearance,  of  course, 
is  a  marked  event  in  this  great  country. 

There  is  a  rude  and  wretched-looking  Catholic  church,  just  renewed  from 
the  old  one,  founded  by  the  early  missionaries,  for  the  convenience  of  the 
Indians. 

Along  the  coast,  near  the  chapel,  there  are  the  poles  which  have  served  to 
uphold  the  birch-bark  tents  or  wigwams  of  the  Indians  recently.  We  learn 
that  in  June  and  July  the  Indians  from  the  unbroken  wilderness  of  the  North 
gather  here,  to  trade  at  the  station.  Then  a  missionary  arrives  and  the  church 
is  opened.  Before  the  1st  of  August,  the  trading,  is  finished,  the  church  is 
closed,  and  the  missionary  disappears.  The  Indians  then  scatter  into  the 
forest,  to  gather  beaver,  otter,  marten,  and  mink,  and  other  peltries  during 
the  autumn  and  winter,  and  do  not  return  until  the  next  year. 

You  will  learn  something  of  the  polity  that  prevails  here,  from  the  fact  that 
the  Indians,  thus  roving  and  wretched,  contributed  enough  to  rebuild  their 
chapel,  with  the  aid  of  $200.  given  to  that  object,  by  the  Hudson’s  Bay 
Company.  Mr.  Henderson,  the  agent,  has  a  very  plain,  square,  red  house, 
without  carpets  or  other  modern  furniture,  a  huge  stove,  a  vast  wood-pile,  a 
garden  in  which  only  the  rhubarb  plant,  the  onion,  and  the  potato  grow,  and 


1857.] 


LIFE  IN  THE  M1NGAN  ISLANDS. 


311 

they  are  now  only  at  the  maturity  they  reach  by  the  middle  of  June  in  our 
latitude.  Ilay  is  just  being  cut,  and  is  spread  in  places  where  the  wind  has 
cleared  the  shores.  It  was  quite  pleasant  to  find  green-house  plants  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Agency,  a  rose  and  a  geranium,  in  full  flower,  and  even  that 
tropical  luxury,  a  cage  of  Canary  birds;  but  it  was  sad  to  think  that,  as  we 
were  informed,  they  do  not  sing,  neither  do  they  rear  their  young  ones. 

Mr.  Henderson  built  up  a  generous  fire  and  we  got  ourselves  warm  and  dry. 
Hardly  had  we  readied  our  schooner  for  dinner,  than  a  boat  came  off  to  us 
from  a  whaler  lying  in  the  harbor.  It  brought  us  a  fine  present  of  a  dozen 
river  trout,  newly  caught.  The  whaler  is  from  Gaspe,  a  port  on  the  south 
coast  of  the  Gulf.  The  oarsmen  were  athletic,  spirited  fellows,  —  among  them 
a  young,  tall  Indian,  —  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  manhood  I  ever  saw. 
After  dinner  we  went  with  them  to  their  schooner,  a  vessel  of  sixty  tons, 
with  a  crew,  or  ship’s  company,  of  fifteen  persons.  They  have  been  out  a  fort¬ 
night,  without  getting  a  barrel  of  oil.  They  represent  that  they  have  struck 
four,  and  killed  at  least  one  huge  whale.  That  this  one  drew  them  so  roughly 
and  so  fast  by  their  harpoon  line  that  they  were  obliged  to  cut  the  line.  They 
doubt  not  that  he  is  dead,  and  they  came  over  to  us,  as  they  hail  every  vessel 
that  overtakes  them,  to  inquire  whether  we  had  seen  their  lost  whale.  Only 
think  of  people  looking  up  a  lost  whale,  as  you  would  inquire  about  the  house 
for  a  lost  pair  of  spectacles ! 

The  whalers  were  merry,  joyous  men.  They  regaled  us  with  Jamaica  rum, 
and  sent  us  back  to  the  schooner  with  a  notable  salmon,  speared  by  their 
young  Indian  fisherman. 

After  fishing  an  hour  or  two,  and  making  another  visit  to  the  Agency,  we 
went  ashore  on  the  island  lying  under  our  lee,  and  gathered  some  beautiful 
lichens,  some  native  blue  bells,  and  some  inferior  sea  shells. 

Altogether  our  prospect  of  fishing  here  is  not  very  flattering.  Mr.  Henderson 
tells  us  that  the  salmon  nets  are  taken  up.  That  we  can  take  none  with  lines 
because  we  have  not  rods;  that  the  mackerel  bite  only  at  the  hooks  of  the 
Yankees,  while  the  cod  have  taken  offense  at  something  here,  and  last  week 
moved  down  the  river,  to  a  bar  beyond  our  reach.  Still  our  whaling  friends 
promise  us  a  chance  at  the  salmon,  if  the  weather  will  permit.  By  the  way, 
their  luck  seems  as  unpropitious  as  ours.  Last  night,  while  I  was  standing  on 
deck,  a  whale  passed  directly  between  their  schooner  and  ours;  playing  most 
fantastic  sports,  as  he  moved  rapidly  by  us.  I  hailed  the  captain  of '  the 
whaler.  He  answered  that  he  was  obliged,  but  they  could  not  catch  that  whale 
—  he  went  too  fast  for  them.  Doubtless  he  is  off  the  coast  of  Anticosti  by 
this  time.  If  I  find  him  there,  he  shall  have  a  wide  berth,  before  I  report  him 
again  to  his  pursuers. 

My  day’s  fishing  resulted  in  the  taking  of  a  single  cod;  and  at  night  we 
gathered  in  our  cabin,  wet  through  all  our  garments  to  the  very  skin.  It 
poured  all  night  long.  With  the  aid  of  the  captain,  we  conquered  bed-time, 
by  playing  a  game  of  whist,  and  then  went  to  sleep,  and  slept  well  until 
morning.  It  yet  rains,  and  is  cold,  and  we  are  obliged  to  keep  in  the  cabin, 
and  to  cover  our  feet  with  blankets.  But  thus  far  we  are  all  well. 


312 


UP  THE  MING  AN  RIVER. 


[1S57. 


Ming  an,  Labrador,  August  13. 

It  cleared  away  yesterday,  about  eleven  o’clock.  During  the  rain  we  had  visits 
from  the  captains  of  the  two  vessels  in  port,  and  Mr.  Henderson,  the  agent 
of  the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company.  After  we  had  succeeded  in  drying  our  gar¬ 
ments,  and  boots,  we  returned  their  visits,  and  about  three  o’clock  with  a 
party  from  the  whaler,  we  took  skiffs,  and  rowed  up  the  Mingan  river  three 
miles,  to  the  Falls,  which  is  attractive,  because  of  the  cascade,  but  still  more 
because  it  is  in  its  eddies  that  we  find  the  salmon  and  trout. 

We  had  Indians  for  oarsmen,  and  they  pointed  out  the  tracks  of  the  rein¬ 
deer  and  the  bear,  and  actually  started  out  from  their  holes  a  family  of  huge 
owls.  * 

The  whole  course  of  the  river  is  through  the  native  wilderness.  We  found 
one  salmon,  with  a  nice  lot  of  trout,  and  returned  at  eight  o’clock. 

At  the  Agency  the  captains  were  being  entertained  by  Mr.  Henderson  with 
Jamaica  rum,  hot,  and  Jamaica  rum,  cold.  They  all  attended  us  to  the  beach 
when  we  came  aboard.  The  night  was  a  brilliant  one  in  Mingan.  It  opened 
with  a  bright  and  very  varied  display  of  Northern  Lights,  and  it  closed  with 
a  dance  in  the  carpenter  shop,  at  the  Agency,  with  the  music  of  a  violin,  and 
without  females.  We  went  to  sleep  in  the  midst  of  the  music  of  that  revelry, 
to  awake  this  morning  to  a  dull  day  at  Mingan.  At  six  the  harbor  was  clear 
—  the  mackerel  schooner  and  the  whaler  both  had  slipped  out,  with  a  little 
change  of  wind,  and  our  masts  represented,  by  themselves  alone,  the  com¬ 
merce  of  the  world,  in  this,  the  capital  seaport  of  Labrador. 

At  ten  this  morning,  we,  with  two  of  our  crew,  went  up  the  Mingan  river 
to  the  Falls;  and  we  are  just  now  returned  from  fishing  there.  Our  luck  Iras 
been  indifferent.  Not  but  that  we  could  take  trout  enough,  but  they  per¬ 
versely  got  away  from  us,  after  they  had  been  fairly  caught.  We  attributed 
their  misconduct  in  the  matter  to  the  fear  of  a  red  flannel  Labrador  dress 
which  A.  purchased  yesterday  at  the  Agency.  We  have,  however,  come  back 
to  see  a  new  and  wonderful  change  that  came  over  Mingan  in  our  absence. 
Heretofore,  the  two  representatives  of  other  States  have,  like  ourselves,  prac¬ 
ticed  great  modesty,  and  so  there  was  not  a  flag  at  Mingan,  visible.  Having 
left  the  port  empty,  excepting  our  own  craft,  judge  of  our  surprise  on  finding, 
five  great  standards  waving  in  this  wicked  head-wind.  First,  there  was  the 
Hudson’s  Bay  Company’s  signal,  hoisted  at  the  Agency,  out  of  compliment  to 
one  of  their  vessels,  that  had  come  in  since  morning;  then  the  said  vesse  had 
raised  H.  B.  Majesty’s  flag  to  the  gaff,  and  elevated  a  Free  Mason’s  signal  on 
the  topmost  peak.  And  finally  our  own  good  schooner,  the  Emerence ,  to  con¬ 
tribute  as  much  as  lay  in  her  power  to  the  general  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion, 
had  raised  the  British  standard  to  its  proper  pinnacle.  And  now  we  are  sit¬ 
ting  down  to  dinner,  on  pea  soup  and  pork,  cloyed  with  all  the  treasures  of 
the  rivers  and  the  sea. 

The  Hudson’s  Bay  Company’s  agent  has  shown  us  all  his  pets,  namely,  a 
flock  of  doves,  a  young  puffin  (a  water-fowl,  celebrated  in  these  parts),  and 
two  wild  foxes.  But  all  of  these  together  interested  me  much  less  than  a 
poor,  lonely  dog,  that  lives  on  the  outside  of  the  Agency’s  lands,  and  resorts 


1S57-] 


INHABITANTS  OF  LABRADOR. 


313 

to  the  river  for  drink,  without  coming  into  the  settlement,  so  constant  is  lie  in 
his  attachment  to  the  Indian  who  is  his  master,  and  who  left  him  behind,  a 
-week  or  two  ago,  when  setting  out  on  his  annual  chase  with  his  whole  family. 
If  we  could  entice  that  dog,  I  am  not  sure  that  there  wrould  not  be  an  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  canine  family,  already  so  disproportionate  to  the  other  races,  at 
home. 

Off  St.  John’s  River,  August  14. 

We  have  cleared  the  port  and  bid  adieu  toMingan.  Its  towers,  cupolas,  and 
minarets  would  now  be  tapering  into  spindles  in  the  sunlight,  if  it  had  any 
such  structures,  and  if  there  were  any  sunshine.  Our  departure  was  due  to  a 
hauling  off  of  the  wind  during  the  night  from  due  west  to  north-east,  and  it 
occurred  at  precisely  a  quarter  before  five.  Five  birch  bark  loads  of  Indians, 
men,  women,  and  children,  arrived  last  night,  and  encamped  around  the 
church.  “  Lo,  the  poor  Indian  ”  dog !  He  wuis  happy.  His  master  had  come 
back  to  the  camping-ground.  Who  now  shall  deny  that  every  dog  has  his  day? 

Of  the  preparations  for  departure  we  shall  be  expected  to  speak.  Well,  they 
consist  in  filling  our  cask  with  fresh  water,  and  putting  up  our  journal  letter- 
wise,  and  in  depositing  it  in  the  ship’s  mail-bag,  to  carry  it  home  along  with  us. 

Nor  will  it  be  expected  that  we  shall  be  silent  concerning  the  climate  of 
Mingan.  On  good  authority  we  report  that  strawberries  are  ripe.  Of  our  own 
knowledge  we  know  that  raspberries  are  ripening.  We  can  testify  that  al¬ 
though  ice  makes  in  August,  it  is  not  thick  enough  to  be  gathered  into  ice¬ 
houses. 

Tuesday ,  August  18,  10  A.  M. 

We  are  only  just  now  leaving  the  Mingan  Islands  out  of  sight,  having  made 
a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles  in  twenty-six  hours.  The  weather  has  been 
very  cold  and  the  wind  has  blown  steadily  “  dead  ahead.”  These  discomforts 
continue,  although  slightly  abated.  Our  only  female  passenger  has  suffered 
more  of  sea-sickness  than  she  has  complained  of.  For  ourselves,  we  two  men, 
habited  like  Esquimaux,  and  feeding  on  food  almost  as  gross  as  theirs,  con¬ 
trive  to  keep  warm  and  well.  But  let  us  give  the  weather  a  truce  —  content 
to  leave  it  its  privileges,  insomuch  as  it  was  we  who  sought  the  cold  region,  not 
the  cold  region  that  pursued  us. 

A  word  about  the  topography.  Labrador  bounds  Canada  on  the  east,  at  a 
point  thirty-six  miles  north  of  the  Seven  Islands.  It  is  quite  uninhabited,  ex¬ 
cept  by  the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company’s  agents,  who  trade  with  the  Indians  for 
furs  and  oil,  and  by  the  Indians  themselves.  The  natives  consist  of  two  na¬ 
tions:  First,  those  of  the  western  region  of  Labrador,  known  as  the  Mountain 
Indians,  some  of  whom  I  have  seen  and  described  at  Mingan.  Second,  the 
Esquimaux.  These  two  nations  are  strangers,  but  not  unfriendly  to  each  other. 
They  traverse  in  their  wTanderings  the  whole  of  the  continent,  east  and  north 
of  Canada,  extending  as  far  as  the  waters  of  Hudson’s  Bay.  They  live  no¬ 
where,  but  rove  continually.  I  am  satisfied  from  what  I  have  seen  of  the  one 
nation,  and  read  of  the  other,  that  although  strangers,  speaking  different  lan¬ 
guages,  they  are  in  fact  one  people.  They  are  harmless,  superstitious,  peace¬ 
ful,  and  in  their  modes  of  living,  approximate  to  each  other.  What  a  singular 


314 


OFF  ANTICOSTI. 


[1857. 


Christian  church  is  that  at  Mingan —  a  church  on  the  beach,  with  its  altar, 
chapel,  pictures,  crosses,  vestments,  and  burying-ground,  and  its  congregation 
scattered  over  a  square  of  five  hundred  miles,  in  bark  tenements,  assembling 
once  a  year  to  receive  the  sacraments,  and  never  meeting  otherwise.  It  was  a 
pleasing  sight  to  see  their  leader  ring  his  tinkling  little  bell  on  the  plain,  and 
see  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  bark  tents  repair  directly  to  church  twice  a  day, 
for  prayers  said  by  themselves.  It  wTas  hardly  less  so  to  see  the  whole  party 
(yesterday),  consisting  of  seven  families,  throw  themselves  into  boats  and  make 
for  the  several  islands  to  gather,  as  chance  might  offer,  cranberries  for  our 
table,  or  young  puffins  (a  species  of  sea-pigeons  which  are  reared  in  holes  in 
the  earth,  such  as  swallows  dwell  in),  or  seals,  to  supply  the  civilized  families 
of  the  earth  with  oil  and  furs.  And  to  converse  with  them,  we  learn  from 
them  that  they,  of  all  the  races  of  men,  the  poorest  and  most  wretched,  do  not 
suffer  either  want,  or  cold,  or  hunger.  They  claim  that  they  are  all  temper¬ 
ance  men,  and  they  wear  badges  of  membership  of  the  cold  water  societies. 

Anticosti  occupies  a  central  position  off  the  coast  of  Labrador  and  Lower 
Canada  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  an  island  forty  miles  wide  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  long,  generally  low,  and  covered  with  stunted  fir, 
spruce,  and  pine.  It  is  surrounded  by  shoals  and  reefs,  which  render  it  dan¬ 
gerous  of  approach  by  navigators,  while  it  has  no  inhabitants  except  a  few 
agents,  kept  there  to  ‘lend  assistance  in  cases  of  shipwrecks.  It  seems  to  be 
the  only  safe  place  for  the  wild  animals  of  this  region.  Nor  are  its  waters  less  a 
secure  retreat  for  whales.  We  have  passed  quite  down  along  its  western  coast 
this  morning,  and  so  near  it  as  to  see  it  very  distinctly.  I  should  think  that 
the  whales  liked  the  sunshine.  Their  spouting  was  so  frequent  that  it  seemed 
as  if  there  were  a  large  arrangement  of  fountains.  One  of  them,  of  moun¬ 
tain  size,  played  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  just  off  the  side  of  our  ship. 
The  pilot  reports  that  two  together  crossed  in  the  night  just  under  our  bow¬ 
sprit —  a  few  feet  further  back  they  would  have  lifted  us  out  of  the  sea  and 
broken  our  stanch  schooner  across  their  backs.  The  pilot  confesses  that  he 
was  much  terrified. 


Wednesday ,  August  19,  1857. 
Ellis’  Bay,  Island  of  Anticosti. 


Yesterday,  the  head-wind  became  more  brisk,  just  after  dinner,  and  our 
seamen  expected  a  blow  which  would  keep  them  beating  all  night,  and  so 
they,  under  the  influence  of  a  panic,  put  us  back  on  our  course  for  a  harbor  on 
the  south  shore  of  this  much  feared  island.  It  was  seven  o’clock,  p.  m.,  when  we 
came  to  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  and  then,  instead  of  a  hurricane,  there  was 
suddenly  a  dead  calm,  which  left  us  without  the  power  to  obtain  the  desired 
anchorage,  or  to  move  in  any  direction  properly.  We  lay  all  night  outside, 
rolling  upon  the  waves,  and  this  morning  the  same  head-wind  renewed  with 
sufficient  force  to  enable  us  to  enter  port,  if  so  it  is  to  be  called.  I  could  not 
now  refuse  to  enter,  for  we  had  drawn  another  day’s  supplies  from  our  stock 
of  wr ood  and  water,  and  they  must  be  replenished  soon. 

Of  adventure  here  we  have  yet  but  little  to  record.  The  only  house  here  is 
that  of  the  Government  Agent  stationed  here  to  relieve  shipwrecked  mari- 


OFF  POINT  SAGUENAY. 


OFF  ANTICOSTI 


Jrtl  eft 


library 

Of  THE 

iiy  OF  ILLINOIS 


1857.] 


THE  ISLAND  OF  ANTICOSTI. 


315 


ners.  The  only  vessel  is  a  whaler,  which  lies  alongside  of  us,  while  a  huge 
whale,  as  large  as  a  canal-boat,  lies  on  the  water’s  edge,  in  a  skeleton  state, 
and  they  are  hacking  away  the  flesh  and  boiling  it  into  oil.  Our  boat  has 
gone  for  wood  and  water.  After  dinner  we  go  ashore,  to  see  what  of  interest 
this  distant  and  desolate  land  affords. 


Thursday ,  August  20,  1857.  ) 
Anticosti.  f 

Let  us  fiuish  the  whale  history,  before  we  open  a  new  chapter  of  natural 
science.  On  arriving  in  the  port  and  casting  anchor,  yesterday,  it  was  voted 
that  we  should  go  aboard  the  schooner,  that  lay  near  us,  also  at  anchor,  and 
ask  for  some  fresh  cod,  mackerel,  or  the  like.  On  getting  alongside,  I  ac¬ 
costed  the  prominent  person  on  deck,  and  asked  him  what  his  schooner  was 
engaged  in?  He  answered,  “I  am  a  kind  of  Jack-of-all-trades,  sir,  confined 
to  no  one  thing.  ” 

“Are  you  an  American?” 

“No,  I  belong  to  the  island.’’ 

“Fishing  for  mackerel,  now,  I  suppose?” 

“No,  I  am  the  lessee  of  the  island.  I  set  out  last  week  for  Quebec,  but  on 
the  way  I  fell  in  with  a  pretty  large  whale,  and,  he  being  too  heavy  for  my 
boat  to  manage,  I  towed  him  in  here  into  shoal  water,  and  am  now  cutting 
him  up,  and  getting  out  the  oil.” 

He  had  no  fish,  whatever,  but  that  carcass  of  a  whale  which  lay  off  on  the  lee 
shore.  On  our  return  to  our  vessel,  our  lady  passenger  remarked,  that  that 
was  probably  our  friend  .Captain  Coffin’s  lost  whale.  From  which  I  magisteri¬ 
ally  dissented,  but  she  replied,  that  the  proprietor  of  Anticosti  took  care  to 
avoid  claiming  to  have  killed,  or  even  found  the  whale  alive.  But  I  said  to 
myself,  what  do  women  know  about  whaling? 

After  making  a  dinner  with  some  haste,  we  embarked  again  in  our  small 
boat,  this  time  for  the  House  of  Refuge  on  shore,  distant  two  full  miles  over  a 
broad  and  beautiful  bay.  We  found  the  water  quite  shallow,  but  reached  the 
whale’s  carcass  easily,  lying  extended  in  about  eighteen  inches  depth  of  water, 
and  half  a  dozen  men  in  boats  were  hacking  it  to  pieces.  We  rowed  around 
it,  and  observed  it  carefully.  It  was  sixty -five  feet  long  —  ten  feet  longer  than 
the  Emerence.  Its  thickness  must  have  been  twelve  or  fifteen  feet.  The  ex¬ 
treme  end  of  the  tail  was  seventeen  feet  wide.  The  odor  of  the  oil  infected 
the  atmosphere  for  a  mile  around  it. 

On  reaching  the  shore,  we  found  a  neat,  convenient  house,  kept  by  a  Cana¬ 
dian  Frenchman  and  his  family,  all  of  whom  assiduously  devoted  themselves 
to  our  comfort.  We  ordered  tea  for  half-past  five,  that  we  might  go  and  fish 
for  lobsters,  with  the  low  tide.  Meantime,  we  strolled  over  the  farm  —  fifty 
acres  —  the  only  land  reclaimed  from  nature  on  the  Island  of  Anticosti.  The 
beach  of  the  bay  was  common,  and  had  no  shells  or  curiosities  of  any  kind. 
The  potato  crop  had  been  flourishing,  but  was  blighted  by  the  frost  of  the 
previous  night  (August  18th).  There  was  a  beautiful  brook  filled  with  fine 
trout.  A  dozen  persons  were  cutting  the  whale-meat  into  small  parcels  of  a 
half  or  quarter  of  a  pound.  The  oil  gushed  from  these  and  filled  up  the  boat. 


310 


LIFE  AT  ANTICOSTI. 


[1857. 


barrels,  and  pots.  Kettles  were  all  around  us,  and  nothing  was  seen,  heard} 
touched,  or  smelt  of,  that  was  not  redolent  of  the  great  prize.  We  asked  for 
eggs,  butter,  vinegar,  and  such  like.  Our  host  had  them,  but  they  were  all 
saved  for  the  lady  that  lived  “upstairs.”  Occasionally,  a  lady  appeared  on 
the  balcony,  or  descended  from  it  with  her  children,  and  we  soon  came  to  un¬ 
derstand  that  she  was  a  privileged  person  —  but  who?  We  could  not  learn. 
At  length  tea-time  came.  The  lady  from  up  stairs  was  introduced  to  us  by 
the  lessee  of  Anticosti,  as  his  wife;  and  here  the  patroon  and  his  family  spend 
the  summer.  He  was  a  Scotchman,  of  pleasant  address  and  well  informed. 
His  wife  agreeable  and  ladylike.  The  conversation,  of  course,  turned  on  his 
great  prize.  I  cautiously  told  him  howT  Captain  Coffin,  of  Gaspe,  had  called 
on  us,  on  our  going  into  Mingan,  to  inquire  about  a  whale  that  he  had  killed 
and  lost,  and  laughingly  said  that  some  of  our  party  were  simple  enough  to 
think  that  this  was  possibly  Captain  Coffin’s  whale.  He  inquired  the  date  of 
Captain  Coffin’s  report  —  about  the  harpoon,  etc.,  and  very  frankly  and  mag¬ 
nanimously  said,  “  Beyond  a  doubt  this  is  the  very  whale  that  he  killed.  We 
found  it  dead,  and  horribly  mangled  by  sharks.”  Now  I  am  prepared  for 
being  turned  over  to  the  marines  for  credit  to  my  fish  story.  But  it  is  true 
for  all  that. 

I  will  not  set  down  minute  incidents  illustrative  of  life  in  Anticosti.  How 
we  found  twTo  seals  mounted  as  sentries  on  a  great  rock,  one  of  the  gate-ways 
of  the  port.  Nor  how  our  lady’s  wardrobe  is  enriched  by  a  bottle  of  genuine 
bear’s  oil  —  the  native  product  of  the  island,  and  given  by  the  mistress  of 
Anticosti  herself.  But  I  proceed  to  the  important  subject  of  our  adventures 
in  lobster-fishing.  At  half-past  six  last  night  the  Frenchman  reported  that 
the  water  was  low  enough,  and  summoned  us  to  the  fishing. 

“  Where  are  we  to  go?”  said  I. 

He  pointed  to  a  series  of  huge  boulders  in  the  water,  near  the  opposite  shore 
of  the  bay,  two  miles  off. 

k<  Very  well.  How  do  we  get  there?  Do  we  walk  around  on  the  beach?” 

“Oh,  no — ride.” 

“  Do  we  rowT  out?  ” 

“  Oh,  no  —  we  ride  in  a  cart.” 

“  Which  road?  ”  I  asked  . 

“  Pdght  across  through  the  water.” 

See  us  then,  we  two  travelers,  our  host  and  a  driver,  embarked  on  the  bay  in 
a  common  cart  drawn  by  a  strong,  square-built,  black  horse.  On  he  went  — 
splash  —  splash  —  and  we  after  him.  He  understood  French  well,  and  obeyed 
all  such  commands  as  “  allez  donc,v  ‘  ‘  marches,”  but  paid  no  regard  to  English. 
At  length  we  reached  the  fishing-ground.  The  Frenchman  took  his  stick,  to 
which  was  attached  a  codfish-hook,  and  proceeded  to  ferret  out  the  lobsters  in 
their  retreats  under  the  rocks.  He  found  one  or  two  under  every  stone. 
They  clung  to  the  stones,  or  whatever  else  offered,  so  tenaciously  that  often 
their  claws  broke  off.  The  horse  waded  from  rock  to  rock  most  patiently, 
and  in  less  than  an  hour  we  filled  our  basket  with  tw*o  dozen. 

The  eveningwas  pleasantly  spent  with  Mr.  Corbet  and  his  wife  (the  proprie¬ 
tors  of  the  island)  and  at  ten  o’clock  we  retired  to  comfortable  beds,  the  first 


1857.] 


A 


( ( 


317 


SEIGNEURY.” 


we  had  enjoyed  on  shore  since  we  left  Quebec.  This  morning,  lobster-fishing 
was  resumed,  with  no  variation,  except  that  A.  was  of  the  party,  and  I  drove 
the  cart;  and  here  we  are  now,  on  board  the  Emerence  once  more,  with  well- 
replenished  stores,  waiting  for  the  “fair  wind,”  ‘which  again  stands  adjourned 
until  “to-morrow.” 


Friday,  August  21,  1857.  ) 

In  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  j 

Io  Triumj)he  !  The  wind  hauled  round  into  the  south-east  last  evening,  and 
at  six  o’clock  we  set  out  for  Quebec  once  more.  It  was  a  soft,  balmy,  starlit 
night.  We  have  had  the  gentlest  sort  of  breezes  thus  far,  with  a  nearly  calm 
sea,  a  bright,  cloudless  sky,  and  faultless  summer  weather.  The  Gulf  narrows, 
and  we  have  on  our  right  the  north  and  on  our  left  the  south  coasts.  There 
are  no  wonders  of  the  deep  to  record. 

So  1  turn  to  the  political  condition  of  the  regions  we  have  just  visited. 
When  the  French  grasped  the  northern  portions  of  this  continent,  and  began 
to  lay  the  foundations  here  of  a  new  France,  the  King  granted  to  favorites 
and  others,  immense  tracts,  with  feudal  privileges.  The  tenure  will  be  best 
understood,  by  regarding  the  grantee  as  a  Patroon,  and  his  territories  as  a 
Manor,  like  those  which  once  existed  in  Colonial  New  York.  In  Canada, 
successive  Provincial  legislation,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Crown,  has  modified 
these  “  Seigneuries,  ”  so  that,  in  that  region,  they  have  now  little  more  than 
a  nominal  existence.  But  the  “  Seigneuries”  of  Labrador  and  Anticosti  still 
remain.  Those  countries  being  not  only  in  a  state  of  nature,  but  there  being 
no  desire  anywhere  to  colonize  them,  because  they  are  so  inhospitable  and 
barren,  the  “  Seigneurv  ”  is  at  present  valuable,  only,  for  the  chase  and  the 
fisheries,  and  it  might  be  made  so  for  mines,  forests,  and  minerals.  The 
“  Seigneurs”  (successors  to  the  old  grantees)  are  understood  to  live  at  Quebec. 
They  rent  or  assign  all  their  privileges  to  assignees  for  terms  of  years  at  fixed 
rates.  The  Hudson’s  Bay  Company  is  the  assignee  of  Labrador.  Mr.  Corbet 
is  the  assignee  of  Anticosti.  He  pays  $500  a  year  for  the  whole  enjoyment  of 
that  domain,  120  miles  long,  by  20  broad;  and  he  reimburses  himself  out  of 
the  fisheries,  chiefly  of  salmon  and  seal,  and  the  chase,  principally  of  bears, 
sable,  martens,  foxes,  etc.  There  is  no  government  there;  but  for  political 
purposes,  the  territory  of  Labrador  is  held  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  Canada 
and  Nova  Scotia,  while  Anticosti  is  subject  to  the  laws  of  Canada. 

Every  tiling  I  have  seen  has  tended  to  satisfy  me  that  Lower,  or  French 
Canada,  has  remained  almost  unchanged,  in  its  social  state,  since  it  was  sepa¬ 
rated  from  France  in  1700.  The  style  of  architecture  seems  nearly  unchanged. 
The  language  universally  spoken  is  French.  The  religion  is,  almost  univer¬ 
sally,  Roman  Catholic.  And  this  religion  is  held  just  as  it  was  held  a  hundred 
years  ago.  Go  into  any  dwelling,  and  you  find  the  walls  covered  with  cheap 
engravings,  which  illustrate  all  the  peculiar  superstitions  of  the  Middle  Ages 
—  all  kinds  of  traditions,  however  groundless,  all  kinds  of  miracles,  however 
absurd.  But  it  would  be  disingenuous  to  deny  that  the  people  are  sincere 
and  devout.  Our  captain  says  his  prayers  night  and  morning  in  private,  if 
privacy  can  be  procured  in  the  hold  of  a  schooner  like  this,  and  on  Sundays 


318 


HOMEWARD  BOU27D. 


[1857. 


he  celebrates  the  service  with  his  men,  round  the  helm.  They  observe  the 
laws  of  the  Church  as  to  fast  and  feast  days.  In  the  house  at  Anticosti  —  too 
small,  it  would  seem,  for  the  numerous  family  gathered  under  its  roof  —  yet 
one  room  is  fitted  up  with  an  altar,  statues  or  images,  lights,  and  otherwise, 
as  a  chapel. 

And  now  to  turn  from  these  grave  subjects  to  lesser  things,  and  to  speak  of 
ourselves,  our  habits,  diet,  etc.,  on  this  strange  excursion.  This  is  the  21st 
day  of  our  voyage.  Long  since,  I  adopted  Chancellor  Kent’s  philosophy, 
namely,  that  a  good  Christian  wants,  every  day,  a  clean  shirt  and  a  shilling. 
Life  here  is  conservative  of  the  shillings,  but  rather  adverse  to  the  linen  part 
of  the  creed.  We  eke  out  our  clean  clothes,  as  well  as  we  can.  Our  apparel 
may  be  described  thus:  The  lady  voyager  appears  daily  in  a  red  worsted 
hunting-dress,  very  graceful,  with  a  straw  flat,  if  the  weather  permits;  if  it 
be  cold  or  wet,  the  red  cap,  or  a  white  worsted  hood.  When  the  nights  and 
mornings  are  very  cold,  the  sailor’s  pea-jacket  is  donned.  As  for  F.  and 
myself,  we  habitually  draw  over  our  ordinary  clothing  a  pair  of  gray  trousers, 
a  blue  flannel  shirt,  and  a  pea-jacket  of  the  thickest  cloth,  which  completes 
our  costume,  if  you  add  the  sailor’s  small  cloth  cap,  which  can’t  be  blown 
away,  because  fastened  under  the  chin.  On  deck  we  resemble,  as  I  fancy, 
“  Captain  Kidd,  as  he  sailed,  as  he  sailed;  ”  and  on  shore  we  might  be  taken, 
at  Anticosti,  for  twin-brothers,  or  father  and  son  Robinson  Crusoe. 

Of  our  living  we  can  speak  most  approvingly.  It  devolves  on  me  in  the 
morning  to  call  John  Smith,  our  servant,  from  his  bunk  in  the  hold.  This  I 
generally  do  about  half-past  six.  Our  breakfast  varies  from  ham  and  eggs, 
or  fried  pork  and  pancakes,  to  mackerel,  cod,  trout  or  salmon,  fresh  or  salted; 
and  our  dinner  from  chicken,  boiled  pork  and  cabbage,  or  cauliflower,  to  any 
of  the  luxuries  of  the  sea,  to  which  we  always  add  pea-soup.  At  Mingan  we 
obtained  some  rhubarb,  of  which  John  fabricated  several  large  pies;  and  the 
good  Mountain  Indians  brought  in  a  large  quantity  of  cranberries,  which  we 
have  caused  to  be  preserved,  and  which  grace  our  tea  and  dinner  tables.  We 
do  not  trim  the  midnight  lamp,  but  having  replenished  our  can  with  abund¬ 
ance  of  seal-oil  on  the  coast  of  Labrador,  we  leave  the  lamp  to  burn  all  night. 
We  read  during  the  day,  but  having  about  read  out  all  our  stock,  we  have 
taken  latterly  to  three-hand  wThist  in  the  evening. 

Saturday,  August  22,  1857,  10  A.  M. 

No  one  is  more  truly  a  wTaiter  on  Providence  than  the  traveler,  who  de¬ 
pends  on  sails  to  be  filled  by  favoring  breezes.  Ten  watches  of  the  day  and 
night  have  passed  since  we  left  Anticosti,  and  yet  we  are  only  seventy  miles 
nearer  our  port.  But  we  have  summer  skies  and  a  gentle  summer  sea.  Not  a 
craft  of  any  kind  or  size  has  darkened  our  horizon.  It  is  to  us  as  if  the  human 
world  beyond  it  was  not.  The  sea-birds  have  circled  our  masts,  crying  for 
crumbs  from  our  table,  as  it  has  been  bountifully  spread  a  half  dozen  times  on 
deck,  either  in  the  sunshine,  or  in  the  shade  of  the  canvas.  The  whale  has 
blown  his  loudest  note  on  his  bugle,  in  distances  so  remote  that  the  eye  could 
not  detect  him,  though  so  well  directed  by  the  ear;  and  again  he  has  rolled 
lazily  by  the  vessel’s  side,  exposing  his  vast  proportions,  as  if  this  most  just 


319 


1857.] 


CANADA  S  FUTURE. 


Log  of  ours  was  not  already  filled  with  oily  narrations  of  the  hydraulic  exhibi¬ 
tions  of  his  race.  Then  the  nights.  There  has  been  no  moon.  But  the  stars 
have  spangled  the  sky,  from  the  zenith  quite  down  to  the  water’s  edge  —  hun¬ 
dreds  of  ambitious  light-houses  offering  their  services  officiously  to  mariners 
who  lay  becalmed,  and,  therefore,  could  not  lose  their  way.  And  the  aurora, 
emulous,  has  made  a  dozen  milky  vfays,  in  all  fantastic  forms,  and  gilded  their 
verges  with  pink  and  gold,  borrowed  from  the  richest  sunsets.  The  sea  itself 
has  been  luminous,  as  its  surface  was  broken  by  the  prow,  and  rolled  off  waves 
of  phosphorescent  light,  so  brilliant  as  to  discover  the  doings  of  the  inhabitants 
who  dwell  in  its  dark  chambers. 

And  now  all  this  is  passed.  The  east  wind  we  have  impatiently  sighed  for 
has  come  at  last,  and  it  has  brought,  as  usual,  in  its  train  fogs,  clouds,  and 
eold  rains.  But  these  are  attended  by  their  compensations.  The  Seven  Islands 
are  passing  behind  us,  and  we  are  trying,  not  without  hope,  to  reach  the  Point 
de  Monts,  and  leaving  the  Gulf,  to  enter  the  channel  of  the  river,  before  the 
third  Sabbath  of  our  voyage  dawns  upon  us. 

Dreamy  existence  is  this,  living  at  sea,  in  summer.  Perhaps  my  meditations 
on  the  political  destinies  of  the  region  around  me,  may  be  as  unsubstantial. 
But  I  will,  nevertheless,  confess  and  avow  them. 

I  see  in  British  North  America,  stretching  as  it  does  across  the  continent, 
from  the  shores  of  Labrador  and  New  Foundland  to  the  Pacific,  and  occupy¬ 
ing  a  considerable  belt  of  the  Temperate  Zone,  traversed  equally  with  the 
United  States  by  the  Lakes, 'and  enjoying  the  magnificent  shores  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  with  its  thousands  of  islands  in  the  river  and  Gulf,  a  region  grand 
enough  for  the  seat  of  a  great  empire.  In  its  wheat-fields,  its  broad  ranges  of 
the  chase  at  the  north,  its  inexhaustible  lumber  lands,  -the  most  extensive  now 
remaining  on  the  globe  — its  invaluable  fisheries,  and  its  yet  undisturbed  mineral 
deposits,  I  see  the  elements  of  wmalth.  I  find  its  inhabitants  vigorous,  hardy, 
energetic,  perfected  by  the  Protestant  religion  and  British  constitutional  lib¬ 
erty.  I  find  them  jealous  of  the  United  States  and  of  Great  Britain,  as  they 
ought  to  be;  and,  therefore,  when  I  look  at  their  extent  and  resources,  I  know 
they  will  neither  be  conquered  by  the  former  nor  permanently  held  by  the  lat¬ 
ter.  They  will  be  independent,  as  they  are  already  self-maintaining.  Hav¬ 
ing  happily  escaped  the  curse  of  slavery,  they  will  never  submit  themselves  to 
the  domination  of  slave-holders,  which  prevails  in,  and  determines  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  United  States.  The  policy  of  the  United  States  is  to  propitiate 
and  secure  the  alliance  of  Canada,  while  it  is  yet  young,  and  incurious  of  its 
future.  But  on  the  other  hand,  the  policy  which  the  United  States  actually 
pursues  is  spurning  vigorous,  perennial,  and  ever-growing  Canada,  -while 
seeking  to  establish  feeble  States  out  of  decaying  Spanish  provinces. 


River  St.  Lawrence,  off  Point  de  Monts, 
Sunday,  August  23,  1857. 


We  have  run  for  the  last  sixteen  hours  in  a  dense  fog,  which  has  shut  out 
the  land  and  all  things  near  us  at  sea.  When  I  awoke  this  morning,  and 
looked  up  through  the  hatch-way  of  our  cabin,  a  pretty  black -plumaged  bird 
was  sitting  on  the  caboose,  whither  he  had  come  for  an  early  breakfast. 


320 


A  COLLISION  IN  A  NIGHT  FOG. 


[1857. 


After  an  hour  the  fog  lifted  up,  and  showed  11s  that  we  were  within  a  mile  of 
the  shore,  in  Trinity  Bay,  and  our  near  approach  was  immediately  verified  by 
the  sound  of  the  barking  of  a  dog,  and  by  the  appearance  of  the  column 
which  constitutes  the  light-house. 

We  have  now  passed  from  the  Gulf  into  the  river,  although  the  transition  is 
not  easily  marked,  the  river  being  not  less  than  thirty  miles  wide.  Signs 
multiply  around  us,  to  assure  us  that  wre  are  approaching  civilized  regions.  A 
schooner,  a  brig,  and  a  steamship  are  within  sight. 

The  steamer  is  the  Clyde ,  which  passed  us  on  her  inward  trip,  two  weeks 
ago.  She  is  again  on  her  way  to  Scotland.  During  our  passage  to  this  point, 
we  stopped  to  fish  an  hour,  and  easily  brought  up  fine  cod  enough  to  supply 
the  Auburn  market  for  three  weeks.  It  is  a  day  for  meditation,  so  let  the 
Log  stop  here. 

Monday ,  August  24,  11  A.  M.  ) 

St.  Lawrence  River.  ) 

It  seems  that  we  are  to  be  denied  none  of  the  experiences  of  the  navigation 
of  this  river.  Last  night  wre  went  to  sleep  at  half-past  nine,  sailing  merrily 
before  a  favorable  wind,  which  we  fondly  imagined  might  take  us  into  Que¬ 
bec,  during  the  night  that  is  before  us.  At  half-past  two  I  was  on  deck,  and 
found  that  we  were  encompassed  by  an  impenetrable  fog,  but  going  as  rapidly 
as  before. 

I  had  hardly  got  snugly  into  my  berth  again,  before  the  captain,  who  was 
at  the  helm,  cried  out,  in  wild  consternation,  for  “all  hands  on  deck  !  ” 
Then  there  was  hurrying  backward  and  forward,  and  unintelligible  confusion 
of  orders  about  the  sails,  and  shouting,  from  which  we  learned  that  something 
had  happened,  but  the  explanations  wrere  all  in  French,  and  like  our  ques¬ 
tions,  if  we  had  put  any,  unintelligible.  After  awhile  all  was  quiet  again,  and 
the  danger  manifestly  passed. 

This  morning  we  learned  that  our  schooner  ran  into  another  vessel,  which 
was  lying  at  anchor.  Happily,  they  were  separated  without  either  having 
suffered  any  serious  injury.  From  that  time  until  now,  we  have  been  flounder¬ 
ing  along,  without  sight  of  land,  moon,  stars  or  sun,  to  reveal  to  us  wherea¬ 
bout  we  are.  Cannon  being  fired  hourly,  in  our  rear  and  before  us,  which 
we  understand  are  discharged  on  Bic  Island  and  Green  Island,  and  hence  we 
learn  we  are  between  the  two  islands.  We  sound  our  way  every  five  minutes 
by  the  lead,  and,  so  far,  keep  off  the  shoals,  which  stretch  along  either  coast. 
These  fogs  are  inseparable  accompaniments  of  easterly  winds  on  the  Gulf  and  on 
the  river,  at  this  season  of  the  year. 

Since  we  cannot  make  ourselves  useful  in  ascertaining  the  latitude  and  lon¬ 
gitude,  what  can  we  do  better  than  set  down  in  the  Log,  for  the  instruction 
of  future  adventurers,  the  mysteries  of  fishing  in  these  northern  waters. 

Imprimis,  of  cod-fishing. —  The  cod  feed  on  banks  found  at  the  mouths  of 
the  rivers,  in  waters  forty  to  eighty  feet  deep.  They  keep  close  to  the  bot¬ 
tom.  In  order  to  take  them  the  vessel  is  brought  to,  or  moved  slowly  along 
the  bank,  and  lines  thrown  from  either  side  of  the  boat,  baited  with  pork  or 
fish,  or  any  edible  thing.  The  cod  is  a  coarse  clumsy  fellow,  and  utterly  un- 


1857.] 


FOGS  AND  FISHERIES. 


321 


suspecting.  Generally,  they  grasp  the  bait,  as  soon  as  it  reaches  the  bottom, 
whither  it  is  carried  by  a  heavy  lead.  He  hangs  himself  honestly  on  the  great 
unconcealed  hook,  and  if  you  have  strength  enough  you  are  reasonably  sure  to 
draw  him  on  board.  We  have  taken  them  of  weights  varying  from  five  to 
twenty-five  pounds,  each. 

Next,  of  the  mackerel  fishing  —  they  are  taken  with  a  small  hook,  and  more 
delicate  line.  But  they  are  capricious  in  their  choice  of  location.  Within 
some  years  past,  the  Americans  have  discovered  a  new,  and  it  is  now  the  only 
successful  method  of  taking  them.  They  buy  up  a  number  of  boxes  of  herring 
or  other  coarse  animal  food.  They  grind  it  on  board  the  vessel  with  a  small 
mill  like  a  coffee-mill.  They  resort  to  the  banks  and  throw  overboard.  After 
a  few  hours  the  mackerel  swarm  around  the  vessel  and  blacken  the  sea.  Then 
the  fisherman  throws  out  his  hooks,  or  as  is  now  more  commonly  the  case, 
stretches  his  seine  and  brings  up  at  a  haul  whole  barrels  of  fish,  and  this  he 
continues  until  his  vessel  is  full.  It  may  be  a  day,  or  a  month,  or  two  months, 
but  he  is  generally  sure  of  a  rich  freight,  if  he  only  has  patience. 

Of  trout  and  salmon  — these  are  taken  in  the  river-mouths  with  fly-bait — - 
that  is,  artificial  flies.  This  is  the  sportsmen’s  way.  It  requires  skill,  patience, 
and  assiduity.  But  in  the  season  when  the  salmon  are  ascending  the  rivers, 
nets  are  set  for  them,  and  they  are  taken  in  that  way  in  considerable  quanti¬ 
ties,  but  by  no  means  as  plentifully  as  cod  and  mackerel. 

Of  lobsters  aud  whales  —  are  not  the  very  diverse  forms  of  the  art  applicable 
to  these  two  tribes,  sufficiently  set  forth  in  the  previous  entries  of  this  verita¬ 
ble  Log?  Ohe  (therefore)  jam  satis. 

Tuesday ,  August  25,  1857. 

Soon  after  I  closed  my  notes  yesterday,  we  found  the  fog  so  dense  that  it  was 
unsafe  to  proceed.  We  anchored  and,  after  a  little,  the  curtain  around  us  lifted 
itself  up,  and  disclosed  faint  views  of  schooners  and  ships  that  had  taken  the 
same  precaution.  Toward  dark  the  fog  was  dispersed  by  a  strong  northerly 
wind.  We  weighed  anchor,  and  made  our  way  through  the  night,  until  hav¬ 
ing  passed  Tadoussac  and  Cacouna,  we  were  arrested  this  morning  by  counter 
currents  and  winds. 

A  fine,  large  ship  came  alongside  and  hailed  i^s,  and  also  came  to  auchor. 
We  displayed  our  flag.  Her  captain  came  on  board,  William  Fleetwood,  of 
the  ship  Charles  Tottle  of  Gottenburg,  Sweden.  He  spoke  English  very  well, 
his  Canadian  pilot,  French,  his  crew,  fourteen  in  all,  only  Swedish.  We  found 
him  very  gentlemanly  and  agreeable,  and  inasmuch  as  his  vessel  was  evidently 
a  better  sailer  than  ours,  we  gave  him  our  mail.  We  suppose  he  will  expedite 
our  letters  a  day  or  two.  He  took  us  all  in  his  ship’s  boat,  and  with  four  oars 
landed  us  on  the  Brandy  Pots,  a  group  of  small  islands,  where  we  all  spent 
the  morning  in  rambling  through  the  woods  and  over  the  rocks,  getting  curi¬ 
osities,  vegetable  and  mineral.  At  twelve  we  repaired  with  him  to  his  ship 
and  dined  there.  He  gave  us  Croton  water,  which,  though  taken  aboard  at 
New  York  three  weeks  ago,  had  been  so  well  preserved  by  the  new  process  of 
prepared  casks,  that  it  was  sweeter  than  that  we  took  on  board  last  week. 

And  now  the  tide  being  turned,  we  are  both  alike  on  our  way  toward  Que- 
21 


322 


OFF  ST.  KOQUE. 


[1857. 


bee.  It  has  been  an  incident  of  much  interest  to  thus  make  acquaintance 
with  an  intelligent  gentleman  from  Sweden,  in  this  region,  so  far  away  from 
our  own  land,  and  from  his.  We  repaid  his  kindness  with  some  porter  and 
fish,  and  lobsters,  which  he  was  very  grateful  for.  We  are  now  passing  La 
Riviere  du  Loup,  and  hope  to-morrow  some  time  to  cast  our  anchor  finally  at 
Quebec. 

Wednesday ,  August  26,  1857. 

When  we  have  the  wind  favorable  we  can  overcome  the  downward  tide. 
When  the  tide  runs  up,  we  can  beat  against  the  head-winds.  But  we  cannot 
overpower  both  adverse  winds  and  tides.  Last  night  at  eight,  we  submitted, 
and  anchored  below  Kamourasca.  The  tide  set  upwards  this  morning,  and 
we  have  ever  since  been  buffeting  the  stormy  south-western  gale,  until  now 
(ten  o’clock).  The  tide  failing  us  here,  we  have  anchored  just  below  Point 
Ouelle,  distant  some  eighty  miles  from  Quebec.  In  truth  I  am  not  sorry.  Our 
pilot  (the  best  seaman  on  board)  is  disabled  by  a  lame  leg,  and  it  is  not  pleas¬ 
ant  to  see  such  a  craft  as  this  managed  by  only  two  men.  One  thinks  that  in 
a  "ale  there  might  be  an  accident  of  some  kind. 

Yesterday  our  captain  saw  us  deliver  our  letters  to  the  captain  of  the  Swede, 
and  heard  her  pilot  exult  in  the  prospect  of  anticipating  us  at  Quebec.  Where¬ 
upon  Mr.  Couillard  de  Beaumont,  captain  of  the  little  Emerence ,  lias  devoted 
himself  resolutely  to  beat  the  Swede,  and  has  actually  left  her  seven  or  eight  miles 
behind.  We  are  now  in  the  midst  of  Lower  Canada.  The  long  street  of 
farm-houses,  thickening  up  at  distances  of  seven  or  eight  miles  into  villages, 
with  a  huge  church  in  each,  meets  our  sight  on  either  side  of  the  river,  and 
we  seem  to  recognize  localities  and  land-marks  as  easily  as  we  could  on  the 
Hudson  river. 

How  the  schooner  knocks  and  rolls  about  in  the  troughs  of  this  disturbed 
sea.  The  anchor  may  hold  her  fast,  but  the  winds  will  not  let  the  waves 
tamely  submit. 

River  St.  Lawrence,  off  St.  Roque, 
August  27,  1857. 

Is  the  canon “  ’gainst  self-murder  ”  fixed,  immutable?  If  not,  what  are  the 
excepted  cases?  Are  bad  winds  and  adverse  currents  excepted?  Is  a  contin¬ 
uation  of  them  that  prevents  your  advancing  ten  miles  a  day  for  a  week  at  a 
time,  bad  enough?  These  are  the  questions  we  are  propounding  to  each  other, 
and  they  sufficiently  indicate  the  desperation  of  our  case.  Here  we  are,  staid 
by  the  wind’s  agency  sixty-three  miles  from  Quebec.  We  could  leave  the  ship 
but  could  not  take  with  us  our  baggage  and  stores,  and  the  furniture  which 
we  borrowed ;  and  we  can’t  leave  Quebec  (even  if  we  get  there),  until  the 
vessel  shall  come  to  us. 

We  have,  three  days  ago,  sent  half  a  dozen  packages  containing  regular  en¬ 
tries  in  our  journal,  by  a  vessel  that  was  to  antieijiate  our  arrival  at  Quebec,  to 
be  forwarded  thence  by  mail  immediately.  That  vessel  is  yet  behind  us.  We 
close  the  remaining  packages  to  send  from  the  post-office  at  St.  Roque.  We 
feel  confident  that  we  shall  be  at  home  within  about  a  week. 


1857. j 


PANIC  AND  FINANCIAL  CRASH. 


323 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

1857. 

The  East  Indian  Mutiny.  The  Commercial  Revulsion  of  1857.  Suspension  of  Specie  Pay¬ 
ments.  Francis  P.  Blair’s  Letters.  Governor  Walker.  The  Kansas  Struggle  Con¬ 
tinues.  ”  Hard  Times.”  Political  Reverses. 


The  voyagers  on  the  Emerence,  amid  the  fogs  and  storms  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  remote  from  all  mails  and  telegraphs,  were  for  a  month  in 
happy  ignorance  of  great  disasters  that  were  startling  the  Old  World 
and  the  New.  On  their  arrival  at  Quebec,  at  the  close  of  August, 
they  learned  of  the  gigantic  proportions  which  the  East  Indian  mu¬ 
tiny  had  assumed;  of  the  horrible  massacres  by  Nana  Sahib;  the  fall  of 
Cavvnpore;  the  march  of  Havelock  to  the  relief  of  Lucknow;  and  the 
anxiety  and  grief  that  were  pervading  nearly  every  household  in  the 
British  Empire.  And  when  they  crossed  the  border,  on  their  way 
home,  and  entered  the  State  of  New  York,  they  found  that  the  com¬ 
mercial  revulsion,  which  financiers  had  been  dreading,  was  spreading 
alarm  throughout  the  Union.  Stocks  and  bonds  were  rapidly  falling- 
in  Wall  street;  notes  of  sound  and  long-established  houses  were  going 
to  protest;  rates  of  interest  mounting  to  fabulous  figures;  the  banks, 
contracting  their  loans  to  save  themselves,  were  only  increasing  the 
storm  which  they  were  vainly  hoping  to  ride  out  in  safety.  Then 
came  the  failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company,  followed,  in 
quick  succession,  by  the  suspension  or  failure  of  mercantile  houses, 
railway  and  insurance,  and  banking  companies.  Factories  closed  their 
doors  and  workingmen  were  thrown  out  of  employment.  General  dis¬ 
tress  prevailed.  More  than  five  thousand  failures  were  reported. 
Every  form  of  commercial  enterprise  appeared  to  be  struck  with 
paralysis,  and  capital,  needed  by  everybody,  seemed  to  be  annihilated. 
Everybody  wanted  to  borrow,  at  whatever  enormous  rate  of  usury. 
Nobody  seemed  able  to  lend,  at  any  rate  whatever.  Finally  the  crash 
culminated,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  October,  when  all  the 
banks  in  the  citv  of  New  York,  surrounded  by  an  excited  and  surg- 
ing  crowd,  suddenly  announced  that  they  had  suspended  specie  pay¬ 
ments.  The  telegraph  spread  the  news  throughout  the  country,  and 
almost  immediately  brought  back  intelligence  that  the  banks  in  the 
other  cities  were  following  their  example. 

Then  came  a  lull  in  the  excitement.  Men  were  foreboding  fresh  and 
worse  disasters,  and  anxiously  asking  each  other  “  what  next  ?”  But 
the  worst  had  happened.  When  all  the  banks  in  the  country  had  sus¬ 
pended  specie  payment,  and  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  gold  in  pay- 


324 


THE  FINANCIAL  REVULSION. 


[1857. 


ment  of  debts,  the  business  community  soon  discovered  that  they 
could  get  on,  tolerably  well,  without  it.  Paper  currency  took  its 
place,  and,  though  useless  for  foreign  trade,  it  served  well  enough  for 
domestic  business.  Creditors  no  longer  commenced  a  “run”  upon 
the  banks,  since  these  could  always  proffer  their  notes;  and  “'promises 
to  pay”  took  the  place  of  payment.  The  fall  and  winter  were  marked 
by  a  stagnation  of  commerce,  and  general  prostration  of  business  in¬ 
terests.  Nevertheless,  confidence  began  to  gradually  return,  and  af¬ 
fairs  to  slowly  improve.  The  merchants  and  corporations  that  had 
succumbed  to  the  panic  wound  up  their  affairs  by  going  into  liquida¬ 
tion  and  dissolution,  or,  if  especially  strong  and  fortunate,  by  mak¬ 
ing  arrangements  with  creditors  to  resume. 

Seward  spent  a  part  of  the  month  in  a  western  trip,  to  endeavor  to 
secure  some  outstanding  debts.  As  he  told  a  friend,  “  My  riches 
have  not  all  taken  to  themselves  wings,  but  most  of  them  are  ‘  Hedg¬ 
ing  out*  preparatory  to  flight.” 

He  wrote  to  his  son: 

Auburn,  October  26,  1857. 

The  failure  of  the  Illinois  Central,  and  of  business  houses,  stops  the  receipt 
of  money  that  I  had  set  apart  for  my  payments,  ordinary  and  extraordinary. 
I  went  to  New  York  week  before  last,  and  last  week  to  Chicago,  to  do  what 
I  could  to  secure  these  debts.  Meantime,  ordinary  income  comes  in  slow, 
while  bills  of  mechanics,  and  protests  of  notes  come  in  fast.  I  am  taking  in 
sail,  and  paying  out  ballast,  slowly,  but  I  guess  faster  than  most  of  my  neigh¬ 
bors.  I  got  home  on  Saturday  night  at  three  o’clock,  from  Chicago. 

Mr.  Blair’s  letter  is  so  generous  and  affectionate,  that  I  cannot  deny  you 
and  Anna  the  pleasure  of  reading  it.  I  have  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  “Log.” 

Silver  Spring,  October  5. 

I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  kind  remembrance  of  us,  on  your  voyage  of 
discovery.  It  required  something  of  the  romantic  spirit  of  Columbus,  to  adven¬ 
ture  in  an  open  caraval,  in  search  of  Labrador.  I  have  not  heard  of  your  return, 
but  doubt  not  it  has  been  safely  accomplished,  else  I  should  have  heard  of 
outfits  of  search  for  Senator  Seward,  his  son  and  fair  daughter,  fraught  with 
much  more  interest  than  ever  attended  those  for  Sir  John  Franklin.  I  think 
I  should  have  been  tempted  myself,  to  beat  up  recruits  for  such  a  service; 
and  my  son,  Frank,  who  writes  me  that  he  felt  very  much  honored  in  the 
mistake  whicli  the  newspapers  made  by  giving  him  a  p  lace  in  your  northern  tour 
would,  I  am  sure,  have  enlisted  for  the  voyage.  I  should  be  glad,  however, 
to  have  some  particulars  of  your  homeward  progress;  how  your  son  and  his 
sweet  wife  stood  the  hardships  to  which  they  were  exposed,  and  whether  you 
and  they  realized  the  alteration  in  health  which  was  the  object  of  your  ardu¬ 
ous  buffetings  on  the  bay.  For  the  two  young  people  whose  welfare  so  much 
engrosses  you,  I  formed  an  affection  as  strong  as  that  of  kindred.  I  saw  in 
them  so  much  of  sympathy  for  myself;  such  willingness  to  render  kind  offices; 


1857.] 


THE  LECOMPTON  CONSTITUTION. 


325 


anti  such  readiness  to  prefer  my  convenience  to  their  own,  that  I  must  have 
had  a  heart  of  stone  to  be  insensible  of  their  goodness.  Pray  present  us  af¬ 
fectionately  to  them.  Tell  them  they  will  ever  have  a  warm  place  in  the  bosom 
of  Mrs.  Blair,  as  well  as  my  own. 

A  word  about  politics  —  pray  democratize  our  party,  as  far  as  you  can.  I 
mean  in  the  genuine,  original  sense  of  the  word.  Those  who  use  the  word  to 
cover  counterfeits  have  left  the  whole  region  of  pure  popular  principle  to  the 
Republicans.  They,  the  pseudo-Democrats,  are  the  creatures  of  the  slave  oli¬ 
garchy.  They  carry  the  elections  by  force  and  fraud,  by  the  bayonets  of  a 
standing  army.  They  supply  the  means  of  corruption  through  banks,  and 
every  species  of  monopoly.  They  call  in  the  judiciary  to  overthrow  the  laws 
and  Constitution,  and  intrench  their  crimes  behind  the  Bench,  and  make  it  a 
sanctuary.  Bring  your  Whigs  to  overturn  this  perversion  of  our  institutions, 
made  through  the  vile  and  sordid  intrigues  of  Southern  politicians  -with 
Northern  “  dough-faces,”  and  you  will  establish  a  Republican  party,  North  and 
South,  on  solid  ground,  that  no  earthquake  can  shake. 

Have  you  seen  Weston’s  paper  —  the  Republic  f  it  is  edited  with  great  abil- 
it3r,  and  you  will  find  it  prompt  to  assist  you  in  the  great  work  of  establishing 
a  party.  He  is  cautious  and  practical,  and  will  be  advised  by  you  in  all  he 
does.  But  the  tempest  in  money  matters,  which  came  in  with  the  Republic's 
birth,  has  almost  swept  it  away. 

Your  friend,  truly, 

F.  P.  BLAIR. 

Meanwhile,  the  Kansas  struggle  had  reached  a  new  phase.  Gover¬ 
nor  Walker,  on  reaching  his  post,  announced  his  intention  to  deal  im¬ 
partially  with  all  citizens;  to  discountenance  frauds  and  violence;  and 
have  all  elections  conducted  with  fairness,  so  far  as  lay  in  his  power. 
Accepting  his  assurance,  the  “Free  State”  men  came  out  and  voted, 
at  the  October  election.  Gangs  of  invaders  came  over  from  Missouri, 
as  before,  and  many  gross  frauds  and  indignities  were  perpetrated  by 
them,  but  they  were  no  longer  allowed  full  control  of  the  polls.  Con¬ 
sequently,  when  the  returns  came  in,  and  were  fairly  counted,  they 
showed  a  decided  preponderance  for  the  “  Free  State  ”  men.  They  had 
elected  a  delegate  to  Congress  by  nearly  4,000  majority,  and  a  new 
Legislature  was  chosen,  containing  36  “Free  State”  to  16  pro-slavery 
men.  This  result,  however,  instead  of  discouraging  the  pro-slavery 
men,  seemed  to  nerve  them  to  more  desperate  measures.  Their  Con¬ 
vention  reassembled  at  Lecompton,  and  formed  a  Constitution  recog¬ 
nizing  and  establishing  slavery.  Then  they  made  a  pretense  of  submit¬ 
ting  it  to  the  people  at  an  election  to  be  held  in  December,  but  took 
care  to  allow  no  votes  adverse  to  it.  They  provided  that  the  only 
forms  of  ballots,  to  be  allowed  or  counted,  should  be  “for  the  Consti¬ 
tution  with  slavery,”  or  “  for  the  Constitution  ivitlioat  slavery,”  —  so 
that,  whichever  might  have  the  majority,  the  Constitution  would  bo 


326 


THE  “LOG”  OF  THE  VOYAGE. 


[1857. 


adopted,  and,  once  adopted,  slavery  would  be  established,  —  since  the 
“  without  slavery”  ballots,  howeve;-  they  might  express  the  preference 
of  the  voter,  could  not  change  the  character  of  the  document.  Such 
was  the  ingenious  scheme  to  force  the  “  Lecompton  Constitution  ” 
upon  a  Territory  which  had  just  avowed  itself  opposed  to  slavery! 

Another  genial  letter  from  Mr.  Blair  said: 

Silver  Spring,  November  1. 

We  have  just  enjoyed  a  quiet  fireside  family  reading  of  your  “ Log .”  I  would 
call  it  a  “  Yarn  ”  instead,  if  I  did  not  believe  every  word  of  it,  even  swallowing 
the  big  whale  itself.  And  now,  I  cannot  but  make  you  my  acknowledgments 
as  the  very  best  traveling  companion  whom  it  has  been  my  good  fortune 
to  have  fallen  in  with;  for  not  only  did  you  make  our  pleasure  excursion  to 
the  great  Falls,  and  thence  through  Canada,  and  its  flourishing  towns,  our 
Thousand  Island  sports,  our  picnics  and  dinner  repasts,  our  visits  to  the  his¬ 
torical  cities,  doubly  interesting  by  the  easy  access  you  gave  to  all  that  was 
worthy  of  a  traveler’s  curiosity;  but  you  have  taken  on  yourself  all  the  trouble, 
danger,  exposure,  and  expense  of  the  arduous,  tedious,  hard  part  of  the  explo¬ 
ration,  and  given  it  to  us  stripped  of  all  its  hardships,  and  retaining  all  the 
vividness  of  every  enjoyable  scene,  to  gratify  us,  in  a  secure  retreat  whence 
we  see  your  deep  and  dark  waters;  hear  your  howling  winds,  and  creaking 
masts,  and  surging  billows;  draw  up  your  heavy  cod-fish;  breakfast  on 
your  rich  salmon  and  mackerel;  dine  on  your  pea-soup,  your  pork  and 
beans,  and  rhubarb  pies;  and  all  of  this  without  fear  and  trembling,  without 
getting  seasick,  wet,  pierced  to  the  marrow  in  cold  fogs,  without  being  driven 
almost  to  the  desperation  of  “throwing  off  this  mortal  coil,”  or  the  necessity 
of  superintending  the  cooking  of  those  savory  dishes,  which  were  indispensable 
to  save  you  the  trouble  of  flying  to  this  last  resource  against  all  your  troubles. 

What  a  contrast  you  present  to  that  traveler  in  the  spelling-book,  who,  see¬ 
ing  a  bear  about  to  make  a  prey  of  his  companion,  climbed  a  tree  to  save  him¬ 
self,  and  left  his  comrade  to  learn  wisdom  from  the  wet  muzzle  of  the  monster, 
whining  his  whispers  into  his  ear.  You,  on  the  contrary,  were  kind  enough 
to  us,  to  go  and  meet  the  bear;  and  you  gave  us  the  benefit  of  his  lessons, 
while  you  incurred  the  danger. 

When  your  election  is  over,  pray  write  me  what  its  results  prognosticate. 
I  have  my  fears  of  apathy  on  our  side,  and  activity  on  the  other.  If  we  have 
had  bad  fortune,  tell  me  how  it  is  to  be  mended.  They  say  here  that 
“Buck”  will  disavow,  and  remove  Walker.  Stanton  is  here  to  frame 
apologies. 

-  Your  friend, 

F.  P.  BLAIR. 

The  apprehension  in  regard  to  the  election  was  well  founded. 
Seward,  writing  to  his  son,  said: 

Auburn,  November  5,  1857. 

These  debt  and  credit  affairs  are  an  inheritance,  for  our  lives.  I  do  not 
wonder  that  narrow-minded  persons  come  to  regard  dexterity  in  them  as  the 


1857.] 


HARD  TIMES  ANI)  POLITICAL  DEFEATS. 


3'-? 


I V 


business  of  life.  My  own  labors,  in  this  way,  this  year,  are  not  attended  by 
results  calculated  to  flatter  my  vanity  as  a  financier.  I  have  paid  my  way  out 
of  two  banks,  the  Commercial,  and  Cayuga,  and  practically  out  of  the  third 
and  last,  the  Bank  of  Auburn;  and  yet,  owing  to  the  strange  derangement  of 
the  times  operating  on  the  dealings  of  others  with  me,  I  am  more  deeply  in 
debt  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  year;  and  with  property  considerably 
augmented  in  amount  and  value,  I  am  unable,  for  the  first  time  in  years,  to 
pay,  on  demand,  the  accounts  I  owe.  Happily,  things  must  grow  better,  being 
now  at  the  worst. 

The  election  is  given  up  here  this  morning.  Last  year,  the  rural  districts 
dragged  the  opposition,  in  the  cities,  out  of  the  defeat  they  have  persistently 
brought  upon  themselves  by  their  absurd  divisions.  This  year  we  have  just 
failed  to  do  it.  It  is  impossible  to  keep  a  bow  bent  to  its  extremest  tension, 
forever.  Mayhap  the  instruction  may  be  worth  the  cost.  Our  majority  in 
this  county  is  about  2,400;  and  we  have  saved  the  city  “  as  through  fire.” 
Our  foreign  voters  were  on  the  point  of  leaving  us,  drawn  off  by  unwise  nom¬ 
inations.  The  Catholic  priest  broke  the  mutiny  by  a  judicious  address  to  them 
on  Sunday,  without  any  concert  with  us;  and  I  was  thus  able  to  get  a  kind 
hearing  from  them  on  Monday  night..  The  loss  is  here  of  Republican  native 
voters,  carried  away  by  business  or  duty;  or  rather  consists  of  that  class 
habitually  absent,  who  can  only  be  brought  in  on  great  occasions. 

Throughout  the  Northern  States  the  elections  showed  an  apparent 
decrease  of  Republican  strength.  It  was  partly  the  effect  of  apathy 
and  “hard  times;  ”  partly  the  natural-  reaction  after  the  greater 
presidential  contest  of  the  year  before.  The  Republicans  still  carried 
their  New  England  and  North-Western  States,  but  by  reduced  ma¬ 
jorities;  and  so  re-elected  Governors  Chase  in  Ohio,  Randall  in  Wis¬ 
consin,  and  Lowe  in  Iowa.  But  they  lost  New  York,  where  the  now 
decaying  (i  American  ”  party  turned  the  bulk  of  its  voters  over  to  the 
Democrats,  enabling  them  to  carry  the  State. 

On  his  way  to  Washington,  this  winter,  Seward  met  the  rumors  of 
coming  trouble  among  the  Democrats.  It  was  said  that  President 
Buchanan  would,  in  his  message,  uphold  and  defend  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  and  the  action  of  the  pro-slavery  men  who  made  it  — 
that  Walker  would  fall  into  disfavor  because  he  had  tried  to  have  the 
Territorial  elections  fairly  held,  and  their  votes  fairly  counted  — and 
lastly,  that  Douglas  would  break  with  the  Administration,  because  of 
the  Lecompton  Constitution,  since  it  had  not  been  fairly  submitted  to 
the  popular  vote. 


328 


AT  WASHINGTON  AGAIN. 


[1857-  58. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

t  1  . 

1857-1858. 

At  Washington  Again.  Rumors  of  Discords.  Caucuses  and  Committees.  Hamlin. 
Foot.  A  Daughter’s  Birthday.  Douglas  Breaks  with  the  Administration.  A  Vir¬ 
ginian  Visit.  Lord  Napier.  Sartiges.  Incidents  of  Slaver\\  Another  Year.  “  Fili¬ 
bustering  Expeditions.”  The  Troops  at  Salt  Lake.  The  Mormons.  The  Debate  over 
“  Lecompton.” 


December  4. 

This  is  Friday  morning,  and  the  place  is  our  own  house,  Washington.  Some 
remains  of  ink,  thick  and  black,  are  in  the  inkstand,  and  this  is  the  only 
thing  in  the  house  that  wears  the  form  of  note-paper. 

Coming  to  my  own  quiet  home,  and  hurried  with  its  preparations  for  the 
winter,  I  have  seen  nobody  who  knows  any  thing  new.  Doubtless  the  Demo¬ 
crats  were  greatly  agitated  by  the  fear  of  an  immediate  explosion;  doubtless 
they  have  recovered  considerably  from  their  fright;  and  doubtless,  because  the 
danger  seems  to  be  more  remote  now,  than  in  the  hour  of  panic,  they  will 
come  to  think  that  it  may  perhaps  be  avoided  altogether.  For  all  that,  how¬ 
ever,  they  are  not  safe,  and  they  will  break  down  sooner  or  later,  in  crossing  • 
the  Kansas  bridge. 

December  5. 

The  accustomed  signs  of  a  winter  in  Washington  are  around  me.  The  bread 
wagon  and  the  ice  cart  halt  under  my  windows  at  their  proper  hours,  and  “  car¬ 
riage  company  ”  are  prompt  to  their  time.  Idleness  is  written  in  the  motion 
of  man  and  beast,  and  poverty  suing  for  alms,  meets  me  at  the  door,  and  sends 
its  petitions  into  my  inmost  retreats. 

I  called  on  Gales  and  Seaton,  and  found  them  quite  crowded  over  toward 
the  Republican  side,  on  the  Kansas  question.  The  city  is  full  of  speculations 
about  Douglas,  as  to  whether  he  will  break  the  Administration  party  down  or 
not.  I  believe  the  better  opinion  is  that  he  will  give  them  a  reprieve  for  the 
present.  But  in  my  judgment  their  downfall  is  rendered  only  the  more  certain 
by  the  delay  of  the  blow  he  meditates,  and  cannot  be  saved  even  by  his  for¬ 
bearance  from  striking  altogether. 

December  6. 

% 

The  public  transactions  of  yesterday  were  conducted,  I  suppose,  satisfacto¬ 
rily  to  the  new  Administration.  South  Carolina  is  honored  by  the  choice  of  a 
conservative  Democrat  for  Speaker;  and  Mr.  Douglas,  avowed  aspirant  to  the 
succession  to  the  Presidency,  is  gratified  with  an  election  of  a  partisan  of  his 
own  to  the  office  of  Clerk. 

The  Republican  caucus  was  wisely  enough  postponed  until  to-morrow  morn¬ 
ing.  It  matters  little  what  the  Republicans  do  in  that  way,  since  they  can 
only  propose,  but  not  effect  any  achievement  of  power.  To-morrow  will  begin 
the  attempts  of  the  Administration  to  stifle  the  voice  of  freedom  in  Congress, 
as  its  supporters  are  endeavoring  to  subjugate  the  freedom  of  Kansas.  We 
shall,  I  trust,  witness  ultimately  the  failure  of  both. 


1857-’58.j 


A  DAUGHTER'S  BIRTHDAY. 


329 


December  8. 

I  have  gone  through  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  Congress,  and  a  fatiguing 
day  it  was,  without  much  compensation  of  any  kind.  The  Republican  mem¬ 
bers  assembled  in  caucus,  and  nominated  my  candidate,  Hamlin,  for  President, 
with  very  good  grace.  The  Senate  met,  and  it  did  look  well  to  see  the  array 
of  twenty  solid  men  on  the  floor  where  I  had  stood  so  long  alone.  As  I  had 
anticipated,  all  personal  antipathies  and  prejudices  against  our  party  and  its 
members  seemed  to  have  disappeared.  We  met  the  Democrats  as  their  con¬ 
fessed  equals.  Sumner’s  case  was  the  only  exception.  Time  will  relieve  that 
case  too.  There  was  no  message,  so  Mr.  Senator  Foot  of  Vermont  amused 
me  by  getting  the  genealogy  of  the  Foot  family  from  the  library,  and  showing 
me  that  he  is  related  to  you  and  Lisette,  and  that  the  mother  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe,  and  all  the  other  Beechers,  was  Roxana  Foot, 
cousin-german  to  Hannah,  your  mother. 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress  for  the  day,  I  visited  the  new  Chambers. 
That  designed  for  the  House  of  Representatives  is  now  complete.  There  is 
little  difference  between  them  except  in  dimensions.  Both  are  purely  oblong. 
The  uniformity  of  right  lines  is  nowhere  broken  by  any  circular  or  elliptic 
line.  The  effect  in  the  House  is  to  make  the  Chamber  seem  lowr.  But  the 
great  object  is  to  obtain  a  hall  in  which  debate  could  be-  everywhere  heard, 
and  this  end  is  doubtless  gained.  The  finish  of  the  rooms  is  warm  and  rich, 
with  mingled  hues  of  green,  yellow,  red,  and  blue.  Some  object  that  this  is 
fantastic.  They  certainly  would  complain  more  if  the  colors  did  not  lighten 
up  the  dullness  of  the  geometrical  form  of  the  rooms. 

After  dinner  there  was  a  continual  levee  in  our  parlors  until  eleven.  I  have 
slept,  waked,  breakfasted,  written  to  you,  forgetting  all  about  the  pretty 
black  horses.  And  now  for  a  new  day. 

December  9. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  an  Indian  summer  with  its  varying  features  of  sun¬ 
shine,  and  rain,  and  upspringing  fogs.  Politics  are  much  of  the  same  various 
character.  The  President  has  avowed  his  purpose  of  betraying  freedom  in 
Kansas.  Douglas,  Stewart,  and  others,  intimate  their  purpose  to  resist,  al¬ 
though  indirectly,  and  on  very  narrow  grounds.  The  friends  of  freedom  see 
room  for  hope  to  save  it  through  this  division. 

We  had  the  pretty  blacks  before  the  green  carriage,  in  their  shining  harness, 
yesterday,  and  rode  to  the  Capitol  at  an  early  hour.  To-day  the  debate  will 
be  interesting. 

To  his  daughter,  on  her  birthday,  he  wrote: 

December  10. 

I  trust  in  the  kindness  of  Providence,  that  you  are  well  and  happy,  although 
far  distant  from  me;  and  I  salute  you  and  congratulate  you  on  your  returned 
birthday.  You  are  only  thirteen  yet;  and  I  am  beginning  to  descend,  just  as 
you  are  rising  in  years.  I  sometimes  fear  that  I  may  not  live  to  protect  and 
advise  you,  through  the  perils  of  opening  womanhood;  and,  as  often,  that  you 
may  not  be  spared  to  support  my  tottering  steps,  if  I  should  reach  the  period 
of  old  age,  so  generally,  yet  so  unwisely,  desired.  Under  the  influence  of 


330 


DOUGLASS  BREAKS  WITH  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  [1857-  58. 


these  apprehensions,  I  might  be  sad;  but  I  remember  that  on  all  such  subjects, 
our  wishes  are  by  no  means  to  be  trusted  ;  while  our  fears  are  as  often  unwise; 
and  that  our  Heavenly  Father  directs  all  events  with  an  affectionate  care  to 
our  safety  and  welfare;  and  I,  therefore,  meet  them  as  they  occur,  with  hope 
and  cheerfulness.  Whether  we  are  to  be  indulged  with  the  years  of  affectionate 
intercourse,  which  our  hearts  so  fondly  covet,  or  not,  it  will  be  a  solace  to  you 
to  know  that,  thus  far,  you  have  realized  all  that  a  loving  father  could  ask, 
from  a  youngest  child,  and  only  daughter.  My  blessing  on  you,  my  beloved 
one,  now  and  forever. 

December  10. 

What  can  equal  the  caprices  of  politics  ?  That  abrupt  severance  of  political 
associations,  which,  eight  years  ago,  divided  us  from  Webster,  Clay,  and  Fill¬ 
more,  and  devolved  on  myself,  almost  alone,  the  maintenance  of  the  cause  of 
truth  and  justice  here,  astonished  and  dismayed  me.  The  triumph  of  slavery 
then  would  have  been  incomplete;  indeed  it  could  not  have  occurred,  but  for 
the  accession  to  it  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  representative  of  the  West,  that 
region  of  the  Union  most  deeply  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  soil  of 
our  country  from  pollution.  By  that  defection,  he  became  soon,  and  has, 
until  just  now,  continued  (under  the  favor,  or  fear  of  successive  Administra¬ 
tions)  legislative  dictator  here,  intolerant,  yet  irresistible;  since  he  led  a  com¬ 
bination  of  the  whole  South  and  West,  with  a  powerful  Northern  force.  That 
was  his  position  yesterday  morning.  What  mine  was,  and  has  been,  you 
know  —  few  or  none  know  so  well  as  you —  reduced  to  straits,  and  walking  in 
peril  of  fame,  and  even  of  life,  to  be  abandoned,  deserted,  and  betrayed  at  last, 
by  friends  whose  constancy  could  not  endure  such  trials. 

Yesterday  this  same  Douglas,  finding  that  his  principles  could  not  save,  and 
that  mine  alone  were  enduring,  broke  loose  from  all  that  strong  host  that  he 
had  led  so  long;  and  although  he  did  not,  at  the  first  bound,  reach  my  posi¬ 
tion,  as  an  ally,  yet  leaped  out  so  far  toward  it,  as  to  gain  a  position  of  neu¬ 
trality,  altogether  unsafe  and  indefensible;  and,  therefore,  but  one  step  short 
i  of  the  position  I  have  held  so  long  and  unsupported.  It  was  a  great  day  for 
freedom  and  justice.  The  movement  was  made,  without  any  concert  with 
me;  but  you  will  not  be  surprised  that,  at  night,  we  found  ourselves  together; 
and  that  I  have  now  new  courage  derived  from  a  position,  as  strong  now,  as  it 
heretofore  has  been  weak.  Henceforth,  Douglas  is  to  tread  the  thorny  path  I 
have  pursued.  The  Administration  and  Slave-power  are  broken.  The  triumph 
of  freedom  is  not  only  assured,  but  near. 

This  morning  a  committee  meeting  engrosses  me,  after  ten.  I  have  dis¬ 
patched  some  business,  given  some  audiences,  and  now  five  minutes  remain  for 
writing  to  you.  There  is  really  no  time  here. 

Sumner  has  gone  away  for  a  month,  with  a  broken  heart  because  he  cannot 
work.  What  a  sad  thing  !  How  much  fortitude  he  requires  !  Since  Walker, 
Douglas,  and  Stanton  have  been  converted,  at  least  in  part,  we  are  sure  to  hear 
the  gospel  preached  (though  with  adulteration)  to  the  Gentiles.  It  shall  not 
be  my  fault  if  they  do  not  have  an  opportunity  to  hear  it  in  its  purity;  and 
when  they  are  once  reached,  the  faith  will  be  safe. 


1857-  58.] 


A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION. 


331 


December  11. 

Yesterday  was  a  quiet  day  in  Congress.  I  dined  at  Dr.  Pyne’s,  meeting 
Webb,  Hodge,  Riggs,  and  others.  I  am  trying  to  study  for  a  speech  on  Kan¬ 
sas,  to  come  off  in  January  perhaps.  But  I  might  as  well  study  in  a  market¬ 
place.  To-morrow  I  am  going  with  my  friend  Jack  Pendleton,  to  spend 
Sunday  at  his  place  in  Virginia,  some  thirty  or  forty  miles  from  this  city. 

December  14. 

I  am  again  in  my  arm-chair  here,  after  a  short  visit  at  Culpepper  Court 
House,  in  Virginia  (have  I  got  the  p’s  arranged  rightly  in  the  name?).  My 
journey  was  begun  at  five  on  Saturday  morning,  by  boat  to  Alexandria;  thence 
sixty-five  miles  by  railroad  through  Fairfax,  Fauquier,  and  Prince  William, 
into  Culpepper  county,  where  I  arrived  at  ten  o’clock.  The  first  ten  miles 
was  through  a  country  like  that  around  Mount  Vernon,  worn  out  and  misera¬ 
ble.  Then  a  plain  stretched  away  before  me  almost  unbroken  to  the  foot  of 
the  Blue  Ridge.  It  has  all,  once  or  more,  been  stripped  of  its  forests;  and 
yet  is  now  well  covered  with  woods  of  oak,  hickory,  and  pine.  There  are  no 
towns  along  the  way;  no  bustling  villages;  no  small  farms,  and  neat  little 
farm-houses;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  whole  plain  is  divided  into  farms  or 
plantations  of  500,  1,000,  2,000,  and  even  5,000  acres.  In  the  center  (or 
nearly  so)  of  one  of  these,  is  a  house  of  respectable  dimensions,  but  jdainly 
built  of  wood,  with  a  piazza,  a  lawn,  a  lane,  all  corresponding  to  the  first 
class  of  farm-houses  we  used  to  have  in  the  State  of  New  York,  iu  my 
boyhood.  Outside  of  this  inclosure,  stand,  in  rectangular  lines,  the  out-houses, 
consisting  of  lodges  for  the  slaves,  barns,  etc.  The  hospitalities  of  the  planters 
are  easy  and  graceful.  It  is  quite  manifest  that  the  long  debate  about  slavery 
has  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  more  refined  and 
generous  portion  of  the  families  in  Virginia.  The  word  “  slaves  ”  is  seldom 
used.  They  are  “servants,”  “hands.”  They  are  treated  with  kindness,  and 
they  appear  clean,  tidy,  and  comfortable.  I  happened  to  fall  in  upon  a  husk¬ 
ing  frolic  on  Mr.  Pendleton’s  plantation,  and  it  was  indeed  a  merry  and  noisy 
scene.  My  visit  was  very  pleasant.  Mrs.  Pendleton  is  a  lady  you  would  re¬ 
spect  and  love.  She  is  sad  with  cares  and  responsibilities,  which  she  has  too 
much  conscientiousness  to  cast  off.  But  what  time  have  I  to  dilate  on  these 
things  now?  They  must  wait  until  -we  have  chance  to  talk. 

December  15 

Yesterday  we  had  a  Republican  senatorial  caucus  over  candidates  for  com¬ 
mittees.  The  senatorial  hours  were  occupied  with  the  obsequies  of  Mr.  Butler. 
In  the  evening  the  Republican  members  supped  at  our  house.  This  morning 
they  pay  the  customary  honors  to  Senator  Bell.  I  shall  pay  my  homage  to  the 
unobtrusive  merits  of  the  deceased.  To-night  I  dine  at  Napier’s.  The  news¬ 
papers  have  the  dinner  in  advance. 

December  16. 

To-day  we  appoint  committees,  and  are  to  have  a  profitless  wrangle  over 
them,  and  then,  if  there  shall  be  time,  Mr.  Green  of  Missouri  is  to  reply  to  the 
recusant  Douglas  and  is  expected  to  be  severe  and  bitter.  Sooner  than  he  ex- 


332 


DEMOCRATIC  DIVISIONS. 


[1857-’ 53. 


pected,  as  I  fancy,  he  has  been  dropped  by  his  old  associates,  and  is  obliged 
to  seek  communion  with  those  he  so  recklessly  attacked  so  long.  Last  night 
Mr.  Sartiges  engaged  me  to  dine  on  Saturday  of  next  week  with  Douglas  — 
not  Saturday  of  this  week,  because  then  he  was  to  have  the  South.” 

Yesterday  at  Lord  Napier’s  the  party  was  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bright,  Sir  William 
and  Lady  Ousely,  the  Spanish  Minister,  and  Sartiges  —  whom  you  remember, 
and  the  others,  attaches  of  various  legations.  They  have  added  on  the  west 
side  a  suite  ot'  handsome  rooms,  and  newly  papered  all  the  others.  I  was  de¬ 
lighted  to  find  that  Lady  Napier  had  treasured  and  acted  on  every  word  of 
counsel  she  received  from  you.  She  quoted  it  to  me  with  a  fidelity  that  showed 
for  you  the  highest  respect  and  affection.  The  dinner  was  rounded  off  into 
a  reception,  which  was  attended  by  a  select  party  —  no  jam. 

I  have  a  letter  from  Governor  Fish  at  Florence. 

*  I * 

December  17. 

It  is  a  smoky  morning;  breakfast  is  stewing  in  the  kitchen,  and  no  one  up, 
so  far,  but  myself.  Sleep  has  restored  me,  and  I  am  in  my  chair  meditating 
how  most  effectually  to  resist  the  subjugation  of  Kansas. 

David  A.  Hall,  the  benevolent  and  amiable,  was  persuaded  by  his  zeal  eight 
years  ago,  against  my  advice,  to  become  bail,  with  others,  for  Chaplin,  the  en¬ 
thusiast,  who  attempted  emancipation  here  by  running  slaves  off.  His  part¬ 
ners  in  the  obligation  have  failed,  and  the  weight  falls  on  him.  He  is  old ;  he 
has  had  a  fall  which  shattered  him.  His  fortune  invested  in  real  estate,  much 
like  our  own,  does  not  yield  money  readily  in  these  times  of  distrust.  He  is 
alarmed  and  melancholy.  You  can  imagine  the  whole.  I  gather  it  partly  by 
imagination  myself,  from  the  account  given  me  by  Mrs.  Hall,  who  called  yes¬ 
terday  to  invoke  my  aid,  but  made  the  appeal  with  great  modesty  and  deli¬ 
cacy  . 

The  mail  last  night  brought  me  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Hopkins,  informing  me 
that  George  Washington  Park  Custis  had,  through  his  life,  promised  emanci¬ 
pation  to  his  slaves,  that  his  will  is  understood  to  give  it,  but  is  suppressed ; 
and  I  am  appealed  to  by  the  slaves  to  bring  it  to  light.  Of  course,  I  don't 
know  how  much  of  this  is  true.  What  a  world  for  a  Howard,  if  there  was 
one ! 

« 

December  22. 

Thus  far  the  session  has  been  an  exacting  one.  We  are  almost  without  holi¬ 
days,  and  we  sit  until  six,  seven,  eight  o’clock.  The  movement  of  Douglas  is 
disorganizing  the  Democracy.  He  is  not  prudent,  as,  of  course,  he  is  not 
modest.  He  will  not  be  consistent.  After  making  a  bold  stroke  for  the  de¬ 
fense  of  Kansas,  we  shall  soon  see  him  making  a  demonstration  for  the  acqui¬ 
sition  of  Cuba.  But  this  I  shall  tell  nobody  else.  Mr.  Fitch  of  Indiana  is 
engaged  in  badgering  Douglas  this  morning.  The  storm  is  gathering. 

<•  January  1,  1858. 

It  is  a  bright  and  genial  day,  and  I  trust  it  may  be  auspicious  of  a  happy 
year.  New  Year’s  seems  to  me  no  day  to  celebrate,  on  the  principles  of  the 
world’s  philosophy,  which  regards  this  life  as  desirable  to  be  prolonged,  and 


1857-  58.] 


COMMODORE  PAULDING. 


333 


the  next  one  to  be  feared  and  put  off.  But  with  me,  it  is  at  least  a  day  that 
brings  no  sorrow.  I  seem  to  myself  to  have  endured  enough;  done  what  was 
possible  for  one  so  weak  to  do ;  and  I  am  sure  that  I  have  no  ambition  or  ava¬ 
rice  that  demands  a  respite  from  my  fixed  appointment,  be  it  when  it  may. 
Rest,  repose,  or  a  theater  where  less  sordid  passions  might  be  developed,  in 
myself  and  others  around  me —  these  two  seem  the  chief  good.  There  is  no 
time  here  to  think  even  of  home.  Society,  with  interested  cares,  intrudes  and 
exacts  help  every  hour,  night  and  day.  I  escape  its  most  annoying  intrusions 
by  rushing  into  the  fashionable  gatherings,  but  these  consume  one. 

To  his  son  at  Albany,  he  wrote: 

January  8. 

While  the  impression  that  the  Administration  and  the  Democratic  party  are 
doomed,  is  universal,  there  is  still  great  tenacity  of  purpose  in  regard  to  the 
Lecompton  affair.  You  will  hear  little  now  of  Mr.  Pugh’s  compromise.  The 
great  card  will  be  a  demonstration  by  the#Southern  members,  if  what  I  hear 
is  true.  I  wish  we  might  have  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Diven  passed  and  sent 
to  us  without  loss  of  time.  They  would  have  a  great  effect  just  now. 

One  of  the  forms  of  pro-slavery  activity,  at  this  period,  was  that  of 
aid  and  encouragement  to  “Filibustering  Expeditions.”  Wild  and 
chimerical  as  most  of  these  were,  they  were  stimulated  by  the  hope  of 
acquiring  by  “conquest,”  or  “revolution,”  territory  in  the  West  In¬ 
dies,  or  in  Central  America,  which  could  speedily  be  made  available 
for  new  slave-holding  States.  Such  an  expedition  could  be  organized, 
armed  and  equipped,  and  embarked  upon  its  marauding  enterprise, 
with  very  little  hindrance  from  officials,  who  were  as  conveniently  blind 
or  negligent  about  the  neutrality  laws,  as  they  were  zealous  and  vigi¬ 
lant  in  executing  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  It  was  not  doubted  by 
those  engaged  in  these  expeditions,  that  they  had  the  secret  sympathy 
of  many  political  leaders,  notwithstanding  the  proclamations,  orders, 
and  warrants  of  arrest  that  were  fulminated  against  them.  Walker, 
who  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  these  adventurers,  had  landed 
in  Nicaragua,  with  about  400  men,  in  November,  1857.  Commodore 
Paulding,  of  the  Navy,  who  had  been  instructed  to  stop  him, 
arrested  him  upon  the  shore,  and  sent  him  back  to  the  United  States 
to  be  tried.  Thereupon  arose  an  outcry  against  Commodore  Pauld¬ 
ing,  for  having  “  invaded  Nicaragua.”  The  President  was  called 
upon  for  the  papers,  and  in  the  Senate  some  of  the  members  de¬ 
nounced  Paulding,  and  justified  Walker.  Seward  took  issue  upon 
both  points.  He  pointed  out  that  if  the  Commodore  had  exceeded 
his  instructions,  he  had  performed  a  meritorious  and  effective  service, 
inuring  to  the  benefit  of  Nicaragua,  as  well  as  the  United  States; 
that  Nicaragua  did  not  complain  of  his  “invading”  her  soil,  and  was 


334 


THE  ARMY  IN  UTAH. 


[1857-’ 58. 


not  likely  to.  Especially  absurd,  would  it  be  to  censure  or  punish 
Commodore  Paulding,  and  let  Walker  and  his  men  go  free. 

One  part  of  President  Buchanan’s  message  had  spoken  of  Walker’s 
Expedition  as  “violating  the  principles  of  Christianity,  morality,  and 
humanity,  held  sacred  by  all  civilized  nations,  and  by  none  more  than 
by  the  people  of  the  United  States.”  This  led  to  a  colloquy  between 
Seward  and  Jefferson  Davis.  The  latter  said: 

“We  have  contended  that  the  law  did  not  authorize  the  President  to  arrest 
people  in  a  foreign  country.” 

“Allow  me,”  replied  Seward,  “to  remind  the  honorable  Senator  that 
his  colleague  stated  that  Walker  was  guilty  of  the  violation  of  no  law,  and 
asked  us  to  show  what  law  he  had  violated.  The  President  shows  that  he 
violated  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  The  President  goes  further,  and 
quotes  a  ‘  higher  law,’  which  he  says  the  offender  has  violated.”  (Laughter.) 

“I  was  afraid,”  rejoined  Davis,  “the  President  had  got  into  ‘higher  law- 
ism,  ’  when  I  found  myself  a  little  against  him.”  (Laughter.) 

Mrs.  Seward  was  still  too  much  an  invalid,  to  participate  in  the  busy 
gayeties  of  a  Washington  winter.  He  wrote  to  his  son  and  daughter 
at  Albany: 

January  25. 

I  write  you  jointly,  because  I  am  left  in  straits.  I  am  without  any  secre¬ 
tary,  but  with  more  work  than  ever.  The  Southern  and  Democratic  opposi¬ 
tion  in  social  circles  lias  given  way,  and  society  of  all  classes  is  profuse  in  its 
courtesies.  I  need  some  one  to  act  as  and  for  Mrs.  Seward,  who  is  too  feeble 
to  visit  and  to  preside.  It  is  a  business  as  difficult  as  laborious,  and  as  con¬ 
tinuous  as  my  own,  almost,  and  nearly  as  responsible.  Whoever  does  it,  can¬ 
not  change,  session  by  session,  much  less  week  by  week.  It  is  to  be  known 
and  understood  in  society  who  she  is.  Anna  is  the  only  one  of  the  family 
who  can  do  it.  I  want  her  to  come,  stay,  and  do  it. 

There  was  a  debate  of  considerable  warmth,  in  the  Senate,  at  this 
session,  over  the  Army  Bill.  The  Mormons,  at  Salt  Lake,  had  not 
only  refused  to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  United  States  Govern¬ 
ment,  but  openly  defied  and  resisted  it.  Thereupon,  a  detachment 
of  troops  —  which  was  dignified  with  the  name  of  an  “army,”  al¬ 
though  it  had  not  men  enough  to  constitute  a  regiment  —  was  sent  out 
to  reduce  the  rebellious  settlers  to  obedience.  Of  course,  so  small  a 
force  was  not  only  laughed  at,  but  in  its  winter  journey  across  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and.  the  plains,  it  suffered  hardships  and  encoun¬ 
tered  perils.  It  was  attacked  by  the  Indians;  robbed  of  its  supplies; 
lost  its  horses  by  the  cold;  had  its  wagons  burned  by  the  Mormons; 
and,  finally,  was  so  reduced  as  to  be  hardly  able  to  defend  its  own 
camp.  The  bill  before  the  Senate  proposed  to  enable  the  President  to 
succor  and  reinforce  the  troops  in  Utah.  Most  of  the  Republicans, 


1857-56.] 


THE  ARMY  IN  UTAH. 


335 


in  view  of  the  oppression  of  the  settlers  in  Kansas  by  the  Federal  au¬ 
thority,  were  not  inclined  to  give  the  Administration  any  new  power, 
nor  to  help  the  President  “out  of  a  scrape  of  his  own  making.” 
Seward  differed  from  the  majority  of  his  own  party,  on  this  question. 
He  held  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to  support  the  Executive, 
and  the  Army,  when  menaced  with  hostilities  —  that  law  and  order 
must  be  maintained  everywhere,  regardless  of  party  feeling,  or  past 
mal-administration  —  in  short,  that  it  was  a  question  not  of  partisan¬ 
ship,  but  of  patriotism.  He  advocated  the  bill  in  several  speeches. 
In  one  he  said  of  the  Mormons: 

Having  been  unwisely  favored  by  the  Government,  with  the  appointment 
of  their  own  officers  and  the  administration  of  their  own  laws,  they  have  come 
to  regard  themselves  as  independent,  in  their  isolation,  and  to  defy  the  Gov¬ 
ernment.  It  is  with  a  view  to  save  life,«to  save  the  public  peace,  and  to 
bring  the  Territory  of  Utah  into  submission  to  the  authorities  of  the  land,  with¬ 
out  bloodshed,  I  favor  the  increase  of  force  which  is  to  be  sent  there. 

This  position  drew  down  upon  him,  not  only  censure  from  Repub¬ 
lican  presses,  and  personal  friends,  but  even  from  fellow  Republicans 
in  the  Senate.  Replying  to  some  of  these,  he  said  he  was  not  “to  be 
deterred  from  giving  an  honest  vote,”  by  any  fear  of  the  party  with 
which  he  acted.  “I  should  be  unfit  to  be  here,  if  I  had  not  learned 
to  postpone  my  own  advantage  and  their  advantage  to  the  greater  good 
of  my  whole  country.”  He  remarked  that  every  party  was  beset  by 
the  danger  of  being  drawn  into  false  collateral  issues.  Thus,  he  said, 
he  found  he  was  continually  urged  to  oppose  every  measure  of  the 
Administration,  good  or  bad,  but  that  he  was  determined  “never  to 
give  a  vote,  influenced  by  passion  or  prejudice,  against  the  interests 
and  fame  and  honor  of  my  whole  country.” 

Though  his  course  was  the  subject  of  much  animadversion,  while 
the  debate  lasted,  it  was  soon  perceived  tb  be  right,  and  received  the 
approval  of  public  opinion.  Three  years  later,  more  than  one  “War 
Democrat ”  told  him  that  his  speeches  on  the  “'Utah  Army  Bill  ” 
had  served  to  enlighten  them  as  to  their  own  duty,  to  disregard  un¬ 
patriotic  party  counsels,  and  to  stand  by  the  Government  and  the 
Union. 

He  wrote  to  his  son: 

February  5. 

The  onslaught  upon  me  was  a  breaking  out  of  discontents,  among  my  asso¬ 
ciates.  I  treated  it  with  kindness  and  without  feeling  in  my  private  conver¬ 
sation  and  bearing,  and  on  the  whole  it  has  done  no  harm,  and  much  good.  It 
needed  this  to  avert  the  tendency  of  our  party  to  make  a  false  issue  on  this 
Mormon  question.  Mormonism  belongs  to  the  brood  of  “Popular  Sover- 


336 


THE  “  LECOMPTON  ”  DEBATE. 


[1858.. 


eignty.”  Connection  with  it  does  not  seemingly  harm  the  Democratic  party. 
But  how  long  could  the  Republican  party  survive  the  clear  or  imputed  respon¬ 
sibility  for  any  disaster  on  the  Plains?  I  have  studied  the  matter  deeply,  and 
conversed  with  officers  and  others. 

Inclosing  a  request  for  suggestions  in  regard  to  a  biographical  sketcli 
of  himself  for  the  American  Cyclopaedia,  he  added: 

I  send  you  Messrs.  Appleton’s  note.  I  have  informed  them  that  I  can 
suggest  nothing,  but  that  as  you  are  to  inherit  my  name,  with  whatever  of 
good  or  evil  attaches  to  it,  you  probably  may  think  it  worth  while  to  commu¬ 
nicate  with  them. 

I  am  expecting  to  speak  on  the  Kansas  question  early  after  the  reports  of 
the  committee  come  in,  perhaps  some  day  this  week.  I  shall  send  yOu  slips 
in  advance.  Perhaps  the  captious  critics  and  censors  will  be  able  to  learn  from 
my  speech,  how  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  serve  a  party,  without  being  a  mere 
partisan. 

This  was  the  great  debate  of  the  session.  It  was  absorbing  public 
attention  at  the  Capitol  and  throughout  the  country.  When  it  was 
understood  that  Seward  was  to  speak  on  the  3d  of  March,  the  floor 
and  galleries  of  the  Senate  Chamber  were  crowded  with  listeners. 
At  the  appointed  time,  he  rose  in  his  place,  and  began  his  argument.. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

1858. 

The  “  Lecompton  Debate.”  The  Coalition  Between  President  and  Court.  The  Kansas 
Governors  and  the  People.  Southern  Utterances.  The  Crittenden  Amendment.  The 
Conference  Committee.  The  English  Bill.  A  Forecast  of  Coming  Events.  The  Fu¬ 
ture  of  Kansas 

“ Eight  years  ago,”  said  Seward,  “we  slew  the  WiJmot  Proviso  in 
the  Senate -Chamber,  and  buried  it  under  the  floors  of  the  Cajutol. 
Four  years  later,  we  exploded  the  time-honored  system  of  governing 
Territories,  and  proclaimed  in  its  stead,  a  new  gospel  of  ‘  Popular 
Sovereignty/  Yet  now  the  slavery  question,  back  again,  has  been 
raging  freely  in  our  halls,  scattering  dismay  in  both  Houses  of  Con¬ 
gress.  Thus,  an  old  and  unwelcome  lesson  is  read  to  us  anew.  The 
question  of  slavery  involves  a  struggle  of  two  antagonistical  systems,  the 
labor  of  slaves  and  the  labor  of  freemen,  for  masterv  in  the  Federal 
Union.  Such  a  struggle  is  not  to  be  arrested,  quelled,  or  reconciled, 
by  temporary  expedients  or  compromises.”  He  then  gave  a  historical 


1858.] 


THE  SUPREME  COURT. 


33? 


resume  of  that  contest.  Describing  the  opening  scene  of  Buchanan’s 
Administration,  he  said: 

The  day  of  inauguration  came,  the  first  one  among  all  the  celebrations  of  that 
great  national  pageant  that  was  to  be  desecrated  by  a  coalition  bet  ween  the  exec¬ 
utive  and  the  judicial  departments  to  undermine  the  liberties  of  the  people.  The 
President,  attended  by  the  usual  lengthened  procession,  arrived,  and  took  Ids 
seat  on  the  portico.  The  Supreme  Court  attended  him  there,  in  robes  which  yet 
exacted  public  reverence.  The  people,  unaware  of  the  import  of  the  whisper¬ 
ings  carried  on  between  the  President  and  the  Chief  Justice,  and  imbued  with 
veneration  for  both,  filled  the  avenues  and  gardens,  far  away  as  the  eye  could 
reach. 

The  President  addressed  them  in  words  as  bland  as  those  which  the  worst 
of  all  the  Roman  Emperors  pronounced,  when  he  assumed  the  purple.  He  an¬ 
nounced  the  forth-coming  extra-judicial  exposition  of  the  Constitution,  and 
pledged  his  submission  to  it  as  authoritative  and  final.  The  Chief  Justice  and 
his  associates  remained  silent.  The  Senate  too  was  there  —  constitutional  wit¬ 
nesses.  They  too  were  silent,  although  the  promised  usurpation  was  to  sub¬ 
vert  the  authority  which  Congress  had  exercised  for  nearly  seventy  years. 

The  pageant  ended.  On  the  5th  of  March  the  Judges,  without  exchanging 
their  silken  robes  for  courtiers’  gowns,  paid  their  salutations  to  the  President, 
in  the  executive  palace.  Doubtless  the  President  received  them  as  graciously 
as  Charles  the  First  did  the  Judges,  wrho  had,  at  his  instance,  subverted  the 
statutes  of  English  liberty. 

On  the  Gth  of  March,  the  Supreme  Court  dismissed  the  negro  suitor,  Dred 
Scott,  to  return  to  bondage;  and  having  thus  disposed  of  that  private  action, 
for  an  alleged  private  wrong,  on  the  ground  of  want  of  jurisdiction  in  the 
case,  they  proceeded,  with  amusing  solemnity,  to  pronounce  the  opinion  that, 
if  they  had  such  jurisdiction,  still  the  unfortunate  negro  would  have  had  to 
remain  in  bondage,  because  the  Missouri  prohibition  was  void;  and  that  by 
force  of  the  Constitution,  slavery  existed  with  all  the  elements  of  property  in 
man  over  man,  in  all  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  paramount  to  any 
popular  sovereignty  within  the  Territories,  and  even  to  the  authority  of  Con¬ 
gress  itself! 

In  this  ill-omened  act,  the  Supreme  Court  forgot  its  own  dignity.  They 
forgot  that  the  province  of  a  court  is  simply.  11  jus  dicere ,”  and  not  at  all  Uius 
dare.”  They  forgot  also,  that  one  “foul  sentence  does  more  harm  than  many 
foul  examples;  for  the  last  do  but  corrupt  the  stream,  while  the  former  cor- 
rupteth  the  fountain.” 

Narrating  then,  how  the  Lecompton  Convention  framed  a  Constitu¬ 
tion  declaring  slavery  perpetual  and  irreversible;  how  they  found  that 
if  submitted  it  would  be  rejected;  how  they  adopted  the  “pitiful  and 
wicked  juggle  ”  of  a  submission  in  form,  but  not  in  fact;”  how  Gover¬ 
nor  Walker,  unwilling  to  connive  at  it,  “remonstrated  and  appealed 
to  his  chief;”  how  he  was  overruled  and  denounced;  how  the  acting 
Governor,  F.  P.  Stanton,  showing  like  unwillingness,  was  summarily 
22 


338 


COTTON-  IS  KING. 


[1858. 


<  i 


>> 


removed;  and  how  Mr.  Denver  became  Governor,  “the  fifth  incum¬ 
bent  of  that  office  appointed  within  less  than  the  legal  term  of  one.’’ 
Then  he  told  how  the  Legislature  submitted  the  Constitution  to  a  vote, 
with  the  result  of  “a  majority  of  11,000  against  the  Constitution  in 
any  form.”  He  showed  that  the  President  of  the  Lecompton  Conven¬ 
tion  “  has  fled  the  Territory,  charged  with  the  attempt  to  procure 
fraudulent  returns,  to  reverse  the  already  declared  result;”  while  the 
President  of  the  United  States  “urges  and  implores”  from  Congress 
their  sanction  of  that  “false,  pretended  and  spurious  Constitution.” 
After  combating  the  various  arguments  adduced  on  the  pro-slavery 
side,  he  pointed  out  the  futility  of  their  hopes  in  Kansas: 

Her  whole  existence  has  been,  and  yet  is,  a  trial,  a  temptation,  a  chaos; — 
and  now  you  propose  to  make  her  nuptials  a  celebration  of  the  funeral  of  her 
freedom.  The  people  of  Kansas  are  entitled  to  that  freedom;  for  they  have 
won  it  back,  wThen  it  had  been  wrested  from  them  by  invasion  and  usurpation. 
You  are  great  and  strong,  but  you  can  never,  never  conquer  Kansas!  The  ex¬ 
pansion  of  territory  to  make  slave  States  will  only  fail  to  be  a  great  crime 
because  it  is  impracticable,  and,  therefore,  will  turn  out  to  be  a  stupendous 
imbecility.  Slavery,  wherever  and  whenever  and  in  whatsoever  form  it  exists, 
is  exceptional,  local,  and  short-lived.  Freedom  is  the  common  right,  interest, 
and  ultimate  destiny  of  all  mankind.  It  is  for  yourselves,  not  for  us,  to  decide 
how  long,  and  through  what  further  mortifications  and  disasters  tiie  contest 
shall  be  protracted. 

The  debate  over  Lecompton  elicited  able  speeches  on  both  sides  of 
the  question.  While  there  was  much  turgid  declamation,  there  were 
also  many  pithy  utterances,  which  are  even  yet  quoted  and  remem¬ 
bered.  Perhaps  the  most  forcible  and  startling  speech  on  the  South¬ 
ern  side  was  that  of  Senator  Hammond  of  South  Carolina,  who  said: 

“You  dare  not  make  war  on  cotton.  No  power  on  earth  dares  make  war 
on  it.  Cotton  is  king.  *  *  *  What  would  happen  if  no  cotton  was 
furnished  for  three  years?  I  will  not  stop  to  depict  what  every  one  can 
imagine;  but  this  is  certain:  England  w’ould  topple  headlong  and  carry  the 
whole  civilized  world  with  her,  save  the  South.” 

In  the  same  speech  he  declared  that  in  all  social  systems  there  must 
be  a  menial  class  to  “perform  the  drudgery  of  life.  This  constitutes 
the  very  mudsill  oi  society,  and  of  political  government;  and  you 
might  as  well  attempt  to  build  a  house  in  the  air,  as  to  build  either 
the  one  or  the  other,  except  on  this  mudsill.”  Saying  that  their  slaves 
were  their  “mudsills,”  he  contended  that  “the  manual  laborers  and 
operatives  ”  of  the  North  sustained  the  same  relation  to  Northern 
society,  and  w7ere  “essentially  slaves,”  the  difference  being  that  “our 
slaves  are  hired  for  life,  and  are  well  compensated  —  yours  are  hired 
by  the  day,  and  not  cared  for.”  Significantly  alluding  to  the  mil- 


1858.] 


“  LECOMPTON  ”  IN  THE  SENATE. 


330 


itary  power,  and  resources  of  the  South,  he  said  she  had  “eight  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  square  miles;  was  as  large  as  Great  Britain, 
France,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Spain.  Is  not  that  territory  enough,” 
he  asked,  “  to  make  an  empire  that  shall  rule  the  world  ?”  “  it  can 

send,"  he  asserted,  “a  larger  army  than  any  power  on  earth  can  send 
against  her,  of  men  brought  up  on  horse-back,  with  guns  in  their 
hands.” 

This  speech  gave  much  offense  to  the  workingmen  at  the  North; 
and  was  warmly  answered  in  their  behalf,  by  Senators  Hamlin  and 
Broderick.  The  latter  remarked,  that  he  himself  was  “  the  son  of  an 
artisan,  and  had  been  a  mechanic;  ”  and  that  the  Senator’s  sneer  at 
“hireling  manual  laborers  might  have  the  effect  of  arousing  in  the 
workingmen  that  spirit  which  has  b^en  lying  dormant.”  “  How 
foolish,”  he  said,  “  for  the  South  to  hope  to  contend  for  success  in 
such  an  encounter  !  Slavery  is  old,  decrepid,  and  consumptive; 
Freedom  is  young  and  vigorous.” 

In  the  House,  Mr.  Miles  of  South  Carolina  affirmed  that  “  Slavery 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  Southern  prosperity — the  very  life-blood  of 
its  existence.” 

Still  another  of  the  various  phases  of  the  Kansas  question  now  oc¬ 
curred.  Before  the  final  vote  on  “Lecompton”  was  taken  in  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Crittenden  offered  an  amendment  providing  that  the 
Constitution  should  be  again  submitted  to  the  people  of  Kansas;  and 
if  rejected,  that  a  new  Constitutional  Convention  should  be  called. 
This  was  voted  down;  and  the  bill  was  passed  33  to  25,  the  “Anti- 
Lecompton  ”  Democrats  —  Douglas,  Broderick,  Pugh  and  Stewart  — 
voting  with  the  Republicans,  as  well  as  the  “  Old  Whigs,”  Crittenden 
and  Bell.  When  the  bill  reached  the  House  of  Representatives,  the 
Crittenden  amendment  wras  again  offered,  and  carried,  by  Republican 
and  “  Anti-Lecompton  ”  votes.  Returned  to  the  Senate  thus  amended, 
that  body  rejected  it.  Both  Houses  refused  to  recede  from  their 
positions;  and  finally  a  Committee  of  Conference  was  proposed  and 
adopted.  Green,  Hunter,  and  Seward  were  appointed  on  the  part  of 
the  Senate;  English,  Stephens,  and  Howard  on  the  part  of  the  House. 
The  Chairman,  English,  reported  a  substitute,  that  was  called  a 
“compromise,”  which  in  substance  provided,  that  if  Kansas  adopted 
the  Lecompton  Constitution,  she  should  be  admitted  at  once  as'a  slave 
State;  but  if  not,  that  she  should  remain  in  her  territorial  condition, 
and  forfeit  a  large  allotment  of  public  lands.  Of  course,  the  two 
Republicans,  Seward  and  Howard,  dissented  from  the  report.  Both 
Houses,  however,  accepted  and  passed  it.  In  his  speech,  the  night 
before  its  final* passage,  Seward  said: 


340 


KANSAS  IN  THE  FUTURE. 


[1858. 


This  bill  gives  to  Kansas  the  choice  of  being  a  slave  State,  and  only  that 
choice.  The  President  declares  that  Kansas,  while  she  is  a  Territory,  is  as 
much  a  slave  State  as  South  Carolina.  The  change  you  offer  her  is,  that  if 
she  will  accept  the  Leconipton  Constitution,  she  shall  be  recognized  in  name 
and  form  as  a  slave  State,  in  lieu  of  remaining  a  slave  State  in  the  form  and 
status  of  a  Territory.  It  is,  therefore,  just  no  compromise  at  all;  it  is  only  the 
pretense  of  a  compromise. 

He  warned  the  Administration  side  that  the  scheme  "would  fail, 
both  as  regarded  Kansas,  and  as  regarded  themselves. 

There  is  to  be  no  Lecompton  State,  no  slave  State,  in  Kansas.  Nevertheless, 
you  enact  by  this  law  that  there  shall  be  a  slave  State  in  Kansas,  and  there 
shall  be  no  other.  Well,  if  you  shall  pass  the  bill  to-day,  as  you  say  you  will, 
it  will  reach  Kansas  in  about  ten  days.  In  about  ten  days  more,  the  new 
State  of  Kansas  will  be  organized  under  the  new  Leavenworth  free  State  Con¬ 
stitution,  and  about  the  7th  day  of  June,  when  you  are  impatient  to  go  home, 
Kansas  will  be  beleaguering  you  here  for  admission  as  a  free  State.  She  will 
be  telling  you  that  she  knows  nothing  about  your  projected  slave  State  within 
her  borders.  She  has  not  seen  it;  it  is  not  there  at  all.  You,  of  course,  will 
spurn  her  from  your  path,  and  will  go  home.  The  people  of  Kansas  will  then 
appeal  to  the  popular  elections  throughout  the  United  States,  which  are  to 
send  to  this  capital  twenty  new  Senators,  and  a  whole  House  of  Representa¬ 
tives,  about  the  first  Tuesday  in  November  next.  Now  I  ask  the  supporters 
of  this  bill,  about  how  many  Democratic  Senators  and  Representatives  they 
expect  will  be  returned  by  the  people?  You  will  go  before  the  people  no 
longer  in  the  character  of  a  party  that  balances  equally  between  freedom  and 
slavery,  but  in  the  detested  character  of  a  party  intervening  for  slavery 
against  freedom.  You  will  meet  in  the  elections,  not,  as  heretofore,  two  or 
three  factions,  giving  you  a  triumph  by  their  divisions,  but  one  party  only, 
and  that  party  combined,  resolute,  and  animated  by  a  sincere,  deep,  and  com¬ 
mon  devotion. 

On  the  other  hand,  you  yourselves,  no  longer  united,  will  reach  the  polls  in 
jealous  divisions,  and  under  different  standards  —  one  faction  wanting  slavery 
absolutely,  and  without  regard  to  partisan  success,  or  popular  consent;  the 
other  hesitating  and  halting  on  the  position  of  no  slavery,  anywhere,  unless 
the  people  choose  it.  You  provide  for  yourselves  a  defeat. 

Kansas  will  live  and  survive  your  persecution.  She  will  live  to  defend,  pro¬ 
tect,  and  sustain  you.  The  time  will  come  when  her  elder  sisters  —  sisters  now 
so  arrogant — Louisiana,  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania — will  repent  themselves 
of  all  the  injustice  they  have  done  to  her.  She  will  endure  the  trial  nobly,  to 
the  end,  as  she  has  borne  it  hitherto,  and  as  she  has  been  the  first,  so  she  will 
be  the  last,  to  contend  and  to  suffer.  Every  Territory  that  shall  come  into  the 
Union,  hereafter,  profiting  by  the  sufferings  of  Kansas,  will  come  into  the 
Union  a  free  State.  This  unnecessary  strife,  so  unwisely  provoked  by  slavery, 
draws  to  its  end.  The  effort  to  make  slave  States  within  our  domain  is 
against  reason  and  against  nature.  Resist  them  no  longer  ! 


1858.] 


WASHINGTON  SOCIETY. 


341 


Of  course  these  predictions  were  received  with  incredulity  at  Wash¬ 
ington.  But  the  first  echo  from  the  North  was  in  the  spring  elections, 
when  the  Republicans,  in  union  with  the  “  Anti-Lecompton”  men, 
gained  successive  triumphs.  When  under  the  provisions  of  the  English 
“  Compromise,”  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was  submitted  to  the 
people  of  Kansas,  they  promptly,  by  a  majority  of  five  to  one,  re¬ 
jected  it. 


CHAPTER  XEIV. 

1858. 

Washington  Society.  Lack  of  Police.  Common  Schools.  Myrtilla  Miner.  Two  More 
States.  Treasury  Notes.  John  Bell  and  Andrew  Johnson.  Oregon  and  Minnesota. 
Utah  and  the  Mormons.  Troubles  in  the  Gulf.  Mr.  Vinton.  Mrs.  Gaines.  Confer¬ 
ences  with  Kansas  Settlers.  The  Napiers.  Baron  Gerolt.  An  “Anti-Lecompton  ” 
Gathering.  Visits  and  Acquaintances.  A  State  Funeral.  Arranging  Personal  Dis¬ 
putes  Between  Senators.  A  Pennsylvania  Excursion .  Another  House. 

Washington  was  full  of  visitors  this  winter.  Railway  facilities 
and  important  public  issues  before  Congress,  were  every  year  bringing 
more  people  to  the  capital.  Hotels  were  filled  with  guests,  and  ex¬ 
panding  in  size.  Social  gayeties  increased.  Seward,  though  he  dis¬ 
liked  ostentation,  was  fond  of  hospitality.  Round  his  table,  or  in  his 
drawing-room,  he  liked  to  bring  together  political  friends  and  oppo¬ 
nents.  foreign  representatives,  and  strangers  from  distant  States. 
Among  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  among  the  families  residing  in 
Washington,  he  had  now  come  to  have  a  large  and  pleasant  acquaint¬ 
ance.  One  of  the  social  events  of  the  season  was  a  fancy  dress  ball  at 
the  house  of  Senator  Gfwin,  at  which  Lord  and  Lady  Napier  appeared 
in  eighteenth  century  costumes  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hamilton,  their 
earliest  predecessors  in  the  British  Legation  to  the  United  States. 

Although  the  seat  of  National  Government,  Washington  was,  as  yet, 
without  a  city  police  for  its  own  protection.  The  increase  of  popula¬ 
tion,  and  the  influx  of  strangers  was  beginning  to  be  attended  by 
crimes  and  disorders  that  rendered  the  streets  unsafe.  Seward,  advo¬ 
cating  a  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  police  force,  remarked: 

I  think  every  man  who  is  a  resident  of  the  city  can  bear  witness  that  per¬ 
sons  take  care  to  avoid  being  out  in  the  night,  exposing  themselves  to  vio¬ 
lence  and  brutality  by  offenders  who  are  at  large  in  the  city.  It  was  but  the 
night  before  last,  that  one  of  the  public  officers,  a  messenger  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  was  assassinated  in  the  open  streets,  and  at  an  early  hour  in  the 


342 


MYRTILLA  MINER. 


[1858. 


evening.  It  is  certainly  due  to  the  character  of  the  capital  of  the  country, 
that  we  should  give  this  subject  immediate  attention. 

The  project  of  public  schools  also  came  up  at  this  session  and  was 
warmly  supported  by  him.  Answering  some  of  the  arguments  against 
it,  he  described  the  peculiar  relation  held  by  Washington  to  the  rest 
of  the  country,  and  made  a  forecast  of  its  future: 

With  the  beginning  of  the  building  up  of  a  great  nation  there  was  also 
begun  necessarily  the  building  up  of  a  great  capital.  I  remember,  —  it  was 
within  my  own  time,  and  yours,  Sir, —  when  Washington  was  ridiculed  as  a 
“city  of  magnificent  distances” — a  mockery  of  a  city.  It  has  passed  from 
that  stage,  and  has  already  become  a  city  of  magnificent  edifices,  and  of  mag¬ 
nificent  gardens.  Now  as  the  nation  grows  in  strength,  and  wealth,  and  ter¬ 
ritory,  this  capital  will  necessarily  grow;  and  every  year  it  will  require  from 
Congress  the  appropriations  necessary  to  its  advancement,  until  it  shall  become 
the  finest,  the  greatest,  the  most  magnificent  capital  in  the  world. 

But  there  is  another  want  which  every  capital  on  earth  always  has  had,  and 
always  will  have, —  namely,  some  provision  for  maintaining  its  morals  and  pub¬ 
lic  virtue.  This  capital  is  no  more  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment,  or  the  welfare  of  the  country,  than  school-houses  are  for  the  education 
of  children,  at  the  seat  of  Government. 

The  schools  were  established  at  last.  But  there  was  one  educational 
enterprise  not  included  in  them,  and  looked  upon  with  much  disfavor 
by  those  who  did  not  want  to  have  “  chattels  ”  taught  to  read.  This 
was  Myrtilla  Miner’s  school  for  the  education  of  colored  children. 
Benevolent  and  self-sacrificing  as  this  work  was,  she  was  not  allowed 
to  proceed  in.it  without  opposition,  insults,  and  threats  of  mob  vio¬ 
lence.  Wilson,  in  describing  it,  says: 

Among  leading  men  and  families  of  Washington  she  found  patrons  and 
friends,  who  lent  both  countenance  and  material  aid  to  her  mission  of  love 
and  good  works.  For  even  in  those  dark  days  of  pro-slavery  violence,  there 
were  not  wanting  members  of  Congress  who  were  won  to  her  support,  by  her 
welcome  importunity  and  the  beauty  of  her  pure  and  perilous  endeavor;  while 
the  carriage  from  the  residence  of  Mr.  Seward,  often  seen  standing  before  her 
humble  school-room,  attested  the  interest  felt  in  the  work  of  the  brave  and 
heroic  woman,  by  the  wife  and  daughters  of  the  New  York  Senator. 

Two  more  States  besides  Kansas  were  at  the  doors  of  Congress  this 
session.  Oregon  presented  herself  with  a  Constitution  containing  an 
article  excluding  ’'‘persons  of  African  descent”  from  the  State. 
Seward  protested  against  this  “  un- Republican  discrimination.”  The 
majority  of  the  Senate,  however,  made  no  objection  to  it.  The  bill 
for  her  admission  was  passed  in  the  Senate,  but  did  not  get  through 
the  House  of  Representatives  until  February,  1859. 


1858.] 


SENATOR  ANDREW  JOHNSON. 


343 


Minnesota  presented  herself  with  a  free  Constitution.  Seward  ap¬ 
proved  of  this,  and  advocated  her  admission.  Both  Houses  passed  the 
bill,  and  Minnesota  was  duly  enrolled  on  the  list  of  States. 

Among  other  measures  which  Seward  advocated  at  this  session,  were 
the  improvement  of  the  Potomac  river,  in  the  vicinity  of  Washington, 
naval  movements  to  check  the  African  Slave  Trade;  the  opening  of 
the  public  lands  to  actual  settlers;  the  protection  of  emigrants  on  ves¬ 
sels  coming  to  the  United  States;  the  reorganizing  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  “  so  that  the  several  States  shall  be  represented  by  judges  in 
said  courts  more  nearly  on  the  basis  of  their  population,  while  the  ad¬ 
ministration  of  justice  shall  be  made  more  speedy  and  efficient.”  One 
of  the  topics  which  engrossed  considerable  time  was  a  proposed  issue 
of  Treasury  notes.  The  commercial  revulsion  of  the  fall  of  1857  had 
deranged  and  embarrassed  the  financial  operations  of  the  Government, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  commercial  community.  Seward  concurred  in 
the  necessity  and  propriety  of  the  issue;  but  urged  limitations  as  to 
amount,  rate  of  interest,  and  length  of  time.  Many  of  his  suggestions 
were  adopted.  He  supported  the  claim  of  Townsend  Harris  for  com¬ 
pensation  for  services  in  Japan;  and  the  resolution  for  a  medal  to 
Commodore  Paulding.  He  also  advocated  the  resolution  extending 
facilities  to  the  Turkish  Admiral  who  came  to  superintend  the  con¬ 
struction  of  a  naval  vessel  in  the  United  States.  He  urged  a  change 
in  the  location  of  the  wagon  road  to  the  Pacific,  to  give  greater  secu¬ 
rity  to  emigrants  across  the  plains;  also  the  extension  and  continuance 
of  the  Coast  Survey,  and  the  Survey  of  the  North  Pacific.  He  con¬ 
tinued  his  advocacy  of  a  railroad  across  the  continent,  and  a  telegraph 
to  Utah  and  California. 

An  incident  of  this  session  was  his  interposition  to  endeavor  to  re¬ 
store  good  understanding,  after  some  misapprehensions  arising  in 
debate  between  the  two  Senators  from  Tennessee,  John  Bell  and 
Andrew  Johnson,  both  of  whom  were  his  political  opponents,  though 
his  personal  friends.  With  Mr.  Bell,  his  intimacy  had  begun  in  old 
Whig  times;  with  Mr.  Johnson,  it  had  been  developed  by  their  accord 
in  support  of  the  Homestead  Law,  and  similar  measures.  Johnson, 
while  adhering  to  the  Democratic  party,  was  sometimes  restive  under 
the  domineering  tone  of  the  South  Carolina  leaders.  Hammond’s 
speech,  in  which  he  characterized  all  manual  laborers  as  “  slaves,” 
brought  out  an  indignant  protest  from  him. 

Seward  wrote: 

Washington,  May  19,  1858. 

I  began  the  day  yesterday  with  attendance  at  ten  on  the  Committee  of  For¬ 
eign  Relations  —  and  spent  it  until  five  in  the  Senate.  We  passed  the  bill 


344 


KANSAS  IN  CONGRESS. 


[1858. 


admitting  Oregon.  The  decision  manifested  in  regard  to  the  Mormons  has 
been  successful,  as  it  now  seems.  I  look  back  with  satisfaction  on  the  efforts 
I  made  to  save  our  cause  from  prejudice  on  that  score.  My  associates  do  not 
complain  of  my  present  demonstrations,  of  the  same  nature,  on  the  British 
aggressions  upon  our  vessels,  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

H.  B.  Majesty’s  Minister  appeared  yesterday  in  the  Senate  Chamber  on  the 
slavery  side;  and  after  holding  a  levee  largely  attended  there,  wound  up  his 
visit  with  similar  attentions  to  Mr.  Crittenden  and  myself,  on  our  side,  but 
with  this  difference  —  the  Democrats  drew  him  aside,  into  committee  rooms, 
to  drink  drams.  We  are  content  to  be  social,  without  such  extravagant  hos¬ 
pitality. 

May  20. 

Last  week  I  appointed  yesterday  for  Mr.  Vinton  to  dine  with  me;  and  con¬ 
sult  about  the  reorganization  of  the  Supreme  Court.  I  invited  Preston  King 
also.  A  broiled  shad,  with  ham  and  eggs,  made  a  simple  feast.  General  Cass 
came  in,  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  added  spirit  to  our  party.  At  eight  o’clock,  I 
had  to  meet  a  committee  from  Kansas,  and  several  other  parties,  whom  I  had 
promised  to  receive  in  the  evening.  These  visitors  fill  up  the  measure  of  my 
time  till  a  late  hour.  Next  week  there  is  a  wedding  at  Governor  Walker’s,  to 
which  I  am  bidden. 

May  21. 

Yesterday  I  dined  with  Dr.  Pyne,  Mr.  Mason,  Commodore  Shubrick,  and 
others,  as  Governor  Walker’s  guests.  In  the  evening  a  conference  at  my  house 
between  some  members  of  Congress  and  the  committee,  sent  to  us  by  the 
settlers  of  Kansas.  To-night  I  am  to  visit  Mrs.  Goddard,  who  gives  a  party 
to  Mrs.  Sigourney.  I  may  have  to  speak  on  the  Amistad  case  to-day,  where¬ 
fore  I  quit  here  to  look  over  my  old  notes. 

May  23. 

And  a  bright  glorious  morning  it  is.  I  met  Miss  Cushman  and  Miss  Steb- 
bins  at  the  wharf  yesterday,  and  conveyed  them  to  the  depot,  whence  they 
proceeded  to  Richmond. 

The  Administration  and  their  party  manifestly  mean  to  appeal  to  the  popu¬ 
lar  prejudice  against  Great  Britain,  on  the  ground  of  the  recent  transactions 
in  the  Gulf,  by  way  of  diverting  the  public  mind  from  Kansas.  The  Sen¬ 
ate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  met  yesterday,  and  are  summoned  again 
for  to-morrow.  I  have  a  delicate  case  to  manage  in  this  business,  but  I  shall 
try  to  get  through  it  safely. 

May  28. 

The  Queen’s  Birthday  Ball  was  a  brilliant  success.  All  possible  splendors 
distinguished  the  ladies’ dresses,  and  the  costumes  of  Ministers,  and  Army  and 
Navy  officers.  Not  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  persons  were  invited, 
and  these  were,  in  the  main,  very  distinguished.  The  rooms  were  comfortable, 
and  conversation  was  not  drowned  by  the  music.  I  came  away  at  twelve. 

I  invited  all  the  Anti-Lecompton  members  of  Congress  to  supper  last  night, 
together  with  most  of  the  foreign  Ministers.  Nearly  all  came  from  North, 
South,  East,  and  West,  Republicans,  “  Americans,”  and  Democrats,  and  we 


1858.] 


SOCIAL  AND  SENATORIAL. 


345 


had  a  very  joyous  time  —  the  first  winter  since  I  have  been  here  when  there 
was  absence  of  distrust,  fear,  and  constraint.  Lord  Napier  left  me  at  half-past 
one  or  two  and  I  slept  five  hours,  and  then,  after  an  early  breakfast,  I  went  to 
the  Capitol  to  attend  a  committee.  I  have  been  there  all  day. 

Sunday ,  May  30. 

I  would  rather  you  would  complain  to  me  than  grieve  over  your  troubles 
alone.  As  Greeley  said  when  John  poured  champagne  into  his  unused  glass, 
“  That’s  right.  All  that  you  put  in  there  is  warranted  not  .to  kill.” 

June  2. 

The  Senate  adjourned  at  eleven  last  night,  and  meets  at  eleven  this  morning. 
All  is  hurry,  bustle,  and  confusion.  I  manage  to  get  eight  hours1  sleep,  and  so 
far  T  get  along  very  well.  The  war-makers  against  England  are  taken  aback. 
Of  course,  the  Times  and  Evening  Post  complain  against  us,  and  denounce  us 
for  not  taking  the  British  side.  Of  course,  the  Irish  papers  and  Democratic 
ones  denounce  us,  because  those  Republican  journals  take  the  British  side.  In 
a  multitude  of  counselors  there  is  much  wisdom  doubtless,  but  many  dangers 
attend  those  who  attempt  to  profit  by  all  their  counsels. 

The  prospect  of  a  close  of  the  Mormon  campaign  without  bloodshed  is 
pleasing. 

June  4. 

I  surrendered  thirteen  hours  to  work  at  the  Capitol  —  one  to  business  at 
home.  The  Utah  war  is  over,  the  two  regiments  remitted.  I  suppose  now  my 
vote  on  the  Army  Bill  may  pass  for  a  sensible  one.  The  troubles  in  the  Gulf 
subside  about  the  same  time,  and  Congress  can  wisely  enough  go  home. 

June  7. 

I  fear  that  my  account  of  yesterday,  a  Sunday  in  Washington,  would  shock 
a  patriot  of  the  time  of  Cromwell,  if  there  were  any  such  now-a-days.  First,  as  I 
was  to  attend  a  funeral  in  the  afternoon,  was  the  agreement  with  myself  to 
abstain  from  church  in  the  morning. 

The  funeral  was  a  state  occasion,  attended  by  both  Houses  of  Congress,  the 
President  and  Cabinet  and  all  the  foreign  Ministers.  The  audience  was  not 
impressed.  There  was  a  decent  observance  of  seriousness,  until  the  last  words 
fell  from  the  preacher’s  lips,  and  then  the  vast  crowd  of  mourners  were  hur¬ 
ried  homeward  by  cabmen  in  a  general  race.  I  stopped  at  Governor  Ham¬ 
mond’s.  At  dinner  came  Lord  Napier.  The  conversation  brought  his  Lord- 
ship  to  an  explanation  that,  at  the  White  House  and  elsewdiere,  it  was  a  standing 
complaint  that  he  associated  intimately  with  me  and  you,  and  only  ceremoni¬ 
ally  with  Democrats,  a  fact  which  he  had  to  confess,  but  sturdily  rested  his 
defense  on  the  fact  that  we  liked  his  society  and  his  wife’s,  and  reciprocated 
their  visits,  which  Democrats  did  not,  etc.,  etc.  Before  we  had  gotten  through 
dinner,  came  in  the  whole  body  of  the  Republican  church  militant,  headed  by 
Murray,  Morgan,  Matteson,  Washburn.  Lady  Napier  called  at  the  door  with 
her  boys,  to  take  papa  off  at  nine,  and  I  rolled  myself  into  bed,  having  dis¬ 
charged  my  last  visitor  at  twelve. 


346 


SETTLING  PERSONAL  DISPUTES. 


[1858. 


June  8. 

Discontented  mortals  that  we  are !  Only  just  now  relieved  of  the  cold  and 
wet,  we  are  complaining  of  a  burning  atmosphere !  It  is  breakfast-time,  and  I 
am  alone  once  more.  Of  yesterday’s  election,  here,  I  know  nothing,  save  that 
my  friends  the  “Know-Nothings,”  now  becoming  Republicans,  were  beaten. 
Perhaps  it  was  best  that  they  should  be;  they  will  become  full  Republicans  a 
little  sooner. 

»  June  10. 

For  the  last  two  days  I  have  been  visited  from  breakfast  until  ten,  and  de¬ 
tained  at  the  Capitol  without  intermission  from  eleven  until  nine  or  ten,  gone 
to  bed  wearied,  and  slept  not  too  well.  The  weather  is  oppressive,  and  people 
absorbed  in  anxious  cares  are  unamiable. 

A  passage  occurred  in  the  Senate,  a  few  days  ago,  between  Jefferson  Davis 
and  Mr.  Chandler  of  Michigan.  I  appealed  to  both,  and  on  the  consent  of 
the  former,  first  given,  and  Chandler’s,  thereupon  obtained,  I  took  the  re¬ 
porter's  notes,  and  erased  all  the  offensive  matter  on  both  sides,  and  so  made 
peace. 

A  similar  passage  occurred  on  Tuesday  between  Davis  and  Benjamin.  The 
latter  challenged,  the  former  accepted.  Friends  intervened,  explanations 
were  made  in  the  Senate  yesterday,  and  peace  established. 

June  12. 

Debates  and  votes  in  the  Senate,  conference,  discussions  in  committee,  and, 
added  to  these,  the  conquering  of  the  settlement  of  a  challenge  by  Gwin  to 
Wilson,  has  occupied  me  two  days,  and  rendered  me  worthless.  But  I  shall 
soon  be  at  home. 

June  13. 

It  was  two  o’clock  when  I  found  my  pillow,  and  such  constant  labor  and 
care  have  fatigued  me. 

Nobody  can  apologize  for  insults,  but  I,  who  never  give  any.  Gwin  author¬ 
ized  me  to  suppress  the  debate,  and  dictate  the  terms  of  settlement.  Wilson 
would  be  ruined  if  the  debate  was  suppressed,  on  my  interposition;  besides. 
Rives,  the  reporter,  wouldn’t  consent  to  suppress  the  debate.  Gwin,  having 
challenged  and  been  denied  that  satisfaction,  couldn’t  ask  Wilson  to  explain 
or  retreat.  Wilson  might  explain,  but  couldn’t  offer  to  do  so  after  a  challenge 
had  been  received.  I  advised  that  I  should  offer  an  explanation,  in  his  behalf. 
Wilson’s  friends  said  that  would  ruin  him.  I  consulted  Davis  of  Mississippi. 
He  suggested  that  Wilson  should  offer  an  explanation,  the  challenge  being 
suspended.  I  drew  the  letter.  Wilson’s  friends  insisted  that  would  ruin  him. 
They  would  rather  see  him  hacked  to  pieces.  I  drew  another,  and  another, 
and  another.  But  each  one  was  destructive  to  Wilson,  to  the  Republican 
party,  and  to  myself.  Two  whole  days  I  worked  until  the  manuscript  of  con¬ 
demned  notes  would  be  enough  for  a  bonfire.  At  last  Gwun’s  patience  was 
exhausted.  A  street  assault  with  pistols,  bowie-knife,  and  all  that,  was  immi¬ 
nent.  Davis  and  I  called  in  Mr.  Crittenden.  Under  our  advice,  Wilson  and 
Gwin  stipulated  to  refer  the  matter  to  us.  We  arbitrated,  at  the  dinner-table 
in  my  house,  two  hours,  and  made  an  award. 


1858.] 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SESSION". 


347 


Here  is  my  second  composition  of  strife,  within  two  weeks,  for  my  fierce 
friends,  who,  if  I  could  only  manage  their  controversies  right,  might  win  the 
laurels  of  “chivalry,”  without  exposure  to  its  hazards. 

June  15. 

At  last  Congress  has  adjourned.  But  the  Senate  is  detained  for  a  day  or 
two.  The  cares  and  anxieties  and  severe  labor  are  over.  What  next?  Well, 
here  is  my  program.  I  am  going  this  morning  to  close  arrangements  for 
the  house  in  F.  street.  That  done,  I  shall  begin  to  make  a  disposition  as  to  * 
the  furniture.  Then  I  am  going  to  the  Senate  at  half-past  ten,  then  to  dine 
at  a  party  made  for  me  by  Mr.  Floyd,  the  Secretary  of  War.  Then  to  bed. 

I  go  at  five  to-morrow  morning,  with  Lord  Napier  and  Mr.  Sartiges,  to  Har¬ 
risburg,  Pennsylvania,  then  with  them  and»Mr.  Cameron  to  look  at  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  and  return  home,  that  is  here,  on  Friday.  By  that  time  the  Senate 
will  have  closed,  my  house  be  pretty  well  cleared,  and  as  soon  as  possible, 
therefore,  say  about  the  middle  of  next  week,  I  disperse  my  family  and  set 
out  for  home.  Details  to  be  determined  by  necessities.  And  now  to  work  at 
arranging  books  and  papers  until  ten. 

June  22. 

If  you  get  short  letters  from  me,  now,  you  must  remember,  that  I  send  let¬ 
ters  at  the  same  time  by  the  hundred,  and  speeches  by  the  thousand,  to  others. 
Yesterday  was  the  longest  day  of  all  the  year.  I  took  my  arm-chair  at  seven, 
and  left  it  only  at  seven.  At  length  we  begin  to  move,  and  our  way 
opens  before  us  with  some  distinctness.  I  have  descended  into  the  heretofore 
unfathomed  depths  of  that  basket,  and  exhausted  its  contents.  Near  all  the 
bills  are  paid.  The  coach-horses  and  driver  have  gone.  The  new  house  is 
leased,  but  to  be  repaired,  painted,  papered,  whitewashed,  and  put  in  com¬ 
plete  order  under  Catherine’s  directions;  and  she  is  to  move  in  when,  and  in 
such  way,  as  she  pleases. 

To-day  I  devote  to  getting  my  papers  arranged,  and  set  out,  probably,  to¬ 
morrow  for  home. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

1858. 

Auburn  Enterprises.  The  Methodists.  The  Atlantic  Cable  Laid.  Rejoicings.  The  Slave 
Trade.  The  Albany  Bridge  Case.  The  Fall  Elections.  Lincoln  and  Douglas.  Sew¬ 
ard’s  Rochester  Speech.  The  “  Irrepressible  Conflict.”  The  Future.  Returning  to 
Washington. 

During  this  summer,  the  improvements  at  Auburn  were  continued 
along  the  banks  of  the  0 wasco.  New  houses  were  built;  new  streets 
opened  and  graded.  As  usual,  there  were  many  summer  visitors. 

The  Methodist  Conference  was  holding  its  sessions  in  the  North 
Street  Church  —  the  clergymen,  according  to  custom,  being  entertained 


348 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE  CABLE. 


[1858. 


by  the  citizens.  At  this,  as  at  other  conferences,  there  were  strong 
anti-slavery  resolutions,  and  speeches.  Seward  had  three  or  four  of 
the  ministers  at  his  table;  and  one  evening  invited  the  whole  body  to 
his  house  and  grounds.  An  old  friend,  coming  upon  them  there, 
said  : 

“Why,  Governor,  I  thought  you  were  an  Episcopalian  !  ” 

“So  I  am/’  replied  Seward,  “in  religion;  but  in  politics,  I  rather 
think  I  am  a  Methodist. ” 

About  noon  on  the  5th  of  August  came  the  announcement  that  the 
Atlantic  cable  had  been  laid;  and  that  telegraphic  messages  had 
actually  passed  under  the  ocean  between  America  and  England.  Two 
previous  attempts  to  lay  the  cable  had  been  watched  with  the  liveliest 
interest.  But  both  had  failed;  and  when  the  Niagara  and  Aga¬ 
memnon  had  again  set  out,  freighted  with  the  wire,  to  make  a  third 
attempt,  the  enterprise  had  begun  to  be  considered  a  hopeless  one. 
Surprise  and  joy  broke  out,  all  over  the  land,  into  public  demonstra¬ 
tions.  Church  bells  were  rung;  cannon  tired;  impromptu  meetings 
held,  where  speeches  of  congratulation  were  made,  national  anthems 
played  and  sung,  and  cheering  rent  the  air.  At  Washington,  the 
Government  Departments  suspended  work,  and  the  day  became  a 
jubilee.  At  Albany,  courts  and  other  public  bodies  adjourned,  and 
their  members  went  out  into  State  street,  to  join  an  improvised  pro¬ 
cession  to  the  Capitol.  At  Andover,  a  thousand  alumni  were  gathered 
at  a  semi-centennial  dinner.  With  one  accord  they  rose  to  their  feet, 
and  sang  “  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,”  and  then  broke 
into  wild  excitement  of  cheering.  As  night  came  on,  spontaneous 
illuminations  burst  forth  in  Boston,  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Philadel¬ 
phia,  New  Orleans,  Pittsburgh,  and  dozens  of  other  towns.  At  Auburn, 
Seward  and  Governor  King,  who  happened  to  be  visiting  him,  were 
eagerly  summoned,  by  the  excited  townspeople,  to  come  out  and  speak. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  Seward  told  some  of  the  incidents  of  the 
passage  of  the  Telegraph  Bill,  through  Congress. 

Cyrus  W.  Field,  by  assiduity  and  patience,  first  secured  consent  and  condi¬ 
tional  engagement  on  the  part  of  Great  Britaiu;  and  then,  less  than  two  years 
ago,  repaired  to  Washington.  The  President  and  Secretary  of  State  individu¬ 
ally  favored  his  proposition,  but  the  jealousies  of  parties  and  sections,  in  Con¬ 
gress,  forbade  them  to  lend  it  their  efficient  aid  and  sanction.  He  appealed 
to  me.  I  drew  the  necessary  bill.  With  the  generous  aid  of  other  Northern 
representatives,  and  the  indispensable  help  of  the  late  Thomas  J.  Rusk,  a  Sen¬ 
ator  from  Texas,  that  bill,  after  a  severe  contest,  was  carried  through  the  Sen¬ 
ate  by  a  bare  majority.  It  escaped  defeat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  with 
equal  difficulty.  *  *  *  If  any  one  has  wondered  why  I,  an  extreme  North¬ 
ern  man,  lamented  Thomas  J.  Rusk,  an  equally  extreme  Southern  man,  they 


1858.] 


THE  ATLANTIC  CARLE. 


34ff 


have  here  an  explanation.  But  so  vehement  were  the  prejudices  against  Mr. 
Field,  for  what  was  then  regarded  as  presumption  and  officiousness  on  his  part, 
that  the  great  bill  w ds  only  saved,  by  his  withdrawing,  at  the  request  of  Mr. 
Rusk  and  myself,  from  the  Senate  Chamber,  its  lobbies,  and  even  from  the 
Capitol  grounds,  and  remaining  unobtrusive  and  unseen  in  his  own  lodgings. 
But  Cyrus  W.  Field  at  last,  fortified  with  capital  derived  from  New  York  and 
London,  and  with  the  navies  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  at  his 
command,  has,  after  trials  that  would  have  discouraged  any  other  than  a  true 
discoverer,  brought  the  great  work  to  a  felicitous  consummation. 

During  the  next  week,  formal  and  impressive  ceremonies  of  rejoicing 
were  held  in  the  cities,  public  and  private  buildings  were  draped  with 
flags  and  decorations,  and  streets  brilliantly  illuminated.  In  New 
York  a  display  of  fire-works  in  front  of  the  City  Hall  set  the  upper 
part  of  that  edifice  in  a  blaze,  and  it  had  a  narrow  escape  from  de¬ 
struction.  At  this  period,  when  the  telegraph  has  become  a  common 
factor  in  the  daily  life  of  the  civilized  world,  it  is  difficult  to  realize 
the  intensity  and  depth  of  the  public  feeling,  at  the  mere  announce¬ 
ment  of  the  successful  laying  of  the  cable  in  1858.  The  long  interval 
and  the  broad  ocean,  that  had  hitherto  been  inseparable  barriers  to 
foreign  intercourse,  were  suddenly  swept  away.  It  seemed  as  if  time 
and  space  were  annihilated,  and  the  Old  World  and  the  New  brought 
face  to  face. 

Writing  to  Theodore  Parker  in  July,  on  political  topics,  Seward 
said : 

I  have  got  respect  enough  for  the  arguments  of  the  ultra-slavery  writers  on 
economics  to  notice  them.  But  it  is  strangely  true  that  they  believe  what  they 
write  themselves.  Between  so  many  guides  as  we  have,  so  many  of  them 
honest,  but  unreasoning,  and  so  many  willfully  deceptive,  though  plausible,  it 
is  hard  enough  to  keep  a  vigorous,  respectable,  and  effective  political  party 
in  due  organization. 

Of  Mr.  Quincy’s  book  I  wish  to  think  well;  but  as  yet,  I  have  not  seen  it. 
Cotemporaries  will  never  justly  judge  the  dead.  There  is  a  prevalent  tone  of 
extreme  favor  or  prejudice.  It  is,  perhaps,  useless  to  try  to  correct  it  until 
after  time  shall  have  mellowed  it. 

I  am,  between  us,  meditating  a  demonstration  at  the  next  session,  for  a 
practical  and  effective  blow  by  the  Government  against  the  surreptitious  slave 
trade.  The  Government  can  now  be  forced  on  this,  since  it  has  been  excused 
from  allowing  Great  Britain  to  ‘do  our  business%in  that  way  for  us,  which,  by 
the  way,  Great  Britain  no  longer  had  the  courage  to  insist  on  doing.  Your 
speech  is  suggestive  of  effective  weapons  for  that  controversy  and  the  Dred 
Scott  case. 

Another  letter  to  an  old  friend,  remarked: 

I  sometimes  wish  that  in  my  eternal  character  of  candidate  I  might  be  effect¬ 
ually  “  killed  ”  and  ended,  according  to  the  malice  of  the  thousand  political 


350 


BRIDGING  THE  HUDSON. 


[1858. 


assassins  who  undertake  that  job  for  me  so  often.  If  I  were  thus  dead, 
I  should  enjoy  witli  you  the  pleasure  of  speculating  sometimes  on  the  wisdom 
of  those  who  manage  our  party  affairs,  escaping  generally  all  individual  re¬ 
sponsibility,  and  generally,  also,  leaving  it  to  rest  on  my  shoulders.  But  since 
this  is  not  yet  fully  allowed  to  be  my  case,  I  am  content  to  leave  you  to  grum¬ 
ble  while  I  remain  silent. 

Whatever  might  be  pleaded  for  concession  and  compromise,  on  the  former 
occasion  of  which  you  speak,  there  can  be  no  excuse  for  it  now.  The  habit  of 
compromise,  however,  like  all  others,  is  hard  to  shake  off. 

Toward  the  close  of  August  he  went  down  to  Albany  and  New  York 
to  argue  the  case  pending  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  in  re¬ 
gard  to  a  bridge  over  the  Hudson  river  at  Albany.  Up  to  this  time  the 
right  of  a  State  to  build  a  railway  bridge  across  a  navigable  stream  was 
still  a  disputed  point  —  hut  the  needs  of  commerce  were  bringing  it 
forward  for  settlement,  in  the  Federal  courts.  The  proposed  one  at 
Albany  had  a  charter  from  the  State  Legislature.  It  was  chieliy 
opposed  by  the  people  of  Troy,  who  feared  it  might  obstruct  and  injure 
the  trade  of  their  city.  The  ground  taken  by  their  counsel  was,  that 
the  construction  of  such  a  bridge  was  an  infringement  of  the  Consti¬ 
tution,  which  reserved  the  control  of  navigable  waters  to  the  General 
Government.  Seward’s  argument  traced  the  history  of  the  controversy 
and  analyzed  the  legal  theories.  He  showed  that  while  the  control  of 
the  navigable  waters  was  vested  in  the  General  Government,  that  of 
the  banks  was  reserved  to  the  State,  but  that  even  this  division  of 
power  was  apparent,  rather  than  real.  It  was  to  protect  commerce, 
that  the  Federal  Government  exercised  its  power  over  the  river;  and 
it  was  to  promote  commerce  that  the  State  Government  was  proposing 
to  bridge  it.  He  conceded  that  the  Federal  rights  and  the  interests 
of  navigation  must  be  jealously  guarded,  by  making  the  bridge  high 
enough  for  small  craft  to  pass  under  it,  and  with  a  draw  to  allow  the 
largest  to  freely  pass  through.  And  yet,  after  all,  the  volume  of  traffic 
which  would  pour  across  the  bridge  would  be  vastly  greater  than  that 
carried  under  it.  t  In  conclusion,  he  remarked: 

An  empire  of  free,  educated,  emulous,  self-governing  men  —  the  first  of  such 
empires  that  the  world  has  known  —  is  forming  itself  here  to  cover  the  conti¬ 
nent.  The  State  of  New  York  is  the  chief  architect  of  the  whole  system.  She 
it  is  who  has  stretched  out,  and  still  goes  stretching  out  artificial  highways  of 
water,  and  artificial  highways  over  land,  all  of  which  practically  radiate  from 
this  one  great  center,  and  extend  so  as  to  grasp,  and  conduct  through  this 
valley,  the  trade  and  travel  of  the  continent  —  a  system  of  highways  that  will 
not  be  left  incomplete,  but  will,  at  no  distant  day,  connect  the  Pacific  with  the 
Atlantic  coast.  Albany  and  Troy  stand  just  at  the  gate  where  these  great  con¬ 
tinental  floods  of  trade  and  travel  reach  the  Hudson  river,  and  separate.  The 


1858.] 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


351 


projected  bridge  at  Albany  will  be  no  isolated  structure,  but  a  part  of  a 
whole  system,  to  relieve  the  pressure  upon  that  important  gate.  It  will  be, 
not  for  our  own  lives,  but  for  centuries. 

The  doctrine  he  advocated  was  accepted  by  the  courts,  and  has 
since  become  a  settled  legal  principle.  Not  only  the  Albany  bridge, 
but  many  others  have  been  erected  in  accordance  with  it. 

Soon  after,  Lord  and  Lady  Napier,  and  M.  Sartiges  spent  a  few  days 
at  Auburn,  and  then  Seward,  with  some  of  his  family,  went  with  them 
to  Niagara  Falls.  But  this  pleasure  trip  was  cut  short  by  urgent  re¬ 
quests  to  “take  the  stump  ”  for  the  Republican  ticket  in  the  political 
campaign.  The  Republicans  throughout  the  North  were  at  last  united 
and  vigorous.  The  persistent  attempt  to  force  slavery  into  Kansas  had 
drawn  party  lines  more  sharply,  and  added  to  the  growing  strength  of 
the  new  organization.  The  “American*7  party  was  no  longer  a  for¬ 
midable  competitor,  and  was  making  overtures  for  “fusion.77  In 
Illinois,  Lincoln’s  nomination  for  United  States  Senator  had  been 
followed  by  the  joint  debate  between  him  and  Douglas,  which  was 
attracting  national  attention  and  interest. 

In  New  York,  Edwin  D.  Morgan  had  been  nominated  for  Governor 
and  Robert  Campbell  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  by  the  Republicans, 
at  a  convention  which  unqualifiedly  indorsed  Seward’s  senatorial 
course. 

Seward  spoke  at  Auburn,  at  Rome,  and  other  places.  But  the  chief 
and  most  important  of  his  speeches  in  this  campaign  was  that  at 
Rochester,  which  has  since  acquired  historical  importance.  Its  lead¬ 
ing  thought,  elaborated  and  enforced  by  illustration,  was  this: 

Our  country  exhibits,  in  full  operation,  two  radically  different  political  sys¬ 
tems;  the  one  resting  on  the  basis  of  servile  or  slave  labor,  the  other  on  the 

basis  of  voluntary  labor  of  freemen.  *  *  *  Hitherto,  the  two  systems 

* 

have  existed  in  different  States,  but  side  by  side,  within  the  American  Union. 
These  antagonistic  systems  are  continually  coming  into  closer  contact,  and 
collision  results.  Shall  I  tell  you  what  this  collision  means?  They  who  think 
it  is  accidental,  unnecessary,  the  work  of  interested,  or  fanatical  agitators,  and 
therefore  ephemeral,  mistake  the  case  altogether.  It  is  an  irrepressible  con¬ 
flict  between  opposing  and  enduring  forces;  and  it  means  that  the  United 
States  must  and  will,  sooner  or  later,  become  either  entirely  a  slave-holding 
nation,  or  entirely  a  free-labor  nation.  It  is  the  failure  to*  apprehend  this 
great  truth,  that  induces  so  many  unsuccessful  attempts  at  final  compromise 
between  the  slave  and  free  States;  and  it  is  the  existence  of  this  great  fact, 
that  renders  all  such  pretended  compromises,  when  made,  vain  and  ephemeral. 

When  this  speech  was  reported,  and  spread  abroad  by  the  press,  it 
became  the  subject  of  excited  comment.  Its  phrase  of  “An  irre- 


352 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


[1858. 


(( 


pressible  conflict,"  was  seized  upon  as  a  point  for  attack  and  denuncia¬ 
tion,  hardly  inferior  to  that  which  greeted  his  California  speech  in 
1850.  It  was  hotly  denied  that  any  such  conflict  existed.  It  was  as¬ 
serted  that  while  there  was  no  such  conflict,  Seward  with  other  “agi¬ 
tators”  were  trying  to  foment  one,  and  to  array  a  peaceful  people  into 
two  warring  factions.  “Wicked,”  “malicious,”  “treasonable,” 
“black  Republican,”  “ negro-worshiping,”  “vile,”  and  “vicious” 
were  but  a  few  of  the  epithets  hurled  at  him  by  opposing  journals 
and  orators.  The  author  of  such  an  idea  as  an  “irrepressible  con¬ 
flict”  in  the  United  States  was  a  fit  subject  for  anathema  marayiatlia. 
Yet  the  idea  was  not  a  novel  one,  in  Seward’s  mouth.  It  had  recurred 
again  and  again,  in  his  speeches,  during  the  preceding  ten  years. 
Even  the  words  with  which  he  clothed  it  were  hardlv  different,  or 
stronger,  than  those  of  his  previous  utterances.  At  Cleveland  in  1848; 
in  the  Senate  Chamber  in  March,  1850;  again  in  the  same  place  in 
July  of  the  same  year;  again  in  1854,  on  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise;  twice  again  in  the  same  debate;  then  again  at  Buffalo  in 
1855,  and  at  Auburn  in  1856,  in  phrases  almost  identical;  and  finally, 
in  the  debate  over  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  in  March,  1858. 
That  the  reiteration  of  his  oft-expressed  thought  at  Rochester,  in 
October,  should  provoke  such  a  storm  of  censure  is,  however,  explain¬ 
able.  Hitherto,  while  it  was  accepted  and  believed  by  those  who  fol¬ 
lowed  his  political  teachings,  it  had  fallen  among  his  opponents,  upon 
unheeding  ears  and  incredulous  minds.  But  now,  at  last,  the  country 
was  beginning  to  wake  up  to  the  gravity  of  the  crisis;  and  when  he 
pointed  to  the  “irrepressible  conflict,”  he  was  formulating,  in  clear 
words,  a  vague  and  unwilling  belief  that  was  creeping  over  every  in¬ 
telligent  Northern  mind.  As  the  poet  is  most  successful  when  he 
can  give  utterance  to  the  shadowy,  popular  thought,  so  the  prophet 
finds  readiest  belief  when  he  announces  the  fact,  which  his  hearers 
were  almost,  but  not  quite,  ready  to  apprehend.  He  closed  this  Roch¬ 
ester  speech  with  a  forecast  of  the  future  of  the  Republican  party  : 

At  hist  the  Republican  party  has  appeared.  It  avows  now,  as  the  Republi¬ 
can  pajjty  of  1800  did,  in  one  word  its  faith  and  its  works—  “  equal  and  exact 
justice  to  all  men.”  I  know,  and  you  know,  that  a  revolution  has  begun. 
Twenty  Senators  and  a  hundred  Representatives  proclaim  in  Congress  to-day, 
sentiments  and  opinions,  and  principles  of  freedom,  which  hardly  so  many 
men,  even  in  this  free  State,  dared  to  utter  in  their  homes  twenty  years  ago. 
While  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  all  that  time  surrender¬ 
ing  one  plain  and  castle  after  another  to  slavery,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  been  no  less  steadily  and  perseveringly  gathering  together  the 
forces  with  which  to  recover  back  again  all  the  fields,  and  all  the  castles  which 
have  been  lost. 


1858.] 


THE  ELECTION'S  AND  THE  SPEECH. 


353 


The  elections  resulted  in  a  Republican  triumph  in  New  York,  and 
nearly  all  the  Northern  States.  Morgan  was  elected  Governor  by  a 
large  majority.  A  Republican  Legislature  was  chosen,  and  all  but 
four  of  the  members  of  Congress  elected,  were  either  Republicans,  or 
<(  Anti-Lecompton  ”  men.  Among  them  were  Reuben  E.  Fenton, 
Elbridge  G.  Spaulding,  Silas  M.  Burroughs,  Augustus  Frank,  Alfred 
Ely,  Charles  B.  Sedgwick,  Roscoe  Conkling,  Clark  B.  Cochrane, 
Francis  E.  Spinner,  Abram  B.  Olin,  Charles  II.  Van  Wyck,  John  H. 
Reynolds,  and  others  whose  names  have  gained  State  or  national 
prominence.  Like  successes  in  other  States  attested  how  “Eecomp- 
ton  ”  had  damaged  its  authors.  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Min¬ 
nesota  for  the  first  time  gave  Republican  majorities.  The  New  Eng¬ 
land  States,  as  well  as  Ohio,  Michigan,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin,  which 
were  already  Republican,  increased  their  vote.  Even  Indiana  elected 
a  majority  of  Republicans  in  her  congressional  delegation.  In  Illinois, 
the  result  was  close,  Douglas  gaining  a  small  majority  in  the  Legisla¬ 
ture.  Of  the  free  States,  only  California  and  Oregon  stood  by  the 
Administration. 

Seward  remained  at  Auburn  for  a  fortnight,  to  close  up  his  affairs 
there  before  going  to  Washington  for  the  winter.  ‘Writing  to  George 
E.  Baker,  after  the  election,  he  said: 

I  did  not  know  how  useful  the  speech  was  to  be,  until  I  read  a  letter  from 
Theodore  Parker  last  night. 

And  on  the  same  day,  he  wrote  to  Theodore  Parker: 

It  rejoiced  a  large  gathering  of  good  men,  who  were  spending  the  evening 
of  Thanksgiving  Day  with  me,  when  the  coming  in  of  your  letter  gave  us  the 
welcome  information  of  the  restoration  of  your  health. 

In  the  cities,  the  Republican  party  having  cowered  before  the  “Know- 
Nothing”  movement,  instead  of  resisting  it  defiantly  from  the  first,  as  they 
ought  to  have  done,  have  been  trying  to  propitiate  them,  and  negotiate  with 
them,  to  the  great  scandal  of  that  portion  of  the  party  that  lives  off  the  side¬ 
walks.  It  was  apparent  to  me  that  the  only  danger  in  our  v7ay,  in  the  recent 
election,  wTas  that  this  disgust  might  keep  back  the  Republican  hosts,  or  di¬ 
vide  them.  To  the  end  of  arresting  this  tendency,  I  discoursed  at  Rochester, 
Rome,  Oswego,  and  here,  on  the  key  that  is  familiar  to  the  people  of  the  rural 
districts.  Not  one  of  them  dreamed  more  than  I  did,  that  this  was  a  new,  or  a 
bolder  piece  of  composition,  than  they  had  learned  and  loved  for  many  years. 
I  have  great  satisfaction  in  witnessing  the  contest  that  the  slave-retainers  have 
raised  about  it.  Congress  will  not  have  been  a  month  in  session,  before  the 
action  of  the  Democrats  will  justify  all  my  charges,  and  render  my  position  as 
manifestly  necessary,  as  I  am  sure  it  is  just.  • 

I  see,  at  last,  Massachusetts  coming  about.  Charles  Francis  Adams  brought 
into  Congress  at  last!  I  proposed  to  our  Central  Committee  to  go  to  his  dis¬ 
trict  to  help,  but  they  told  me  they  had  ascertained  that  he  was  safe,  and  that 
my  efforts  were  more  necessary  near  home. 

23 


354 


STORY  OF  THE  AMISTAD. 


[1 858-’ 59. 


CHAPTER  XL VI. 

1858-1859. 

Another  Residence.  Story  of  the  “Amistad.”  An  Unpublished  Speech.  The  Pacific 
Railroad.  Leaving  the  Old  Senate  Chamber.  The  “  Thirty  Million  Bill.”  Cuba  and 
the  United  States.  The  Kansas  “Free  State”  Constitution.  The  African  Slave 
Trade.  Threats  of  Secession .  The  Napier  Ball.  The  Homestead  Bill.  “Slaves  for 
Slave-holders,  or  Homes  for  Freemen?”  The  Overland  Mail  Route.  The  Special 
Session.  A  Visit  to  Europe.  Departure  and  Farewell. 

The  new  residence  on  F.  street  was  a  three-story  brick  house,  hav¬ 
ing  rooms  on  the  ordinary  city  plan,  with  an  “  extension  ”  in  the  rear 
containing  a  dining-room.  It  was  conveniently  located  near  the  busi¬ 
ness  center  of  the  town.  The  front  room  of  the  basement  was  occu¬ 
pied  as  a  study  or  office,  and  was  soon  overflowing  with  papers  and 
documents.  His  youngest  son  this  winter  accompanied  him  to  Wash¬ 
ington,  as  his  private  secretary. 

One  of  the  first  measures  that  came  up,  on  the  assembling  of  Con¬ 
gress,  was  the  bill  in  regard  to  the  Amistad.  Seward  moved  its 
postponement,  and  prepared  to  oppose  it  in  debate.  Very  soon,  how¬ 
ever,  its  supporters,  finding  that  they  had  already  a  sufficiently  heavy 
load  of  pro-slavery  legislation  to  carry,  wisely  concluded  to  let  it  drop. 

The  storv  of  the  Amistad  is  a  veritable  romance  of  the  sea,  now 
fallen  out  of  popular  remembrance.  It  may  be  recounted  here  from 
the  notes  of  Seward’s  unpublished  speech: 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1839,  the  Pecora,  a  schooner  which  bore  the  Portu¬ 
guese  flag,  cast  anchor  in  an  obscure  port  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  A  band  of 
armed  men,  issuing  from  her,  kidnapped  and  carried  away  from  the  shore 
fifty-two  natives,  including  several  women  and  children.  All  of  these  persons 
spoke  the  rude  dialect  of  an  African  tribe,  and  recited  Arabic  prayers,  from 
the  ritual  of  the  Mohammedan  faith. 

After  a  voyage  marked  by  the  well-known  sufferings  of  the  slave  ship,  these 
captives  were  landed  in  Havana,  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  immediately  con¬ 
fined  in  a  barracoon,  or  jail.  *  *  *  They  were  then  sold  by  the  mercantile 

house  of  Martinez  and  Company  —  three  of  them  to  Pedro  Montez,  and  the 
others  to  Jose  Ruiz  —  with  full  knowledge,  on  their  part,  that  the  prisoners 
were  “Bozal  negroes,”  and  not  “ Ladinoes,”  as  the  domestic  slaves,  recog¬ 
nized  by  Spanish  laws  in  that  island,  are  called.  Montez  and  Ruiz  were 
planters,  who  dwelt  at,  or  near,  Puerto  Principe.  *  *  * 

On  the  28th  of  June,  the  schooner  Amistad ,  chartered  for  the  purpose,  sailed 
for  Puerto  Principe,  carrying  the  fifty-two  captive  negroes,  together  with 
Montez  and  Ruiz  as  passengers.  *  *  *  The  savages  had  already  learned  that 

-their  Christian  oppressors  had  no  suffering  in  reserve  for  them  greater  than  the 
continuance  of  life  itself  in  bondage.  On  the  first  of  July,  while  they  were  yet 
close  upon  the  eastern  coast  of  Cuba,  they  rose  to  the  appeal  of  Cinque,  a 


185S-’59.] 


STORY  OF  THE  AMISTAD. 


355 


brave  and  athletic  leader,  slew  the  captain  and  cook,  who  resisted  them,  put 
the  seamen  ashore  in  the  small  boat,  retained  Antonio,  whose  African  descent 
pleaded  in  his  behalf,  and  spared  the  lives  of  Montez  and  Ruiz,  on  their  agree¬ 
ment  to  direct  the  vessel  eastward  and  deliver  the  insurgents  upon  the  coast 
of  Africa.  Montez  and  Ruiz,  in  the  daylight  of  sixty  long  summer  days,  un¬ 
willingly  steered  the  coaster  on  an  eastern  course,  as  they  had  under  such  fear¬ 
ful  circumstances  engaged  to  do;  but  in  the  night-time,  knowing  that  the 
barbarians  were  ignorant  of  the  guidance  offered  to  all  mariners  by  the  com¬ 
pass  and  the  stars,  they  treacherously  bore  away  to  the  northward.  By  these 
varying  courses  they  brought  up  at  last  near  Montauk  Point,  on  the  shore  of 
Long  Island,  perhaps  to  the  equal  surprise  of  the  impressed  pilots,  the  igno¬ 
rant  mutineers,  and  the  peaceful  inhabitants  o'f  that  cultivated  coast.  Urged 
by  the  common  want,  twenty  of  the  Africans,  leaving  all  the  women  and 
children  on  board,  went  ashore  to  beg  of  white  men,  their  natural  enemies, 
water  and  bread.  During  their  absence,  Captain  Gedney,  of  the  United  States 
Navy  on  board  the  brig  Washington ,  engaged  in  the  Coast  Survey,  discovered 
and  hailed  the  Amistacl ,  and  at  the  request  of  Montez  and  Ruiz,  seized  and 
secured  the  Africans  who  were  on  board,  as  he  afterward  secured  the  shore 
party  on  its  return,  and  conducted  them  all,  with  the  schooner,  into  the  port 
of  New  London.  There  they  were  delivered  into  custody  of  a  Marshal  of  the 
United  States,  to  await  judicial  investigation.  *  *  *  The  Americans,  who 

had  aided  in  the  recapture  of  the  schooner,  now  put  in  a  claim  for  salvage. 
Montez  and  Ruiz  appealed  to  the  United  States  Government  for  its  aid  in  se¬ 
curing  their  negro property.’’  *  *  *  The  Cuban  owners  of  th e  Amistacl 

claimed  her  restoration  to  themselves.  Her  Catholic  Majesty  assumed  the  case 
'  of  Montez  and  Ruiz  as  her  own,  and  demanded  of  the  United  States  that  the 
Africans  should  be  surrendered  as  slaves,  without  reservation,  detention,  or  hin¬ 
drance.  Her  Protestant  Majesty  of  Great  Britain  took  a  very  different  viewr  of 
that  transaction.  She  not  only  remonstrated  with  her  Royal  Sister  of  Spain 
against  that  demand,  but  insisted  on  her  punishing  Montez  and  Ruiz  aspirates, 
and  instructed  the  British  Minister,  residing  here,  to  invoke  the  good  offices 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  behalf  of  the  Africans,  and  to  en¬ 
deavor  to  secure  to  them  “  that  liberty  of  which  they  were  deprived.”  *  *  * 

The  President  of  the  United  States  at  first  affected  neutrality,  but,  soon 
afterward,  openly  intervened,  and  by  his  attorneys  urged  that  the  Africans 
should  be  condemned  as  slaves  and  returned  to  Montez  and  Ruiz.  Confident 
of  success  in  this  appeal  to  the  court,  he  kept  a  national  ship  at  anchor  near 
the  scene  of  the  trial,  ready  to  receive  the  captives  and  convey  them  back  to 
Cuba,  there  to  be  consigned  to  bondage.  *  *  * 

The  Federal  Judiciary,  however,  maintained  not  only  its  independence  but 
its  fidelity  to  truth  and  justice.  First,  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of 
Connecticut,  then  the  Circuit  Court  sitting  within  the  same  district,  on  ap¬ 
peal,  and  lastly,  the  Supreme  Court  at  this  capital,  finally  reviewing  the  whole 
subject,  overruled  alike  the  claims  of  the  pretended  salvors,  and  even  those  of 
Montez  and  Ruiz,  notwithstanding  the  intervention  of  the  Court  of  Spain  and 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  decided,  in  effect,  that  the  captives  of 


356 


THE  PACIFIC  RAILROAD.  • 


[1858-  59. 


the  Amistad  were  guiltless  and  injured  freemen,  entitled  to  liberty  by  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  and  by  the  laws  of  nations.  *  *  * 

Benevolent  citizens  received  them  at  the  prison  doors,  with  acclamations  and 
thanks  to  God  for  their  deliverance  from  so  many,  and  so  great  perils;  and 
placing  them  on  board  a  vessel  prepared  for  that  purpose,  sent  them  back  in 
safety  to  their  native  shores. 

This  is  the  short  and  simple  story  of  the  Africans  of  the  Amistad.  It  proves 
that  the  human  heart  can  be  more  treacherous  than  the  irresponsible  winds, 
and  that  things  are  sometimes  found  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  which  are  more 
wonderful  than  even  the  rayless  mysteries  which  it  conceals.  Had  those  captives 
been  white  men,  the  American  people  would  have  agreed,  with  the  whole 
world  beside,  in  approving  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Amistad  case  would  have  been  at  an  end.  But  they  were  not 
white  men,  and  hence  arose  an  appeal  from  that  judgment,  although  it  has 
long  since  been  executed.  The  bill  now  before  the  Senate,  brought  in  at  the 
instance  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  proposes  to  pay  Montez  and 
Buiz  the  estimated  value  of  the  captives  of  the  Amistad,  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  slaves,  wrongfully  set  at  liberty  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  It  is,  therefore,  in  fact,  what  I  have  already  called  it,  an  appeal  from 
the  Supreme  Court  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Such  a  recital  of  the  facts  of  the  case  ought  to  have  insured  the  de¬ 
feat  of  the  bill,  and  perhaps  would  have  done  so.  Possibly  its  movers 
feared  to  face  the  narration.  At  all  events  the  bill  was  not  called  up, 
and  the  speech  was  never  made. 

The  Pacific  Kailroad  Bill  was  again  discussed,  and  Seward  renewed 
his  advocacy  of  it  in  several  speeches.  In  the  discussion  of  the  various 
questions  of  detail,  he  favored  amendments  providing  the  rails  should 
be  of  American  manufacture,  and  that  the  road  should  end  at  San 
Francisco.  He  thought  that  instead  of  giving  the  public  lands  to  a 
company  to  build  the  road,  it  would  be  wiser  to  employ  the  capital 
and  credit  of  the  Union  in  building  the  road,  and  throw  open  the  land 
to  actual  settlers.  Finally,  in  answering  some  of  the  objections  of 
opponents,  he  remarked : 

It  is  said  that  the  road  will  cost  a  hundred  or  more  millions,  and  will  be 
worthless,  when  it  is  made,  because  it  will  not  be  self-sustaining.  This  road  for 
the  present  is  to  be,  chiefly,  a  road  which  will  have  three  purposes;  the  first,  the 
conveyance  of  mails,  thus  making  it  a  postal  road;  second,  the  conveyance  of 
the  armies,  and  the  military  and  naval  stores  of  the  United  States,  to  the  Pa¬ 
cific  States;  third,  the  introduction  and  establishment  of  society  in  the  re¬ 
cesses  of  the  continent.  For  one,  I  believe  that  society  will  be  permanently 
organized  and  maintained  in  peace,  in  the  interior  of  the  continent,  and  that 
union  will  not  be  perfected  between  the  East  and  the  West  until  we  shall 
have  completed  this  bond  of  connection. 

Early  in  January,  1859,  the  new  Senate  Chamber,  in  the  extension 


1858-’ 59.] 


LEAVING  THE  OLD  CHAMBER. 


357 


of  the  Capitol  which  had  been  some  years  in  progress,  under  the  di¬ 
rection  of  Captain  Meigs,  was  announced  to  be  ready  for  occupancy. 
Before  proceeding  thither,  Mr.  Crittenden,  who  was  the  senior  in 
official  service,  made  a  brief  speech,  recalling  the  memories  that  were 
associated  with  the  old  hall.  His  allusions  to  historic  scenes,  and  old 
companions,  “in  parting  from  this  Chamber,”  which  “had  known 
us  so  long,  and  is  to  know  us  no  more  forever,”  were  full  of  feeling. 
The  Vice-President  followed  in  a  more  elaborate  address;  and  then 
the  Senate,  preceded  by  its  officers,  passed  out  through  the  long  cor¬ 
ridor,  and  entered  into  possession  of  its  new  Chamber.  A  prayer  was 
offered  by  the  Chaplain;  the  Chair  rapped  to  order,  and  business  in 
the  new  hall  was  inaugurated  by  the  presentation  of  petitions  and 
reports. 

One  of  the  chief  topics  of  debate  this  winter  was  Senator  Slidell’s 
bill,  placing  $30,000,000  in  the  President’s  hands  to  “  facilitate  the 
acquisition  of  Cuba.”  The  Administration  favored,  and  urged  it. 
Southern  Senators  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  that  they  sought  the  an¬ 
nexation  because  it  would  increase  the  number  and  strength  of  slave¬ 
holding  States. 

The  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  reported  in  favor  of  the  scheme. 
Seward,  who  was  on  that  committee,  presented  a  minority  report. 
Debate  followed,  which  was  continued  during  several  weeks.  In  the 
course  of  it,  he  took  occasion  to  define  his  own  position: 

We,  who  have  disputed  so  earnestly,  year  after  year,  over  the  question 
whether  slavery  shall  be  introduced  into  Kansas,  are  expected  by  the  Presi¬ 
dent  to  allow  him  to  determine  for  the  North  and  for  the  South,  at  his  own 
pleasure,  the  terms  and  conditions  upon  which  Cuba  shall  be  annexed.  Cuba, 
in  the  language  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  “gravitates  to  the  United  States,  as 
the  apple  yet  hanging  on  its  native  trunk,  gravitates  to  the  earth  which  sus¬ 
tains  it.”  Yet  it  certainly  is  true  that  the  time  and  opportunity  do  not  now 
serve,  in  my  judgment,  any  more  than  they  have  served  for  the  last  sixty 
years.  We  may  be  nearer,  as,  indeed,  I  doubt  not  we  are,  to  the  acquisition 
of  Cuba;  but  we  have  not  arrived  at  the  point  at  which  the  acquisition  can 
be  made  consistently  with  peace,  prudence,  justice,  and  the  national  honor. 

He  wrote  to  Weed: 

January  17. 

Contrary  to  what  1  have  expected,  the  Democracy  have  concluded  to  make 
a  party  test  of  the  $30,000,000  appropriation,  to  purchase  Cuba.  I  do  not 
think  they  indulge  the  least  hope  of  getting  it;  but  it  is  a  desperate  expedient 
to  retrieve  fortunes  they  conceived  to  be  ruined . 

During  the  first  week  in  January,  lie  presented  the  memorial  of 
“  the  people  of  Kansas,  assembled  in  Constitutional  Convention,  at 


358 


THE  NAPIER  BALL. 


[1858-’59 . 


Leavenworth,”  for  admission  to  the  Union.  It  was  accompanied  by 
the  Constitution,  and  the  evidence  of  its  adoption,  by  the  citizens,  at 
an  election  duly  held.  But  the  pro-slavery  men  were  not  yet  ready 
to  give  up  the  struggle. 

Another  question  which  Seward  was  determined  to  press,  and  to 
which  the  majority  were  determined  to  turn  a  deaf  ear,  was  that  of 
the  African  slave  trade.  Recent  attempts  to  renew  it  had  been  made; 
some  of  which  had  been  successful.  He  offered  resolutions,  and  in¬ 
troduced  a  bill  to  promote  greater  efficiency  in  suppressing  the  nefa¬ 
rious  traffic.  But  those  who  were  engaged  in  increasing  the  number 
of  slave  States  were  not  inclined  to  take  any  steps  to  decrease  the 
number  of  slaves. 

A  significant  utterance  by  one  of  the  Southern  Senators,  in  the 
course  of  this  debate,  attracted  little  attention  at  the  time,  though 
afterward  remembered.  He  said: 

The  election  of  a  Northern  President,  upon  a  sectional  and  anti-slavery  issue, 
will  be  considered  cause  enough  to  justify  secession.  Let  the  Senator  from 
New  York  (Mr.  Seward),  or  any  other  man  avowing  the  sentiments  and 
policy  enunciated  by  him  in  his  Rochester  speech,  be  elected  President  of  the 
United  States,  and,  in  my  opinion,  there  are  more  than  one  of  the  Southern 
States  that  would  take  immediate  steps  toward  separation.  And,  sir,  I  am 
free  to  declare  here,  in  the  Senate,  that  whenever  such  an  event  shall  occur, 
for  one,  I  shall  be  for  disunion  ! 

Lord  Napier  had  now  received  information  from  the  Foreign  Office 
that  he  was  to  be  transferred  to  The  Hague,  and  that  Lord  Lyons 
would  be  his  successor,  in  the  British  Legation  at  Washington. 
Genial  and  hospitable,  as  well  as  an  accomplished  diplomatist,  he  had 
made  many  friends  during  his  brief  sojourn  in  the  country.  Both  he 
and  Lady  Napier  were  much  liked,  and  the  news  of  their  departure 
was  received  with  unaffected  regret.  As  ah  evidence  of  the  regard  in 
which  they  were  held,  a  ball  was  given  in  their  honor,  at  Willard’s, 
on  the  17th  of  February,  the  anniversary  of  the  ratification  of  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  after 
the  War  of  1812.  The  ball  was  a  brilliant  and  long- remembered  social 
event.  Three  hundred  guests  wTere  invited;  and  among  the  managers 
were  Senators  Crittenden,  Seward,  Mason,  Cameron,  Wilson,  Jefferson 
Davis,  Douglas,  Gwin,  Z.  Chandler,  and  Hammond,  Speaker  Orr  and 
Messrs.  Washburn,  Pendleton,  Clark  and  Blair  of  the  House,  Captains 
Wilkes  and  Maury  of  the  Navy,  Professors  Bache  and  Henry,  while 
the  citizens  were  represented  by  Messrs.  Seaton,  Reverdy  Johnson, 
Corcoran,  Vinton,  Taylor,  Ledyard,  Hodge,  and  others.  Many  invited 
guests  from  New  Y^ork  and  other  cities  came  to  attend  it. 


1853-’59.J 


HOMESTEADS  OR  SLAVES? 


359 


On  the  same  day,  the  Homestead  Bill,  which  had  passed  the  House, 
came  up  for  consideration  in  the  Senate.  In  the  lower  House  only 
three  Southern  members  had  voted  for  it.  The  Northern  Democrats 
were  divided,  and  the  Republicans  united,  in  its  favor.  In  the  Sen¬ 
ate,  it  found  one  sturdy  Southern  Democratic  defender,  in  Andrew 
Johnson  of  Tennessee.  The  rest  of  the  Southern  Senators  voted 
against  it;  but,  with  the  help  of  some  of  the  Northern  Democrats,  the 
Republicans  carried  it  through  the  preliminary  stages.  Then  it  was 
opposed  by  a  motion  from  the  Administration  side,  to  take  up  the 
Cuba  Bill.  The  debate  was  protracted.  On  the  night  of  the  25th 
Seward  said: 

+ 

The  Senate  may  as  well  meet,  face  to  face,  the  issue.  It  is  an  issue  between 
these  two  questions.  One,  the  Homestead  Bill,  is  a  question  of  homes,  of 
lands  for  the  landless  freemen  of  the  United  States.  The  other,  the  Cuba 
Bill,  is  the  question  of  slaves  for  the  slave-holders  of  the  United  States. 

For  that  very  reason,  however,  the  majority  adhered  to  the  Cuba 
project  and  postponed  the  Homestead  Bill;  so  that  it  did  not  reach  a 
vote  before  the  end  of  the  session.  Few  other  matters  of  importance 
were  considered.  There  was  a  discussion  about  the  Overland  Mail 
service  to  California  (as  yet  performed  by  stages),  ending  in  a  vote, 
requiring  the  route  to  be  a  circuitous  one,  near  the  Southern  frontier, 
instead  of  the  shorter  and  more  central  one  advocated  by  Seward  and 
other  Northern  Senators.  There  was  a  bill  to  give  tracts  of  public 
lands  to  several  States  for  the  support  of  colleges  devoted  to  agricul¬ 
tural  and  mechanical  instruction,  which  was  supported  by  Seward  and 
other  Republicans,  and  with  the  help  of  some  of  the  Northern  Demo¬ 
crats,  wras  carried  through  both  Houses,  and  then  encountered  the 
President’s  veto.  There  was  a  project  to  increase  the  rates  of  postage, 
which  Seward  strenuously  opposed,  and  it  was  finally  defeated.  There 
was  a  disagreement  between  the  two  Houses  over  the  Post-Office  Ap¬ 
propriation  Bill,  and  the  report  of  the  Conference  Committee  was  still 
under  debate,  after  an  all-night  session,  when,  at  noon  on  the  4th  of 
March,  the  Vice-President’s  hammer  fell,  and  he  announced  that  the 
Thirty-fifth  Congress  had  expired. 

Two  minutes  later,  he  rapped  to  order  again  for  the  special  session 
called  by  the  President.  As  this  was  the  opening  of  another  Congress, 
the  newly-elected  Senators  presented  themselves  to  take  the  oath. 
Anions:  them  were  several  Southern  men  who  had  been  re-elected. 
From  the  North  there  were  three  new  Republican  Senators  —  An¬ 
thony  of  Rhode  Island,  Bingham  of  Michigan,  and  Grimes  of  Iowa  — 
beside  Fessenden,  Hale,  and  Wilson,  who  had  been  re-elected.  Doug¬ 
las  was  the  only  Northern  Democrat  who  had  been  returned.  The 


3G0 


EMBARKING  EOR  EUROPE. 


[1858-’59. 


called  session  lasted  but  a  week,  and  was  chiefly  devoted  to  the  con-  * 
sideration  of  the  President’s  nominations.  After  its  adjournment, 
there  was  talk  of  calling  an  extra  session  of  both  Houses  to  take  up 
the  Post-Office  Bill,  and  the  Cuba  question.  Several  caucuses  of  tho 
supporters  of  the  Administration  were  held,  without  reaching  a  con¬ 
clusion.  Seward,  who  had  delayed  his  departure  for  home,  wrote  to 
Weed: 

Monday ,  March  21. 

They  resolve  and  re-resolve,  and  then  resolve  again,  about  the  extra  session. 

I  suppose  they  will  finally  decide  to-day  or  to-morrow.  I  shall  not  think  now 
of  going  away,  if  an  extra  session  is  proclaimed. 

When  it  was  finally  decided  in  the  negative,  Seward  found  himself 
free  to  accomplish  a  purpose  he  had  long  cherished,  but  hitherto  had 
found  no  time  for.  This  was  to  make  another  visit  to  Europe. 
There  would  be  now  an  interval  until  December,  during  which  he 
could  visit  many  of  the  European  capitals.  As  his  former  trip,  in- 
1833,  had  been  chiefly  devoted  to  the  study  of  places,  he  desired  now 
to  study  the  people  —  to  inform  himself  in  regard  to  the  condition  of 
the  masses,  the  character  of  rulers,  and  the  working  of  governments, 
in  the  principal  countries  of  Europe. 

Returning  to  Auburn,  he  spent  the  month  in  arranging  his  affairs 
preparatory  to  his  long  absence.  Toward  the  close  of  April,  he  went 
down  to  New  York,  and  passed  a  few  days  at  the  Astor  House,  prior 
to  the  sailing  of  the  steamer  Ariel,  on  which  he  had  taken  passage. 
Many  friends  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  visit  him  there,, 
to  take  their  leave,  express  their  good  wishes,  and  ask  counsel  in  re¬ 
gard  to  the  political  situation.  In  one  of  his  letters  home,  he  said: 

Weed  reports  to  me  that  Greeley  has  become  all  right  at  last,  politically,  and 
goes  off  to  California,  seeking  to  be  useful  there.  Greeley  is  going  by  the 
Overland  route.  He  has  been  with  me  to-day  at  dinner. 

On  the  last  morning,  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

May  7. 

Despite  of  resolute  and  persistent  endeavors  to  avoid  a  show,  I  am  to  be 
met  at  the  door  of  this  hospitable  house,  at  ten  o’clock,  by  hundreds  of  citi¬ 
zens,  and  escorted  beyond  the  gates  of  the  ocean,  by  crowds  of  friends.  There 
will  be  no  lonely  place,  no  leisure  moment,  to  take  leave  of  you.  I  must  do  it 
now.  The  sky  is  bright,  and  the  waters  are  calm.  The  ship  is  strong  and 
swift;  the  season  of  storms  is  past.  There  is  every  reason  to  hope  for  a  pros¬ 
perous  voyage.  If  it  shall  prove  so,  you  will  not  remain  long  without  proof  of 
my  constant  affection.  But  we  know  not  the  casualties  which  are  before  us. 

If  I  come  back  to  you  no  more,  doubt  not  that  whenever  and  wherever  I  taste 
of  death,  my  last  thoughts  will  cling  to  the  memories  of  yourself  and  my 
children.  Adieu. 


1858-  59. J 


€ 


DEPARTURE  FOR  EUROPE. 


361 


Immediately  after  his  breakfast,  he  was  called  to  the  parlor,  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  greetings  of  the  two  Republican  committees,  who  had  come 
to  go  with  him  to  the  steamboats,  on  which  they  proposed  to  ac¬ 
company  him  down  the  bay.  Embarking  on  one  at  Castle  Garden, 
the  party  was  joined  by  two  or  three  hundred  invited  guests.  She 
left  the  wharf  amid  music,  cheering,  and  farewell  salutes  fired  from 
the  shore.  Shortly  after  noon,  she  reached  the  Lower  Bay,  and  lay 
off  Fort  Hamilton  to  await  the  coming  of  the  ocean  steamers,  three 
of  which  were  to  start  at  about  the  same  hour.  Before  long,  all  three 
were  seen  threading  their  way  slowly  through  the  maze  of  smaller 
craft,  the  Ariel  taking  the  lead.  The  great  black  hull  of  the  steam¬ 
ship  drew  momentarily  nearer,  and  the  hour  of  parting  was  at  hand. 
His  friends  gathered  around  him  on  the  upper  deck,  for  farewell  salu¬ 
tations.  In  his  brief  speech  of  reply,  he  remarked  : 

It  will  depend  upon  ray  own  temper,  whether  I  am  able  or  not  to  gain  the 
material  for  which  I  go  abroad — the  knowledge  derived  from  the  sufferings 
and  strivings  of  humanity,  in  foreign  countries  —  to  teach  me  how  to  elevate 
and  improve  the  condition  of  my  own  countrymen.  I  trust  it  may  be  my 
good  fortune  to  return  among  you,  and  resume  the  duties,  now  temporarily 
suspended.  But  two  voyages  separate  me  from  you.  What  may  happen,  in 
that  space  and  time,  no  one  but  a  beneficent  Providence  knows.  If  it  be  my 
lot  not  to  return  among  you,  I  trust  I  shall  be  remembered  as  one  who  tried 
to  deserve  the  good  opinion  which  his  friends  entertain  for  him.  I  know 
that,  at  last,  the  great  questions  of  justice  and  humanity  before  the  American 
people  are  destined  to  be  decided,  and  that  they  may  be  safely  left  to  your 
own  hands,  even  if  the  instructor  never  returns. 

And  now,  kindest  of  friends,  who  have  attended  my  passage1  from  my  coun¬ 
try  home,  to  the  very  gates  of  the  ocean,  farewell.  God  be  with  you. 

As  he  uttered  the  closing  sentences,  the  Ariel  was  alongside.  The 
quiet  sea  rendered  it  an  easy  matter  to  step  from  the  paddle-box  of 
the  steamboat  to  the  ocean  steamer’s  deck,  where  he  was  received 
with  cordial  greetings  by  officers  and  fellow  passengers.  The  vessels 
separated.  The  huge  wheels  of  the  Ariel  slowly  began  to  revolve,  and 
she  resumed  her  outward  voyage.  But  the  enthusiastic  friends  on  the 
little  steamboat  were  yet  unwilling  to  part.  Again  and  again  they 
made  the  captain  run  up  within  hail  of  the  Ariel,  for  “one  more 
parting  cheer.”  The  passengers  who  crowded  the  decks  of  the  other 
two  ocean  steamers,  becoming  infected  with  the  spirit  of  the  scene, 
joined  in,  and  re-echoed  the  cheering.  And  so  with  shouts  and  music, 
bells  and  whistles,  dipping  ensigns,  waving  hats,  hands,  and  handker¬ 
chiefs,  he  was  escorted  far  out  beyond  Sandy  Hook,  before  the  vessels 
would  separate  for  their  respective  destinations. 


362 


ON  BOARD  THE  ARIEL. 


[1859. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

1859. 

Visit  to  Europe.  The  Ariel  and  Her  Passengers.  Great  Britain.  London.  Lord  Lans- 
downe.  Kossuth  and  Pulszky.  Dhuleep  Singh.  Sir  Charles  Napier.  Lord  Lynd- 
Jiurst.  The  Comte  de  Paris.  Dr.  Mackay.  Lord  Palmerston.  Blackwood.  Lord 
Derby.  Stafford  House.  Duchess  of  Sutherland.  Presentation  at  Court.  The  Queen 
and  Prince  Albert.  Lord  John  Russell.  The  Marquis  of  Westminster.  Macaula}-. 
Hampton  Court.  The  Argyles.  Opening  of  Parliament.  Cardinal  Wiseman.  Court 
Balls  and  Routs.  Gladstone.  Disraeli  and  John  Bright.  Louis  Blanc.  Oxford. 
Its  Memories  and  Celebrities.  The  Duke  of  Devonshire.  Sir  Joseph  Paxton.  The 
Charity  Scholars  at  St.  Paul’s.  Westminster  Abbey.  The  Metropolitan  Club. 
Whitebait  Dinner  at  Greenwich.  Leave-Takings.  Warwick  Castle.  Kenilworth. 
Stratford-on-Avon.  The  English  Lakes.  Miss  Martineau.  Scotland.  Glasgow. 
Fires  and  Forges.  Stirling.  Ruined  Castles.  Scott.  English  Manufacturing  Towns. 
The  Capitalists.  The  Artisaus.  Leeds.  Bradford.  Manchester.  Birmingham. 
Republicanism  and  Aristocracy.  Trentham.  Ducal  Life.  Litchfield.  Dr.  Johnson. 
Dover.  France.  Calais.  Paris  Under  the  Second  Empire.  Lamartine.  Ristori. 
Count  Walewsky.  Lord  Cowley.  The  Four  Great  Parties.  The  Next  Revolution. 
Lyons.  Avignon.  The  Mediterranean.  Italy.  The  Coliseum.  St.  Peter’s.  Roman 
Daily  Life.  The  Papal  Government.  The  Temporal  Power.  The  Jews.  Churches 
and  Columbaria.  The  Vatican.  Cardinal  Antonelli.  Pius  IX.  A  Day  at  Pompeii. 
Capri.  Malta.  A  Cruise  in  the  Levant.  “ Mah-Brooka  the  Blest.”  Arab  Passen¬ 
gers.  The  Holy  Land.  The  Shrine  of  Three  Faiths.  The  Hebrew  Race  and  History. 
Mahometan  Life  and  Modern  Civilization.  On  Board  the  Macedonian.  Naval  Life. 
Austria.  Its  Armies  and  its  People.  The  Future  of  the  Empire.  Prince  Esterhazy. 
Count  Rechberg  and  Baron  Brock.  The  Emperor.  The  Tombs  of  the  Hapsburgs. 
Venice.  Its  Past  and  Present.  Verona.  Its  Monuments  and  Memories.  The  Battle 
Field  at  Solferino.  The  Irrepressible  Conflict.  Magenta.  North  and  South.  Cavour. 
Dahomeda.  King  Victor  Emanuel.  A  Day  at  Compiegne.  Waterloo.  Brussels. 
The  Hague.  Old  and  New  Amsterdam.  King  Leopold  of  Belgium.  Rogier.  Con¬ 
stitutional  Government  in  Europe.  Americans  in  Paris.  Returning  Home. 


Seward’s  long  and  closely-written  letters  described  the  scenes  of 
each  day’s  travel.  The  limits  of  this  volume  will  permit  only  brief 
extracts  from  them: 

I  said  to  myself  yesterday,  when  I  lost  at  last  the  sound  of  cheers  and  the 
sight  of  waving  signals  on  board  the  barges  of  my  escort,  and  they  took  their 
course  to  the  Battery,  that  if  good  wishes  could  secure  me  a  prosperous  voy¬ 
age,  such  an  one  was  before  me.  Certainly  it  begins  auspiciously.  As  soon  as 
we  reached  the  open  sea  we  spread  foresail  and  mainsail  to  a  generous  western 
breeze,  which  labored  emulouslv  not  to  be  left  behind  by  the  motion  derived 
from  the  massive  engine.  Engine  and  breeze  have  worked  harmoniously  to¬ 
gether.  I  have  seen  the  sun  and  the  moon  set  successively  behind  the  western 
shores,  and  the  sun  rise  again  from  the  eastern  floods,  each  unobscured  by  haze 
or  cloud.  Spite  of  all  I  was  told,  I  think  the  Ariel  a  proper  ship.  Her  captain 
is  certainly  a  true  seaman  and  gentleman.  Her  passengers  courteous  and 


1859.] 


THE  ARIEL  AND  HER  PASSENGERS. 


363 


social.  I  wish  I  could  assure  them  all  that  they  will  be  successful  in  the  en¬ 
terprises  which  lead  them  to  Europe. 

The  young  American,  who,  with  certificates  that  his  voice  is  sonorous  and 
practicable,  goes  to  Naples  to  study  for  the  opera, —  how  sore  his  disappoint¬ 
ment  if  the  vouchers  were  written  in  courtesy,  without  knowledge ! 

The  inventor  who  expects  to  enjoy  the  profits  of  his  monopoly  under  patents 
to  be  obtained  in  England,  France,  and  Russia, —  will  his  fortune  be  increased 
or  wasted?  I  do  not  know  —  I  would  prefer  a  simple  trade,  or  regular  pro¬ 
fession. 

Is  it  really  true  that  a  rich  man  died,  leaving  six  acres  of  dwellings  and  shops 
in  Paris,  fifty  years  ago,  to  unknown  heirs;  and  have  these  two  adventurers, 
at  last,  proved  the  true  and  lawful  inheritors,  in  St.  Louis?  And  will  the 
proofs  they  carry  with  them  secure  them  that  vast  estate,  just  as  soon  as  they 
intrust  them  to  a  notary  in  that  metropolis?  I  doubt  it. 


Our  passengers  are  generally  beginning  to  recover  from  their  sea-sickness, 
and  to  appear  on  deck.  They  are  for  the  most  part  of  European  stock,  but 
domiciled  in  America.  There  are  Western  men  from  Illinois,  Missouri,  and 
Wisconsin,  Louisiana  merchants,  and  Cuban  patriots.  They  practice  good 
manners,  and  affect  fashion, —  but  the  absence  of  a  laundry  works  disastrously 
on  dress;  and  sea-sickness  cannot  endure  wine.  The  ship’s  literature  is  not 
of  high  pretension.  Guide-books,  travels  and  yellow-covered  pamphlets  con¬ 
stitute  our  libraries;  and  truth  to  say,  life  on  ship-board  generates  an  ennui 
that  can  endure  nothing  more  severe.  In  politics  the  party  are  nearly  unani¬ 
mous —  all  are  for  Italy  and  France;  and  most  think  that  the  imbroglio  in 
Europe  ought  to  be  improved  by  the  United  States,  by  seizing  and  annexing 
Cuba. 

Music  floats  upon  the  decks,  and  falls  over  the  sea.  There  is  a  bassoon, 
which  though  it  has  not  yet  called  up  Tritons  from  the  deep,  does  not  fail  to 
draw  always  a  full  house  on  the  fore-castle.  Germans  sing  as  if  trained  in  the 
opera,  and  some  of  them  even  whistle  in  the  tones  of  the  flute.  Favorite  tune 
among  them  all,  though  with  national  variations,  is  “Home,  SwTeet  Home.” 

Noon,  the  day’s  crisis!  The  observations  taken;  the  reckonings  made;  the 
stage  of  our  voyage  ascertained.  The  beginning  of  the  ninth  day  —  thermome¬ 
ter  60° — barometer  still  “set  fair.”  All  the  passengers  dressed  with  uncom¬ 
mon  care  —  all  desirous  of  some  act  of  public  worship.  Though  differing  in 
language  and  sects,  they  wTould  compromise  on  any.  But  there  is  no  priest, 
and  no  layman  who  would  dare  to  lay  hands  on  sacred  things.  When  one  con 
siders  how,  in  the  infancy  of  mankind,  all  phenomena  seemed  the  immediate 
result  of  supernatural  or  divine  interference  with  nature,  he  cannot  wronder 
that  all  men  sought  protection  and  solace  in  religion.  Imagination  led  them 
to  temples,  altars,  oracles,  wherever  any  one  pretended  to  show  them  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  God.  Now,  -when  all  phenomena  are  explained  by  the  application  of 
fixed,  unvarying  eternal  laws,  and  men  seek  safety,  and  study  success  by  con¬ 
formity  to  these  laws,  Imagination  surrenders  the  reins,  and  they  are  assumed 


364 


LIFE  AT  SEA. 


[1859. 

by  Reason.  Will  mankind,  under  its  influences,  become  less  religious,  or,  in 
other  words,  more  irreverent?  Doubtless  they  will  not.  Imagination  im¬ 
presses  religion  on  our  race,  by  the  agency  of  Terror.  Reason  wins  to  faith 
through  the  demonstrations  of  Divine  Love. 


Southeast-by-East-half-East,  steadily  the  ship  toils  through  the  waves  — 
while  we  are  speculating  whether  we  make  first  the  Scillv  Islands,  or  the  Liz¬ 
ards,  and  enter  Cowes  on  Friday  before,  or  on  Friday  after  noon.  An  obsti¬ 
nate  fog  hangs  over  the  ocean  behind  us.  The  wind  struggles  to  lift  it  from 
the  horizon  before  us,  and  the  sun  tries  with  still  less  success  to  shine  upon  us 
through  the  misty  curtain  overhead. 

It  is  my  birthday — strange  that  it  finds  me  here  —  among  friends  indeed, 
but  then  only  of  yesterday  —  alone  in  a  hemisphere  distant  from  family  and 
home.  God  be  thanked  for  His  gracious  preservation  so  long,  and  save  that 
family  and  home  until  my  safe  return!  *  *  *  The  passengers  are  generally 

intelligent  and  agreeable  —  Shall  I  tell  you  of  the  one  I  affect  the  most?  He 
is  an  Englishman,  who  born  to  the  water  near  Dartmouth,  stood  on  board  a 
boat  in  Torbay,  when  Napoleon  the  First,  after  the  catastrophe  of  Waterloo, 
appeared  on  the  . deck  of  a  British  transport  in  that  harbor  and  surrendered 
himself  like  Themistocles,  to  the  one  whom  he  truly  called  the  greatest,  but 
falsely  named,  the  most  magnanimous,  of  his  enemies  —  George  IV. 


Some  signs  of  approach  to  the  world  of  men  —  vessels  occasionally  seen 
moving  in  parallel  lines  to  our  own,  but  in  opposite  directions,  far  away  in  the 
horizon.  How  much  of  intelligence  of  what  great  events  may  be  thus  passing 
by  us,  while  we,  practically,  are  asleep  to  the  affairs  of  nations,  occupied  -with 
the  infinitely  little  concerns  of  ourselves,  our  meat,  drink,  sleep,  and  likes  and 
dislikes.  Ten  days’  confinement  together  is  more  than  any  fifty  human  beings 
can  endure  with  good  temper.  So  last  night  there  was  an  emeute  in  the  steer¬ 
age —  coats  stripped,  knives  drawn.  When  will  war-making  kings  and  em¬ 
perors  lack  for  armies  to  fight?  Not  in  our  day,  I  ween. 


“  He  is  dead,  sir,”  was  the  mate’s  report,  made  to  the  captain,  while  I  was 
sitting  with  him  in  his  state-room,  after  breakfast  this  morning.  “  He  is  dead, 
sir,”  said  a  physician,  one  of  the  passengers,  who  came  up  a  moment  after¬ 
ward.  “He  is  dead,  sir, ”  said  an  Italian  steerage  passenger.  The  captain 
was  not  surprised.  We  had  been  called  to  the  sick  man’s  room,  two  days  ago, 
by  his  unnatural  groans  and  supplications,  and  had  concluded  that  he  would 
not  survive  the  voyage.  A  poor  Italian,  thirty  years,  or  so,  of  age,  arrested  in  his 
adventures  in  America,  by  the  consumption,  and  striving  to  live  until  he  could 
see  his  mother  and  his  sunny  native  land  once  more.  How  sharply  business  is 
done,  even  the  business  of  duties  to  the  dead,  at  sea!  Twenty  minutes  later 
an  open  trunk  stood  on  the  gangway,  the  ship’s  clerk  over  it,  with  pen  and 
paper,  a  crowd  pressed  around,  and  an  inventory  of  poor  Pedronillo’s  effects 
was  taken  —  $80  in  cash,  a  coat,  a  hat,  pantaloons,  shirts,  hose,  a  brush,  a 
comb,  a  guide-book,  a  bottle  of  medicine,  and  six  prayer-books. 


1859.] 


IN  ENGLAND. 


365 


The  scene  rapidly  changed.  A  corpse  was  brought  on  a  mattress  out  of  the 
dead  man’s  state-room,  and  placed  on  the  roof  of  the  wheel-house.  The  bosom 
was  then  filled  with  coarse  flannel,  the  mattress  brought  close  over  the  body, 
the  whole  wrapped  in  two  or  three  thicknesses  of  canvas,  sewed  tightly  up, 
great  iron  weights  lashed  upon  the  legs,  and  then  the  whole  inclosed  in  a 
worn-out  bunting,  which  still  retained  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  that  had  fitted  it 
for  a  ship’s  flag,  a  strong  cord  lashed  around  the  body  and  made  fast  to  a 
stanchion,  thus  securing  it  against  its  being  prematurely  engulfed  by  the  rolling 
of  the  ship  —  and  there  it  lies  now  “  in  state,”  waiting  for  the  hour  of  four  in 
the  afternoon,  when  the  prayers  appointed  by  the  church  will  be  read,  and  the 
deco  will  receive  what  once  was  an  object  of  a  thousand  tender  affections  into 
its  cold  and  most  repulsive  charnel-house.  All  this  has  passed  and  no  woman’s 
voice  or  foot-step  has  been  heard.  Men  have  done  it  alone  —  rudely — but 
God  be  thanked,  not  irreverently. 

A  little  boy  stood  looking  on.  In  his  hand  was  the  little  play-thing,  which 
to  his  imagination,  was  a  boat.  He  looked  until  the  end  of  the  sad  arrange¬ 
ments  came,  and  then  went  on  and  dropped  his  boat,  suspended  by  a  cord,  over 
the  ship’s  side  to  try  its  capacity  for  the  sea.  A  passenger,  who  had  witnessed 
the  whole  transaction,  turned  to  the  captain  and  asked  whether  he  thought  we 
should  reach  Cowes  to-morrow?  I  think  we  shall. 


We  are  making  land,  and  to-morrow  will  debark  at  Southampton.  The 
voyage  has  been  exceedingly  pleasant  and  agreeable. 

I  salute  England,  the  wisest  of  the  nations,  though  not  the  most  learned,  the 
strongest  of  nations,  though  not  the  most  valorous,  the  freest  of  nations,  though 
not  the  most  chivalrous — the  most  magnificent  of  nations,  though  not  the 
most  hospitable.  ^ 

Perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  make  some  notes  of  such  distinctly  public  char¬ 
acters  as  I  happen  to  fall  in  with,  that  may  interest  you,  without  indulging 
partisan  sympathies,  or  offending  against  the  rights  of  hospitality. 

First  among  them,  I  mention  our  countryman,  Joshua  Bates,  of  the  great 
banking-house  of  Baring  Brothers.  He  is  a  modest,  intellectual,  and  well-in¬ 
formed  gentleman,  his  love  for  America  manifesting  itself  agreeably  to  all  his 
American  visitors,  while  his  position  and  association  in  England  are  of  very 
influential  and  respectable  character. 

A  visit  to  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  is  a  duty  which  every  true  American 
owes  to  that  eminent  British  statesman.  Although  he  yet  attends  the  meet¬ 
ings  of  Parliament,  he  is  practically  a  retired  statesman.  He  was  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  so  early  as  1806,  and  retired  from  the  Presidency  of  the  Coun¬ 
cil  so  late  as  1852.  Always  the  friend  of  progress  and  civil  liberty,  he  was 
the  strenuous  advocate  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  on  convictions  formed  by 
the  instructions  of  Wilberforce  himself.  He  has,  I  think,  secured  more  than 
any  other  man  now  living,  the  general  respect  and  esteem  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  England.  His  manners  are  unaffectedly  modest  and  deferential, 
while  the  library  and  halls  of  his  mansion  show  that  he  is  a  liberal  patron  of 


366 


OLD  AND  NEW  FRIENDS. 


[1859. 


art.  He  employs  the  evening  of  an  honored  life  in  labors  devoted  to  the 
amelioration  of  social  evils,  and  in  cultivating  the  society  of  the  good  and  wise. 
One  may  learn  from  a  visit  to  him,  how  a  great  man  may  be  independent  of 
parties.  It  was  pleasant  to  find  him  tolerant,  liberal,  and  sincerely  friendly 
toward  our  country  and  its  institutions. 


At  St.  Albans  Villa  in  the  suburbs  of  London,  I  found  a  patriot  of  another 
land,  and  in  a  very  different  condition  —  Count  Pulszky — the  secretary  of 
Kossuth.  He  is  an  exile  faithful  to  his  chief  and  his  Fatherland. 

Madame  Pulszky,  endeared  as  well  as  her  husband  to  so  many  of  my 
friends  in  America,  is  still  the  same  cheerful,  benevolent,  intellectual  and  af¬ 
fectionate  lady  that  they  all  recollect  so  kindly. 

Just  now,  they,  and  Kossuth,  their  chief,  are  renewing  their  long  interrupted 
dream  of  Hungarian  emancipation;  and  are,  in  a  subdued  manner,  re-enacting 
the  campaign  of  proselytism,  which  they  performed  with  such  sad  success,  in 
1852,  in  America.  I  will  not  just  now  venture  to  express  an  opinion  on  the 
prospects  of  freedom  in  Europe,  as  affected  by  the  war  that  has  just  begun. 
There  are  abundant  good  wishers  for  Italy  and  Hungary  now,  as  there  were  in 
1850,  but  the  war  opens  questions  of  power  and  safety  to  the  ambitious,  as 
well  as  questions  of  sentiment  to  the  oppressed.  We  shall  see  the  solution  of 
all  soon  enough. 

I  met  at  breakfast  to-day,  a  youth  of  Caucasian  features,  but  very  dark  com¬ 
plexion  —  by  name,  Dhuleep  Singh,  by  title  Maharajah,  by  birth,  prince,  and 
heir  in  the  Punjaub  of  India,  to  an  ancient  and  vast  kingdom, —  by  conversion,  a 
Christian, —  by  education,  an  Englishman, —  by  conquest,  a  British  subject, —  by 
treaty,  a  pensioner,  retaining  his  title  with  a  pension  of  $100,000  a  year.  It  is,, 
perhaps,  the  result  of  misinformation,  that  he  fears  to  go  to  America,  which  he 
nevertheless  earnestly  desires,  lest  the  strong  national  prejudice  against  the  Af¬ 
rican  race  should  insult  him,  although  he  owes  his  complexion  to  an  Asiatic, 
and  not  to  an  African  sun.  But  what  will  be  the  influence  of  the  conquest  of 
India  on  the  stability  of  the  British  Empire  ?  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  you, 
conservation  of  the  empire  is  the  one  thought  of  all  British  statesmen;  and  all 
questions  of  morality,  humanity,  social  progress,  are  subordinate  to  the  one 
policy  of  so  keeping  the  balance  of  power,  in  Europe,  adjusted,  that  England 
and  her  colonies  may  be  safe. 


Sir  Charles  Napier  is  an  impersonation  of  the  English  Admiral  as  the  char¬ 
acter  is  drawn  by  the  classical  essayists  of  Queen  Anne’s  time.  According  to 
him,  the  British  Navy  is  no  insufficient  or  ornamental  thing,  but  an  every-day, 
necessary  and  effective,  police.  He  has  ideas  about  reforms  in  elections  and 
canvasses;  but  the  chief  reforms  that  he  troubles  himself  about,  are  reforms  in 
the  Navy.  He  is  a  hearty,  bluff,  old  sailor.  I  am  curious  to  hear  him  debate 
in  the  House. 

Lord  Lyndhurst  is  now  eighty-seven  years  old,  but  apparently  unabated  in 
force,  as  any  peer  of  England.  Y  ou  would  know  him  to  have  been  a  lawyer,  and 


1859.] 


THE  NOBILITY  AND  GENTRY. 


367 


an  active  one,  in  a  moment’s  conversation.  When  I  entered  his  room  alone, 
and  only  announced  by  my  card,  I  found  him  sitting  before  a  table.  Without 
rising,  he  drew  a  chair,  and  said:  “Come  sit  down  here  by  me.  I  want  to 
talk  with  you.”  Such  a  talk,  I  never  had  before.  He  courteously  asked  ques¬ 
tion  after  question  about  things  in  America.  Each  question  intelligible,  perti¬ 
nent,  and  admitting  a  direct  answer.  In  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  I  had  re¬ 
ceived,  and  imparted  more  information  than  one  is  often  able  to  do  in  a  con¬ 
versation  continued  through  many  hours. 


In  the  year  1833,  General  Lafayette  said  to  me  at  Paris,  that  Louis  Philippe 
would  reign  eighteen  years,  but  no  son  of  his  would  ever  fill  the  throne  of 
France.  I  think  it  was  two  years  later,  tliat  I  met  Louis  Napoleon,  the  heir- 
apparent  of  the  Empire,  in  exile,  in  America.  Now  I  am  in  Europe  again, 
after  a  lapse  of  twenty-six  years,  and  Louis  Napoleon  is  Emperor  of  France. 

At  Chiswick  House,  to-day,  I  met  an  exile,  the  Comte  de  Paris,  heir-ap¬ 
parent  of  Louis  Philippe’s  dynasty ;  and  found  him  waiting  for  the  downfall 
of  the  Empire,  and  a  restoration  to  the  throne.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  great 
modesty,  and  apparent  worth .  He  preserves  a  very  kind  feeling  toward  the 
United  States,  and  seemed  much  gratified  with  relating  the  experiences  of  his 
father  there,  in  times  that  have  already  become  historical. 


"Who  shall  I  place  in  my  next  panel  ?  Why  not  Dr.  Charles  Mackay,  the 
great  song-writer  of  England  —  nay,  since  Beranger’s  death,  the  great  song¬ 
writer  of  the  world  ?  I  need  not,  however,  speak  of  his  songs.  All  the  world 
knows  them.  But  all  the  world  don’t  know  his  antiquarian  value.  How 
many  monuments  he  pointed  out  ’to  me,  on  our  way  to  the  Crystal  Palace,  I 
can’t  tell.  Here  is  a  Roman  mile-stone  1,400  years  a  monument.  Here  is  the 
spot  where  Charles  I  was  beheaded,  under  the  judgment  of  the  Revolutionary 
Court.  And  here  is  the  identical  building,  now  an  humble  shop,  which  Car¬ 
dinal  Woolsey  built  for  a  palace  out  of  the  profits  of  his  place. 


The  Courts  of  Chancery,  Queen’s  Bench  and  Exchequer,  I  have  to-day 
looked  down  upon  them  from  the  bench  in  either  tribunal.  Such  is  the  cour¬ 
tesy  of  the  friendly  Judges  to  a  stranger.  The  conduct  of  proceedings  here 
is  dignified ;  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  quite  courteous  and  genial,  both  be¬ 
tween  counselors  and  between  counsel  and  the  Court.  I  heard  the  name  of  our 
countryman,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  pronounced  from  the  Bench,  with  distin¬ 
guished  respect.  It  is  certainly  a  very  pleasing  thing  to  see  legal  contention, 
under  moderate  bounds,  and  yet  be  free  from  implication  in  the  strife. 


Lord  Palmerston  differs  in  every  respect  from  the  prejudgment  of  him  I 
had  made.  He  rules  a  party,  or  a  large  interest  in  the  Liberal  party,  not  so 
much  by  the  weight  of  his  age  and  experience,  as  by  his  vivacity  and  spirit, 
in  spite  of  great  age  and  experience.  As  old  as  General  Cass,  or  Mr.  Bu¬ 
chanan,  he,  nevertheless,  is  youthful  and  genial.  No  one  of  his  followers  claim 
for  him  the  attribute  of  venerable. 


368 


“THE  NOBILITY  AND  GENTRY. 


[1859. 


The  “Nobility  and  Gentry  ”  must  be  seen  once,  at  least,  in  a  ball  or  assem¬ 
bly,  to  understand  it.  When  you  see  it  in  such  a  place,  and  hear  the  names 
and  titles  so  familiar  to  you,  in  history  and  romance,  handled  as  familiarly  as 
the  names  and  designations  of  persons  in  society  among  ourselves,  you  come 
to  regard  the  class  as  distinct,  peculiar,  and  chivalrous;  and  you  come  to  re¬ 
gard  it  only  as  the  class  of  persons  most  active  and  prominent  in  political, 
social,  and  fashionable  life. 

How  did  the  class  arise  ?  Those  who  rose  to  stations  of  power  and  wealth, 
by  superior  knowledge,  or  virtue,  when  education  and  facilities  for  acquiring 
it  were  limited,  aggrandized  themselves,  shutting  other  and  ambitious  com¬ 
petitors  out,  so  far  as  possible;  and  they  fortified  themselves  as  a  class.  How 
will  it  end  ?  Equal  education,  in  any  state,  will  equalize  society.  The  British 
nobility  may  go  down  in  that  way.  In  France,  the  nobility  went  down  be¬ 
cause  they  had  fortified  themselves  too  strongly,  and  had  become  too  despotic 
to  be  endured.  Equality,  which  we  theoretically  call  the  natural  condition  of 
society,  is  certainly  the  condition  which  belongs  to  the  highest  state  of  social 
development. 

I  met  Mr.  Blackwood,  the  editor  of  Blackwood’s  Magazine,  to-day.  He  is 
a  very  quiet  gentleman,  of  cultivated  taste  and  easy  address.  He  delighted 
in  the  established  popularity  of  his  periodical  in  America;  but  was  by  no 
means  satisfied  with  the  small  share  of  the  profits  he  derived  from  it.  I 
learned  from  him,  that  Mr.  Warren  (author  of  the  “Diary  of  a  Physician”), 
is  the  author  of  the  dialogue  between  Tickler  and  his  Mentor,  which  interested 
so  many  readers  a  year  ago. 

Beyond  a  doubt,  Kossuth  is  the  most  serene,  dignified,  and  graceful  person 
in  address  and  conversation  whom  I  have  ever  met.  The  reports  of  his  de¬ 
cayed  health,  dilapidated  appearance,  and  dejected  spirits,  which  I  heard  at 
home,  are  unfounded.  He  seems  to  me,  in  all  respects,  as  youthful  and  as 
vigorous  as  when  he  visited  our  country.  He  is  calm,  cool,  and  collected. 
There  is  a  moral  sublimity  in  his  persevering  devotion  to  his  country  and  to 
liberty.  I  wdsh  I  could  bring  myself  to  believe  in  the  auspices  which  have  re¬ 
vived  his  hopes. 

Lord  Derby  is  a  model  of  ministerial  manner  and  address.  Although  the 
fate  of  his  ministry  is  suspended  on  the  great  parliamentary  debate,  which  is 
less  than  ten  days  distant,  he  is  calm  and  easy,  apparently  prepared,  but  not 
rash  or  defiant.  I  think  one  can  easily  see  that  the  statesmen  of  this  country 
draw  an  immense  advantage  from  early  training  and  fixed  habits.  They 
practice  coolness  and  deliberation,  even  in  early  or  middle  life,  which  few  of 
our  American  statesmen  acquire  until  they  are  ready  to  retire  from  the  field; 
and  which  many  of  them  fail  to  acquire  even  then. 


On  Wednesday  morning  I  breakfasted  with  Lord  and  Lady  Hatherton,  who 
have  become  already  sympathizing  friends.  I  dined  merrily  with  the  Dallas 
family;  and  enjoyed  many  reminiscences  of  friends  and  events  in  America. 


1859.] 


DINNERS  AND  THE  DERBY. 


3G9 


On  Thursday,  I  rode  out  to  Chiswick,  where  I  lunched  (at  2  r.  m.),  with  a 
party  invited  by  the  Earl  and  Lady  Granville.  It  is  one  of  their  several 
country-seats,  and  is  a  lovely  place.  The  principal  guests  were,  the  Comte  de 
Paris,  Lord  St.  Germain,  and  Lord  Stanley.  Lady  Granville,  after  the  lunch, 
retired  to  the  shelter  of  a  grove  of  cedars  of  Libanus  of  great  age,  and  of 
almost  venerable  dimensions;  and  there  we  talked  over  the  political  affairs  of 
the  world.  She  has  given  me  an  invitation  to  come  to  her  house  in  the  even¬ 
ing  of  every  day  while  I  am  in  London.  Evening  here  begins  at  ten  o’clock. 
I  dined  and  spent  the  evening  of  the  same  day  with  Sir  James  and  Lady  Ten¬ 
nant  —  a  pleasant  entertainment,  with  fine  singing  by  Italian  and  native  artists. 

Yesterday  Dr.  Mackay  gave  me  a  dinner  at  the  Reform  Club,  where  I  met 
many  of  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  times. 

To-day  I  dine  with  Mr.  Edward  Ellice;  and  to-night  I  attend  a  party  or  re¬ 
ception  given  by  Lady  Palmbrston.  Nothing  could  surpass  the  kindness 
shown  me  here.  The  press  is  very  generous;  and  leading  persons  of  all  classes 
are  honoring  me  with  their  calls  and  entertainments.  To-day  I  was  at  the 
Earl  of  Shaftsbury’s,  and  at  Lambeth  Palace,  the  seat  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  While  there  attending  that  Protestant  Prelate,  Cardinal  Wise¬ 
man,  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Westminster,  called  at  my  lodgings. 

I  dined  yesterday  in  a  party  in  which  a  grandson  of  General  Lafayette,  and 
his  family  were  guests,  as  well  as  a  patriot  Italian  family.  It  gratified  me  ex¬ 
ceedingly  to  find  that  the  memory  of  Lafayette’s  relations  to  our  country  is 
highly  cherished  by  his  descendants.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  all  our  party 
were  republicans  of  the  American  school. 

The  world  seems  to  grow  small,  as  I  find  myself  introduced  to  some  per¬ 
sonage.  or  monument,  that  has  heretofore  been  regarded  as  forever  inaccessible 
to  me.  It  -would  amuse  you  to  see  how  the  consideration  of  the  people  of  this 
house,  for  me,  grows,  as  the  great  and  titled  visitors  successively  appear  to 
call  on  me. 

The  Derby  races  are  festival  occasions  for  England.  Races  and  sweep¬ 
stakes  are  run  on  a  great  course,  seventeen  miles  from  London,  and  all  the 
world  go  out  to  see  them  —  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  refined  and  vulgar. 
I  went  with  Mr.  Morgan,  a  banker,  who  took  a  party  of  four  ladies,  and  one 
gentleman  beside  myself,  in  a  great  barouche  drawn  by  four  horses,  and  man¬ 
aged  by  two  postillions.  We  found  ourselves  in  a  procession  of  three  carriages 
abreast,  and  thus  we  were  four  hours  making  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles.  The 
whole  scene  was  one  like  a  carnival,  John  Bull  appearing  in  his  gala  dress. 
He  behaved  just  as  well  as  Brother  Jonathan  does  on  the  Fourth  of  July  —  no 
better. 

At  Stafford  House,  yesterday,  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland  had  invited  a  small 
party,  among  them  the  Marquis  of  Lansdovme.  The  house  is  the  finest,  and 
most  magnificent  private  dwelling  in  England.  The  grand  hall  and  stairway, 
and  the  gallery  of  pictures,  are  on  a  royal  scale.  The  Duke  is  old,  infirm,  al- 
24 


370 


AT  BUCKINGHAM  PALACE. 


[1859. 


most  absolutely  deaf,  but  honest,  benevolent,  and  amiable.  The  Duchess  is 
the  most  accomplished  lady  in  England.  I  could  not  tell  you  how  kind  and 
gracious  she  was  to  me.  She  detained  me  after  the  party  had  left,  and  we 
had  a  long,  and  most  agreeable  tete-a-tete . 

On  the  same  evening  I  dined  with  her  brother,  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  and  a 
large  party  of  nobles  and  statesmen  of  the  Liberal  class.  It  would  be  tedious 
to  recount  their  names, —  Lord  Granville,  Lord  and  Lady  Shaftsbury,  Lord 
and  Lady  Palmerston,  Lord  John  Russell,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gladstone,  Mr.  De¬ 
lane,  editor  of  the  Times,  and  others.  It  was  a  most  agreeable  party. 

The  Queen,  somehow,  on  coming  from  the  Isle  of  Wight,  heard  that  Mr. 
Dallas  had  been  denied  leave  to  present  me  at  the  ball  on  the  8th  of  June. 
The  rule  is,  that  no  person  can  be  invited  to  any  Court  entertainment,  until 
he  has  first  been  presented,  and  no  person  can  be  presented,  except  at  a  levee. 
No  levee  is  to  be  held  until  the  20,th.  Of  course  I  was  not  to  see  the  Court 
until  that  day.  I  was  under  an  engagement  to  dine  last  evening,  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  it  was  this  that  hurried  me  back  from  the 
Derby.  On  coming  to  my  room,  I  found  the  Queen’s  invitation  to  a  concert 
to  be  given  at  nine  and  a  half  o’clock.  The  Archbishop’s  dinner  was,  of 
course,  excused.  Lord  Napier  put  tailors,  shoemakers,  and  hatters  in  requisi¬ 
tion .  Mr.  Dallas  sent  his  secretary,  with  a  letter  from  the  Lord  Chamberlain, 
explaining  that  the  matter  of  my  presentation  had  become  known  to  the  Queen  ; 
that  she  directed  me  to  be  invited,  and  expected  him  to  present  me  at  the 
concert. 

At  half-past  nine  we  entered  the  concert-room  —  a  hall  in  Buckingham 
Palace,  as  large,  or  larger,  than  our  church.  One  end  was  fitted  up  with  ten 
rows  of  benches  cushioned  in  red,  and  extending  quite  across  the  room,  ele¬ 
vated  in  tiers,  reaching  from  a  stage  up  to  the  base  of  a  grand  organ.  On  the 
benches  were  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  male  and  female  artists,  including 
two  prima-donnas.  In  front  of  the  stage  was  a  row  of  chairs  for  the  Queen 
and  royal  family;  behind  them  a  large  circle  for  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  at¬ 
tendance  on  them ;  the  rest  of  the  spacious  hall  was  fitted  with  crimson-cov¬ 
ered  seats  adequate  to  seat  six  or  seven  hundred  persons.  On  one  of  them 
appropriated  to  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  I  sat  with  Mr.  Dallas.  The  party  being 
assembled,  the  Queen  and  royal  party  entered,  and  passed  down  one  of  the 
aisles.  She  bowed  and  spoke  graciously  to  the  persons  nearest  her,  along  the 
way,  the  whole  audience  standing,  and  those  whom  she  saluted,  gracefully 
bowing  to  her.  She  took  the  middle  chair  in  front  of  the  orchestra,  distin¬ 
guished  from  the  others  by  having  arms.  Then  giving  leave  to  her  compan¬ 
ions,  all  sat  down.  The  performance  began,  and  continued  for  an  hour  or 
more.  Mr.  Dallas  flattered  me  by  telling  me  that  Her  Majesty  looked  toward 
us,  to  ascertain  whether  I  was  there.  Presently,  the  Lord  Chamberlain  came 
and  inforned  us  that  I  would  be  expected  to  be  presented  at  the  end  of  the 
'first  act.  When  that  time  came,  the  Queen  rose  and  walked  through  the 
aisles,  saluting  those  of  the  party  she  had  not  passed  in  coming  in. 

Then  Prince  Albert  performed  the  same  duty.  When  he  reached  the  dip¬ 
lomatic  benches,  he  stopped  and  spoke  to  Mr.  Dallas.  Mr.  Dallas  presented 


ANDREW  JOHNSON. 


LORD  NAPIER 


t  A 

Ot 

ji'iiVtKoi  t  V 


tei  v 

I'i  t 

Of  ILLIM05L 


1859.] 


THE  QUEEN. 


371 


me  to  him;  he  bowed,  and  I  returned  the  salute.  He  asked  if  I  was  recently 
from  America?  I  replied  briefly.  Did  I  expect  to  spend  some  time  in  Eng¬ 
land?  I  replied,  a  month.  lie  bowed,  and  I  bowed;  he  passed  on.  The 
Queen  soon  came  up.  I  was  presented  to  her.  She  asked  how  long  I  had 
been  in  England? 

“  About  ten  days.” 

“Is  it  your  first  visit?” 

“  I  might  say  so.  I  was  here  once,  but  many  years  ago.” 

“  How  long?  ” 

“  When  you,  Madam,  were  at  school,  as  I  then  learned.’ 

“You  must  observe  some  changes.” 

“  All  is  changed,  Madam.” 

“Is  it  improved? ” 

“Vastly  improved.  There  were  then  no  railroads.” 

“Your  own  country,  I  understand,  is  much  improved  also.” 

“  Yes,  all  is  changed.  There  wTere  then  no  steamships  on  the  ocean,  no  tele¬ 
graphs.” 

“  Do  you  think  the  improvement  wfill  go  on?  ” 

“  I  trust  so,  if  we  can  preserve  peace  between  the  two  branches  of  one  great 
family.” 

“  I  hope  so,  indeed.  How  long  shall  you  stay  in  England?  ” 

“Until  I  see  the  end  of  the  great  debate  in  your  Parliament,  to  which  I  look 
for  much  instruction.” 

She  courtesied,  I  bowed,  she  passed  on.  The  Queen  led  the  way  now  to 
supper.  All  followed.  The  banqueting  hall  was  nearly  as  large  as  the  con- 
cert-room,  the  supper-table  extending  one-half  way  around  it.  After  supper, 
we  dispersed  ourselves  where  we  wished,  and  I  made  an  hundred  distinguished 
acquaintances  during  the  last  act  of  the  concert.  Then  the  Queen,  taking 
leave  of  the  company  in  the  manner  in  which  she  had  received  them,  the  car¬ 
riages  were  summoned,  and  at  half-past  one  I  was  at  my  hotel. 

The  Queen  is  a  sturdy,  small,  unaffected,  and  kind  person —  and  is  eminently 
the  woman,  as  she  is  the  popular  sovereign  of  England.  Not  one  person  have 
I  heard  speak  reproachfully  or  unkindly  of  her. 

The  Duchess  of  Inverness  retains  Kensington  Palace,  one  of  the  royal 
demesnes  in  the  city,  a  curious  relic  of  ancient  times.  She  made  a  party  yes¬ 
terday  for  the  Napiers,  which  I  attended,  and  met  there  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
one  of  the  first  statesmen  of  Great  Britain,  but  now  retired  from  public  life. 
The  party  had  several  other  agreeable  persons. 

At  eight  o’clock,  I  was  at  Pembroke  Lodge  in  Richmond,  dining  with  Lord 
John  Russell,  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  active  of  the  statesmen  of  England, 
and  lately  Prime  Minister.  He  contests  with  Lord  Palmerston,  the  position  of 
chief  of  the  Liberal  party  in  the  realm.  His  residence  in  the  country  is  Pem¬ 
broke  Lodge  in  the  royal  domain  of  Windsor  Forest  on  Richmond  Hill.  Wind¬ 
sor  is  ten  miles  from  London,  and  is  almost  as  large  as  Auburn,  but  is  a  very 
beautiful  old  town. 


372 


SOCIETY  IN  LONDON. 


LI  859. 


The  party  consisted  of  Lord  John  and  Lady  Russell,  Lord  George 'Gray,  Mr. 
Arthur  Russell,  a  nephew  of  Lord  John,  Mr.  Potter  of  New  York,  and  myself. 
Lady  Russell  is  a  daughter  of  Lord  Minto,  highly  educated,  sincere,  unassuming, 
and  quite  domestic  in  her  tastes  and  ways.  Lord  John  is  a  speculative  man, 
a  sincere  believer  in  progress,  and  just  so  much  more  so,  than  other  British 
statesmen,  as  to  be  pronounced  a  fanatic,  sometimes  factious.  I  thought  I 
could  read  in  his  character,  that,  while  others  claim  and  divide  with  him,  if 
indeed  they  do  not  deprive  him  altogether  of  the  conduct  of  the  great  Liberal 
party,  his  earnestness  and  sincerity  constitute  the  great  strength  of  the  party, 
without  which  it  could  scarcely  cohere. 


I  lunched  at  Grosvenor  House,  the  city  residence  of  the  Marquis  of 
Westminster.  He  had  been  among  the  kindest  of  my  friends  here,  the  party 
only  Lady  W.,  her  daughter,  Lady  Napier,  Lord  Napier,  and  myself.  We  spent 
an  hour  in  the  picture-gallery.  It  contains  hundreds  of  pictures,  and  many 
fine  statues.  Not  a  picture  without  historical  interest,  and  all  originals  by 
masters  the  most  renowned  —  Titian,  Velasquez,  Caracci,  Murillo,  Claude, 
Reynolds,  West,  and  so  on  indefinitely. 

I  dined  with  a  large  party,  gathered  for  me  at  Lansdowne  House,  given  by 
that  most  venerable  and  estimable  person,  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne.  His 
daughter,  the  Countess  of  Shelburn,  presided.  I  cannot  recall  the  names  of 
the  whole  party  —  among  them  Lord  Macaulay,  Lady  Norton,  the  Napiers. 
Lord  Macaulay  seems  a  heavy-moulded,  broad,  dogmatical  Scotchman.  I  re¬ 
spected  him  much,  and  had  a  little  encounter  of  wit  with  him. 

At  night  I  saw  for  the  first  time,  a  London  rout  —  a  grand  ball  given  by  the 
Countess  of  Derby,  wi/e  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain.  Princesses  and 
Princes,  and  Dukes  and  Duchesses  of  the  royal  party,  Indian  Princes,  and  all  the 
Diplomatic  Corps.  It  was  a  thorough  jam  —  like  the  Napier  ball.  Icon- 
versed  with  royalties  and  nobles,  ad  infinitum.  It  was  two  o’clock  when  I 
came  home,  and  here  is  the  brief  and  hurried  journal  of  it.  To-morrow  will 
bring  new  labors  of  the  same  sort. 

To-day  I  have  spent  with  the  Napiers,  in  a  visit  to  the  palace  and  gardens  of 
Hampton  Court.  Any  history  of  England  will  tell  you  the  story  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey’s  greatness  and  downfall.  You  will  find  it  more  strikingly  told  in 
Shakespeare’s  “King  Henry  VIII,”  than  elsewhere.  Hampton  Court  was 
built  by  the  Cardinal  and  relinquished  by  him  to  the  King.  On  the  way  we 
stopped  to  see  Pope’s  villa  at  Twickenham,  now  converted  into  a  Chinese  gothic 
cottage  by  some  ambitious  citizen.  I  cannot  at  all  reduce  to  readable  dimen¬ 
sions  an  account  of  Hampton  Court.  It  is  now  abandoned  as  a  royal  residence, 
although  certainly  fit  for  any  king,  but  it  is  kept  up  as  a  resort  for  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  London.  The  gardens  and  fountains  are  vast  and  beautiful. 

The  gallery  of  paintings  tells  connectedly  the  English  history,  during  a 
period  of  three  hundred  years,  while  the  Church  passed  from  Rome  to  Protes¬ 
tantism,  and  the  state  from  a  despotism  or  tyranny,  to  a  free  constitutional 


PRINCE  OF  WALES  IN  1859. 


LORD  JOHN  RUSSELL 


library 

OF  THE 

JNIVLRSITY  OF  ILUNO! 


r 


1859.] 


LONDON  SOCIETY. 


373 


monarchy.  The  pictures  arranged  in  the  galleries  constitute  an  illustrated  his¬ 
tory  of  the  age.  Only  think  of  a  family  picture  painted  by  a  cotemporary,  in 
which  the  group  are  King  Henry  VIII,  his  Queen,  Jane  Seymour,  and  his  two 
daughters,  Mary,  the  Romanist,  and  Elizabeth,  the  Protestant!  There  are  a 
dozen  cotemporaneous  likenesses  of  Henry  VIII,  from  childhood  to  age,  and 
as  many  of  Elizabeth,  from  girlhood  to  the  decline  of  life. 

I  closed  yesterday  with  a  party  made  for  me  by  Mrs.  Pulzsky.  It  brought 
around  me  many  of  the  reformers  and  strong-minded  women,  as  well  as  men, 
in  London,  and  the  reception  was  a  most  hearty  one  by  them  all.  Kossuth  is 
about  now  departing  to  the  continent. 

To-day  I  have  dined  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Argyle,  at  Argyle  Lodge 
—  a  fine  villa  in  the  suburbs  of  London.  The  Duchess  is  a  daughter  of  the 
Duke  and  present  Duchess  of  Sutherland.  They  are  kind  and  earnest 
friends. 

I  attended  the  opening  of  Parliament,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  by  the  Queen. 
I  stood  by  the  side  of  three  Indian  Princes,  in  the  small  gallery  by  the  side  of 
the  throne. 

The  scene  was  a  very  brilliant  one.  The  figures  were  the  Queen  in  royal 
attire,  with  the  great  officers  of  state  in  their  robes,  the  Bishops  in  their  robes 
and  mitres,  the  Judges  in  wigs  and  robes,  the  Lords  in  scarlet  robes,  and  the 
Peeresses  in  magnificent  costumes,  all  arranged  with  the  art  of  a  tableau. 

The  Queen  read  the  speech,  sitting;  and  read  it  beautifully. 

After  this  scene  closed,  I  listened  to  debate,  in  both  Houses,  until  eight, 
dined  then  with  Mr.  Morgan,  the  American  banker  of  the  firm  of  Peabody, 
and  a  large  party  of  Americans;  then  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
heard  a  splendid  and  vigorous  debate,  which  continued  until  midnight. 

I  presented  myself  at  eight  o’clock  this  evening  at  the  house  of  Cardinal 
Wiseman,  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Westminster,  in  chapeau  and 
with  sword  at  my  side.  I  was  obliged  to  dress  for  the  Queen’s  Ball,  before 
going  to  dinner.  The  Cardinal  had  a  large  parfy  of  Catholic  Bishops,  Priests 
and  laymen.  He  is  a  very  able  and  agreeable  man.  At  half-past  nine,  I  was 
at  Buckingham  Palace.  The  doors  of  the  ball-room  were  opened  at  ten;  and 
I  attended  the  diplomatic  body,  as  they  passed  before  the  Queen  and  Royal 
family.  Each  bowed  to  Her  Majesty,  and  the  Princesses  and  Prince  Consort, 
and  each  received  a  gracious  salutation.  The  Prince  Consort  gave  me  a  cor¬ 
dial  greeting.  Every  one  who  entered  the  room,  and  there  were  one  thousand 
or  fifteen  hundred,  saluted  the  Queen  at  some  stage  of  the  evening,  always 
between  the  dances. 

The  ball  was  like  many  balls.  The  Queen  danced  gaily  and  joyously  many 
hours.  At  twelve,  there  was  supper,  after  which  I  ranged  through  the  draw¬ 
ing-rooms;  and  was  surprised  to  find  that  I  had  already  a  very  large  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  great  and  fashionable  ones  of  this  metropolis. 

To-day  I  have  witnessed  the  most  impressive  pageant  I  ever  saw.  The  charity 
scholars  of  all  the  schools  in  London  (five  thousand  in  all),  gathered  and  dressed 


374 


DEBATES  IN  PARLIAMENT. 


[1859. 


t 

in  their  neat  and  tasteful  dresses,  and  decorated  with  flowers,  in  St.  Paul’s 
Cathedral,  on  seats  on  every  side,  rising  from  the  floor  to  the  base  of  the  dome, 
while  the  vast  nave  and  transept  were  tilled  with  ten  thousand  spectators. 

A  sublime  service  with  noble  music  was  performed;  the  children  joining 
their  rich  and  earnest  voices  to  those  of  the  choir,  and  the  great  organ  accom¬ 
panying  the  sacred  song. 

I  dined  with  a  large  party  composed  of  Whig  and  Tory  statesmen  and 
ladies,  at  Lord  Lyndhurst’s,  who  has  been  eminently  courteous  toward  me. 
Among  the  party  were  Lord  and  Lady  Clarendon,  and  Lord  Malmsbury.  I 
went  thence  to  a  party  at  Lord  Stanley’s,  and  then  to  still  another  at  Mrs. 
Gladstone’s.  Besides  these  occujiations,  I  have  been  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

On  Friday  night  I  attended  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  great  debate, 
which,  at  a  late  hour,  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Ministry,  leaving  it  only 
for  dinner.  I  had  already  heard  Lord  Palmerson,  Mr.  D’lsraeli  and  others, 
and  now  I  heard  John  Bright,  the  great  leader  of  the  Radical  party. 

Saturday  was  the  Queen’s  drawing-room.  How  shall  I  make  you  understand 
this  ceremony  ?  It  came  off  at  two  o’clock,  here  called  the  “  early  morning.” 
All  the  great  officers  of  state,  all  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  and  all  the  nobility  and 
gentry  who  will  have  been  presented,  as  well  as  all  strangers  who  have  been 
before  recognized  at  court  —  attended  uninvited,  and  as  a  matter  of  courtesy 
and  respect. 

On  this  occasion,  also,  new  presentations  were  made,  and  all  public  officers 
retiring  from  official  trusts  are  received  and  recognized. 

Imagine  a  long  suite  of  state  chambers  filled  with  two  thousand  gentlemen 
and  ladies,  their  costumes  distinguishing  their  public  employments,  rank, 
etc.  Beyond  all  this,  is  an  immense  salon;  on  a  dais  at  the  upper  end  stands 
the  Queen,  attended  by  the  court.  The  Ministry  and  Diplomatic  Corps  ad¬ 
vance  from  the  ante-chamber,  enter  the  salon,  and  pass  in  review  before  Her 
Majesty,  in  long  single  files.  Each  one  bows,  and  receives  a  royal  salutation. 
In  this  procession  I  passed,  receiving  a  cordial  shaking  of  the  hand,  and  kind 
words  from  the  Prince  Consort,  with  the  usual  recognition  of  the  Queen. 

After  this,  ladies,  each  with  a  long,  flowing  train,  made  of  material  and  form 
to  suit  her  taste,  passed  in  a  similar  procession.  When  the  whole  two  thousand 
have  passed,  all  first  entered  leaving  the  palace  first,  all  is  over,  the  drawing¬ 
room  is  ended;  and  the  Court  Journal  next  day  announces  every  title  that  was 
wTorn  by  the  visitors. 

Where  and  what  is  Rowfant,  and  what  am  I  doing  here  ? 

Rowfant  is  an  estate  midway  between  London  and  Brighton.  Ten  years  ago 
the  estate  was  bought  by  Mr.  Lampson,  an  American  fur  merchant,  who  now 
enjoys  it.  There  is  a  house  six  hundred  years  old,  with  a  lawn  half  a  mile  in 
diameter,  with  trees,  shubbery,  lake,  statuary,  etc.  —  avenues  of  Linden  trees, 
an  old  beech  filled  with  rooks,  a  grove  from  which  I  heard  last  night  the  song 
of  the  nightingale.  A  swan  attends  me  in  my  wralks  along  the  lake  shore,  wait¬ 
ing  for  me  to  feed  her. 


1859.] 


AT  OXFORD. 


375 


I  came  out  here  on  Saturday  night,  attended  a  dinner-party,  went  to  the 
parish  church  yesterday  morning,  strolled  around  the  apparently  limitless 
fields  in  the  afternoon,  and  slept  here  again  last  night. 

One  hundred  and  eighty  acres  are  surrendered  to  the  rabbits,  which  have 
burrowed  swards  thrown  up  in  all  directions.  They  gambol  there  all  day 
long  —  three  or  four  thousand  of  them  —  in  undisturbed  security. 

Five  hundred  acres,  chiefly  wooded,  are  given  up  to  the  pheasants,  which 
are  raised  from  eggs  found  in  the  woods,  and  hatched  out  by  common  barn¬ 
yard  hens,  in  little  coops.  These  rabbit  warrens  and  pheasant  preserves  are 
the  hunting-fields  of  the  gentlemen  of  England  in  the  autumn.  And  this 
description,  imperfect  as  it  is,  will  give  you  some  idea  of  the  mode  of  rural 
life,  by  the  rich  and  prosperous  in  England  • 

At  night  I  attended  a  small  party  given  by  Madame  Delapierre,  the  wife  of 
the  Belgian  Consul.  The  company  were  chiefly  literary  persons  and  artists.  I 
met  among  them  the  French  Red  Republican  exile,  Louis  Blanc.  He  is  very 
small,  and  in  figure  and  shape  resembles  Mr.  Douglas  of  Illinois.  His  ex¬ 
pression  is  that  of  an  honest  gentleman,  as  indeed  he  is. 

I  heard  music  that  almost  ravished  me,  and  one  of  the  pieces  was  a  song  of 
Longfellow’s. 

”■ . 

I  took  my  seat  on  Saturday  morning  in  the  train  for  Oxford,  delivered  a 
letter  or  two,  found  that  my  arrival  was  expected,  and  immediately  on  my 
arrival  was  taken  through  the  famous  Bodleian  Library,  one  of  the  greatest  in 
the  world;  then  through  the  Radcliffe  Library,  little  less  ambitious;  then  to 
the  great  Museum  of  Natural  Science;  then  to  dinner  with  the  Professor  of 
Chemistry;  then  through  ancient  halls  and  chapels,  and  to  the  summit  of 
many  ancient  and  unique  Gothic  towers;  then  to  a  musical  party  by  the 
under-graduates;  and  then,  wearied  to  the  verge  of  death,  "consigned  to  a 
luxurious  bed  at  the  Vice-Chancellor’s.  I  began  the  next  morning,  Sunday, 
with  attendance  at  the  bidding  to  prayers,  and  a  service  at  All  Souls’,  an  an¬ 
nual  sermon  to  establish  and  maintain  the  doctrine  of  t lie  Trinity.  This  over, 

I  strolled  in  the  gardens  of  the  New  College  (five  hundred  years  old)  the  walls 
of  which  wrere  the  defenses  of  Charles  I,  when  he  held  his  Court  here,  and 
stood  the  siege  of  Cromwell ;  thence  to  morning  prayer,  at  Corpus  Christi,  at 
one,  then  to  luncheon  at  the  Dean’s  (of  Christ  Church)  with  a  very  intellect¬ 
ual  party.  Thence  to  bidding  to  prayers,  and  a  sermon,  by  Dr.  Milman,  the 
reverend  and  excellent  Dean  of  St/Paul’s  of  London ;  and  then  to  evening 
prayer  at  the  University  Chapel,  celebrated  by  a  full  choir  at  five,  all  the  Uni¬ 
versity  appearing  in  their  places,  and  in  their  ecclesiastical  and  academic  robes. 

There  I  sat,  face  to  face  with  Dr.  Pusey,  a  canon  of  Christ  Church,  and, 
afterward,  I  conversed  with  his  daughter  and  his  niece.  Little  did  they  seem 
to  know  the  commotion  his  opinions  had  excited  across  the  sea.  The  day 
closed  with  a  very  intellectual  dinner-party  at  the  Vice-Chancellor's,  Dr.  Jen- 
nes’,  in  which  as  tne  representative  of  the  Republican  party  of  the  United 
States,  on  which  the  hopes  of  freedom  rest,  I  had  much  attention. 

The  next  morning,  Monday,  I  strolled  alone,  to  walk  on  the  banks  of  the 


376 


AT  OXFORD. 


[1859. 


Isis,  amid  the  groves  once  the  walks  of  Addison ;  and  I  returned  to  my  lodg¬ 
ings  over  the  ground  where  Latimer.  Cranmer,  and  Ridley  surrendered  their 
bodies  to  the  flames  in  proof  of  their  devotion  to  the  Protestant  religion. 

There  are  nineteen  colleges  in  the  University  at  Oxford.  They  are  all 
Gothic,  and  nearly  all  were  founded  by  Catholic  kings  or  bishops.  Antiquity 
<•  lends  them  a  deep  interest. 

History  records  the  trials  of  faith  and  the  contests  of  creeds,  even  to  the 
stake,  and  to  the  siege;  and  now  they  are  all  birthplaces  of  the  Hierarchy, 
and  the  Aristocracy  of  this  great  realm  of  England.  Nevertheless,  the  spirit 
of  the  ae;e  maintains  an  earnest  debate  with  that  of  Conservatism,  at  Oxford. 

Academic  elements  prevailing  here  have  given  character  to  the  whole  town. 
The  town,  indeed,  is  nothing — the  University  is  every  thing. 

Each  college  preserves,  proudly,  the  memorials  of  its  pupils  who  have  won 
distinction,  and  these 'memorials  are  pictures  and  monuments.  Trinity  Col¬ 
lege  has  exquisite  full  length  statues  of  Newton,  Bacon,  and  Byron. 

At  Christ  College,  I  read  the  authentic  record  of  John  Milton’s  admission 
as  a  pensioner,  in  1624,  on  the  payment  of  the  initiation  fee  of  ten  shillings. 
I  saw,  also,  a  mulberry  tree,  planted  by  his  hand,  and  still  most  sedulously 
preserved,  and  even  a  clay  cast,  taken  by  moulding,  from  his  head,  while  living. 

The  most  interesting  things  in  the  various  libraries  are  manuscripts.  There 
are,  besides  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  written  before  the  age  of  printing,  the 
very  manuscripts  of  Bacon,  Newton,  and  Milton,  in  their  own  handwriting. 
And  here  are  two  leaves  taken  fresh  by  my  own  hand,  from  the  mulberry  tree 
planted  by  the  author  of  Paradise  Lost. 

An  organ-grinder  under  my  window  solicits  me  in  vain .  I  have  resisted 
greater  attractions  than  his  to-day  —  the  orchestra  of  Punch  and  Judy,  as 
well  as  a  free  two  guinea  ticket  to  the  Handel  Celebration,  at  the  Crystal 
Palace,  honored  by  the  presence  of  Her  Majesty.  What  did  tempt  me  to  the 
latter  place,  was  the  remembrance  of  the  birds,  which  live  free,  and  sing 
merrily  under  the  roof  of  glass,  and  nestle  in  the  trees  and  blossoms. 

Yesterday  I  began  making  serious  preparations  for  departure  from  the  city, 
by  making  T.  T.  L.  calls.  For  once,  I  found  nearly  everybody  at  home,  and 
inclined  to  long  converse.  Among  new  acquaintances  formed,  wrere  Sir  Charles 
Wood,  the  new  Minister  for  India,  and  Lord  and  Lady  Kinnaird  of  Scotland, 
very  estimable  people.  My  friends,  Lord  and  Lady  Hatherton,  have  given 
me  letters  for  the  manufacturing  districts;  and  dismissed  me  with  cordial 
adieux. 

To-day,  after  a  visit  to  Lord  Napier,  and  three  or  four  parting  calls,  I  went 
by  railroad  ten  miles  to  Barnet,  where  Miss  Bird  met  me  in  a  wagon,  and 
drove  me  through  fields  and  meadows  as  attractive  as  our  own,  by  a  circuitous 
route  to  her  mother’s  cottage,  which  looks  out  on  the  public  common.  I 
walked  under  an  old  lime,  under  which  Latimer  preached  the  Reformation,  to 
the  crowds  who  came  to  hear  the  gospel  taught  in  spirit  and  in  truth — just 


1859.] 


LEAVE-TAKING. 


377 


before  his  terrible  and  fearful  death.  And  I  stood  on  the  spot  where  Warwick 
the  King-maker  paid,  at  last,  the  forfeit  of  his  unchastened  and  unconquerable 
ambition. 

I  dined  on  Friday  evening  at  the  Duke  of  Devonshire’s.  He  is  the  father 
of  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish,  whom  you  saw  at  our  house  in  Washington. 
He  belongs  to  the  Liberal  party,  and  his  family  are  very  active,  as  they  are 
numerous.  Of  all  the  gentlemen  I  have  met  in  England,  no  one  has  more 
favorably  impressed  me,  by  his  earnestness  of  interest  in  the  advance  of 
society,  as  well  as  by  the  unaffected  modesty  of  his  address  and  deportment. 

Among  the  party  were  the  Carlisles  and  Shaftsburys,  Sir  Charles,  who  is  a 
model  man,  and  many  noble  ladies  of  winning  ways  and  pleasing  conversation. 
But  the  character  of  the  party  was  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  the  architect  of  Crystal 
Palace.  I  was  not  mistaken  in  thinking  that  he  wTho  could  project  and  exe¬ 
cute  that  wonderful  monument  of  convenience,  taste,  and  beauty  could  not 
fail  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  the  age.  I  confess  to  some  self-exultation,  for  a 
moment,  when  I  found  him  advancing  speculations  on  the  ultimate  results  of 
recent  scientific  discoveries,  which  I  had  myself  thrown  out,  to  the  alarm  and 
consternation  of  many  a  sceptical  and  timid  conservative.  Nor  can  I  omit  to 
say,  for  this  once,  to  yourself,  and  to  yourself  alone,  that  there  is  a  recompense 
for  long  years  of  endurance  of  contumely  at  home,  in  the  universal  respect 
and  sympathy  which  my  poor  efforts  for,  freedom  and  humanity,  there,  have 
won  for  me  here. 

Saturday  I  devoted  to  another  effort  at  leave-taking  of  my  friends,  but  with 
bad,  though  not  sad  success.  Everybody  was  at  home;  everybody  willing  to 
hear,  and  apparently  anxious  for  my  stay.  I  made  six  calls.  Among  them 
was  the  Duchess  of  Inverness  —  General  Gore’s  family  —  Mr.  Seniors’,  etc.  At 
night  I  saw  everybody  at  Lady  Palmerston’s,  and  so  ended  the  week. 

The  last  day  in  London,  and  the  busiest!  I  must  write  hurriedly.  Lord 
Napier  talked  of  his  past,  present,  and  future,  with  me  confidingly,  and  affec¬ 
tionately.  We  shall  separate  accidentally,  and  without  leave-taking.  His 
friendship  has  been  earnest  and  untiring. 

At  church  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  the  morning.  A  half  hour’s  stroll 
after  it  among  the  monuments  of  poets  and  kings.  The  very  pavement  of  the 
Abbey  is  of  monumental  marble ;  the  walls,  chapels,  windows,  crypts  are  filled 
with  monumental  statues  and  slabs;  and  these  generally  so  cheerful  in  form 
*  or  spirit,  that  the  Abbey  seems  to  be  filled  with  the  spiritualized  heroes,  sages, 
philosophers,  poets  of  former  ages.  You  almost  seem  to  converse  with  them. 

After  church,  a  most  kind  and  gracious  parting  interview  with  the  Duchess 
of  Sutherland,  a  true  and  noble  woman,  who  has  vindicated,  by  her  devotion 
to  truth,  humanity,  and  justice,  her  hereditary  position.  Her  good  wishes  are 
a  trophy  worth  carrying  away  from  this  confused  and  hurried  metropolis. 

In  the  evening  a  dinner-party  at  Sir  Frederick  Pollock’s  at  his  seat  ten  miles 


v 


378 


LEAVING  LONDON. 


[1859. 

from  London,  on  Hounslow  Heath.  A  dreary  spot,  wrought  with  magical  art 
into  an  almost  tropical  home;  and  there  were  genial  spirits  there,  whose  con¬ 
verse  I  profited  by.  Principal  among  them  all,  his  maiden  daughter,  too  good 
and  too  intelligent  to  be  appreciated  by  the  fast  young  men  of  London  society. 
Then  I  feasted  pleasantly  on  the  very  spot  where  stood,  in  by-gone  hours,  the 
hostelry  in  which  Dick  Turpin  divided  the  spoils  of  robbery  with  his  band. 

At  eleven  o’clock,  returned  to  the  city,  I  fell  into  the  Metropolitan  Club. 
And  what  a  gathering  was  there  —  all  on  an  equality  —  authors,  poets,  painters, 
historians,  princes,  and  diplomats  !  There  was  Elgin,  and  Phillips,  the  por¬ 
trait-painter,  Higgins,  of  the  Times,  and  Lord  Wodehouse,  the  caricaturist  of 
Punch,  and  the  Prince  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  Reeves,  editor  of  the  Edinburgh 
Review ,  and  Monckton  Milnes;  and  I  was  not  only  among  them,  but  of  them; 
and  I  wondered  that  it  was  so  late  when  I  found  my  place  there. 


A  white  bait  dinner  at  Greenwich  is  a  feast  of  sense;  but  when  you  are  sur¬ 
rounded  by  the  wits  of  London,  it  is  a  festival  also  of  soul.  How  I  grew  fast 
to  some  of  the  generous  spirits  there  !  Yesterday  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  made  a  very  small  party,  to  visit  the  Great  Eastern  steamship, 
now  in  very  rapid  process  of  completion.  Among  the  party  were  Lady  Walde- 
grave,  daughter  and  son,  Lord  and  Lady  Elgin  and  the  Chief  Justice  of  Aus¬ 
tralia.  Of  this  monstrous  ship,  I  will  only  say  that  her  dimensions  are  so  un¬ 
usual,  and  her  parts},  so  great,  that  I  could  not  keep  my  mind  steady  in  the 
remembrance  that  the  structure  was  a  ship  or  vehicle  for  locomotion.  It 
seemed  rather  like  a  great  palace,  or  town. 

At  five,  I  turned  my  recreant  feet  from  obeying  the  Queen’s  gracious  com¬ 
mands  to  a  ball,  and  invitations  to  dinner-parties,  and  concerts  for  the  next 
month,  and  took  the  railroad  for  this  place,  where  I  arrived  at  half-past  eight, 
in  the  rain,  dined,  and  retired  at  half-past  ten.  How  delightful  it  was  to  wake 
up  to  a  bright  sunshine  and  the  music  of  birds,  at  five  o’clock  in  the  country, 
and  feel  once  more  that  I  was  free. 

Warwick  Castle  is  an  old  baronial  seat,  renowned  in  history,  as  you  already 
know.  You  still  pass  by,  though  not  under  the  gates  of  the  walls.  The  gates 
are  well  preserved,  the  wall  nearly  gone.  The  castle  is  a  noble  pile,  its  walls 
and  buttresses  and  towers  still  perfect,  and  looking  majestically  down  on  the 
Avon.  The  castle,  after  submitting  to  the  mischances  of  civil  war  many  hun¬ 
dred  years,  at  length  became  untenable,  and  was  going  to  ruin,  when  a  mod¬ 
ern  invpntor  repaired,  renewed,  and  restored  it  in  its  original  forms  and  char¬ 
acter.  Its  gardens  and  lawns  are  magnificently  beautiful  and  spacious.  Its 
apartments  suited  to  the  taste  and  wealth  of  a  prince,  and  filled  with  armor 
hereditary  in  the  family,  and  gathered  from  all  battle-fields  in  all  countries  — 
in  all  times.  So,  also,  with  statuary  and  paintings  of  every  school  and  of  every 
age.  There  are  antiques  from  Rome,  Greece,  from  modern  Italy,  Holland, 
Venice,  and  there  is  Power’s  “Prospero.”  There  are  antique  relics  from  the 
Crusaders,  and  the  bed  of  Queen  Anne. 

The  castle  is  suggestive  of  the  power  and  pride  of  the  nobility  of  England 


1859.] 


AT  STRATFORD-ON-AVON. 


379 


in  its  rudest  state  —  its  martial  one  — but  it  is  still  the  tasteful  home,  illustra¬ 
tive  of  the  wealth  and  refinement  of  the  modern  aristocracy  of  Britain. 


This  is  Kenilworth.  It  is  royal  in  its  dimensions,  and  magnificent  in  pro¬ 
portions.  Built  around  three  sides  of  a  square,  of  cut  free-stone,  it  incloses  a 
space  of  five  acres.  Its  towers  are  square,  and  high,  and  once  were  strong • 
The  masonry  is  fine,  and  the  style  ornamental.  But  Kenilworth  is  now  only 
a  ruin.  You  stand  in  spacious  squares,  halls,  and  chapels,  and  even  ascend 
winding  stairs  in  towers,  but  you  look  through  windows  and  doors,  unob¬ 
structed,  and  out  into  the  open  sky.  There  is  no  roof;  the  ivy  luxuriates 
everywhere,  and  even  large  trees  stand,  sure  and  firm,  on  the  very  arches  of 
the  portals.  What  a  royal  gift  it  was  to  Leicester !  And  there  is  his  marble 
fire-place,  bearing  his  arms  and  name,  interwoven  with  those  of  Elizabeth. 

Seen  from  any  front,  in  any  light,  Kenilworth  is  wonderful.  It  tells,  how¬ 
ever,  of  royalty  while  it  was  yet  a  power  in  England,  and  of  aristocracy  while 
it  was  yet  unconscious  of  mortality.  There  is  scarcely  a  nobleman  in  England 
who  could  now  build  such  a  house.  There  certainly  is  not  one  who  could  close 
its  gates  to  the  common  people,  much  less  oppress  them.  Such  structures  will 
be  built  no  more,  and  an  hundred  years  hence  the  aristocracy  will  have  crumbled 
into  ruins  as  mournful  as  these  castles. 


This  pretty,  but  quaint  old  village  is  Stratford-on-Avon.  I  am  now  in  the 
low,  upper  chamber,  built  of  logs  and  stone,  where  the  wizard  youth  was  born. 
It  has  been  saved  entire.  Now,  I  am  sitting  in  the  chimney-corner,  against 
the  bacon-cupboard,  where  he  sat  by  the  winter’s  fire,  and  learned  the  fairy 
and  witch  stories,  and  the  tragical  histories,  which  he  wrought  up  into  such 
wonderful  instruction  for  mankind.  Blessed  be  that  old  fire-place  —  may  it  be 
kept  forever! 

And  here  are  his  dressing-case,  his  table,  his  bureau,  his  iron  strong-box, 
that  held  his  will,  deposited  therein  by  his  own  hand,  and  here  are  boxes 
curiously  wrought  of  a  tree  planted  by  his  own  hand. 

Through  the  meadows  a  mile  or  two  —  and  now  I  am  drinking  from  the 
very  spring  that  Ann  Hathaway  drew  water  from,  to  give  to  her  Will  when 
he  came  a-courting.  The  cup  is  given  to  me  by  the  hand  of  a  collateral  de¬ 
scendant.  yet  named  Hathaway  —  and  she  speaks  the  Warwickshire  dialect  that 
Ann  did — she  says  “art”  for  heart,  and  “  Hann  ”  for  Ann.  She  is  poor, 
but  the  fees  of  pilgrims  make  her  comfortable. 

Here  is  a  bedstead  as  old  as  Shakespeare’s  day,  and  here  are  carefully  pre¬ 
served  linen  sheets  and  pillow-cases  spun  and  worked  by  Ann  herself.  Strat¬ 
ford  is  reviving  on  the  revenue  derived  from  the  pilgrims,  of  whom  the  Ameri¬ 
cans  constitute  a  large  portion.  I  met  seven  there  to-day. 

Hampton-Lucy  was  the  seat  of  Sir  Thomas  Lucy,  from  whose  park  it  is  said 
that  Shakespeare,  in  his  boyish  days,  stole  the  deer  and  was  prosecuted  —  a 
punishment  which  he  retaliated,  by  giving  immortality  to  the  prosecutor  and 
magistrate,  in  the  character  of  “Justice  Shallow.” 


380 


THE  ENGLISH  LAKES. 


[1859. 


The  Lucy  family  still  inherit  this  magnificent  estate,  and  recently  it  was  de¬ 
scribed  by  Washington  Irving  in  “  Bracebridge  Hall.”  It  is  a  beautiful 
park  —  the  trees  as  old  as  the  adventure  of  the  poet  —  and  it  is  filled  with 
deer  now,  for  with  these  eyes,  I  saw  many —  but  I  will  not  swear  that  any  of 
them  were  lineal  descendants  from  the  buck  or  doe  that  cost  Shakespeare  so 
much,  and  the  knight  so  much  more. 

Birmingham  is  an  immense  town.  Long  before  you  enter  it,  you  see  stacks  of 
manufacturers’  chimneys  towering  into  air,  in  all  directions,  and  a  dense  coal- 
smoke  envelops  the  city  as  a  cloud.  But  it  would  be  more  proper  to  call  Bir¬ 
mingham  a  district,  than  a  city.  Its  suburbs,  devoted  to  manufacture,  extend 
through  a  circle  of  thirty  miles  in  diameter,  and  the  intervening  space  seems  in¬ 
considerable.  I  am  here  this  morning  to  study  the  manufactures.  My  task  is 
an  herculean  one.  All  day  long,  from  ten  until  six,  I  was  occupied  in  passing 
through,  and  examining  only  the  works  of  Mr.  Ostler,  a  cut-glass  manufac¬ 
turer,  and  Mr.  Chance,  a  manufacturer  of  chemicals  and  glass.  In  these  de¬ 
partments,  eighteen  hundred  persons  are  employed  daily,  and  the  production 
is  immense.  I  have  learned,  I  think,  two  things  already  —  first,  that  manu¬ 
facturers  in  the  United  States  have  a  hard  competition  with  the  numerous 
establishments  here,  which  have  secured  a  large  trade  throughout  the  world ; 
and,  second,  that  the  manufacturing  population  of  England  are  its  only  real 
republicans.  Here  is  the  seat  of  that  firm  antagonism  to  the  landed  aristoc¬ 
racy,  which  is  working  steadily,  aud  right  on,  but  only  imperceptibly,  a  polit¬ 
ical  change  in  Great  Britain.  So  true  it  is  that  if  men  are  trained  only  to 
mechanical  arts,  they  become  soon  self-governing,  or  in  other  wTords,  repub¬ 
lican. 

The  English  lakes  deserve  the  celebrity  and  affection  they  receive  at  the 
hands,  of  Englishmen,  for,  to  say  the  truth,  the  southern  midland  portion  of 
their  island  is  very  monotonous. 

Greenwood  Lake,  in  Orange  county,  Lake  George,  and  the  Thousand  Islands, 
far  surpass  any  thing  in  this  island,  in  native  richness  and  beauty ;  and  even 
our  loved  lakes  at  home  are  more  varied  and  attractive,  as  will  be  seen,  fifty 
years  hence,  when  genius  shall  have  consecrated  them,  as  it  has  done  the  Eng¬ 
lish  lakes,  for  the  worship  of  fashion. 

I  saw  the  home  of  Hemans,  of  Christopher  North,  and  of  Wordsworth,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Lake  Windermere,  and  I  reverence  it  for  these  noble  associa¬ 
tions. 

But  I  went  there  not  to  see  the  deserted  haunts  of  poets,  much  less  to  study 
the  natural  beauties  of  the  lakes,  but  for  a  different  purpose,  namely,  to  see 
an  intellectual  and  noble  woman,  Harriet  Martineau. 

I  find  her  residence  at  Ambleside,  the  head  of  the  lake,  a  quaint  village,  of 
black  slate-stone,  without  mortar.  A  few  years  ago,  a  mere  hamlet,  now  hav¬ 
ing  all  the  bustle  and  energetic  trifling  of  the  Catskill  Mountains,  or  Lake 
George,  or  other  summer  resorts  of  the  pleasure-seekers.  Having  secured  a 
“bed-room  ”  (so  they  say  here)  at  the  “  Salutation  ”  Inn,  and  ordered  dinner, 
I  doffed  my  sheep’s  gray  tourist’s  garb ;  and  donning  a  black  coat  and  waist- 


1859.] 


HARRIET  MARTINEAU. 


381 


coat,  presented  myself  at  a  neat,  cottage  home,  which  I  reached  through 
winding  lanes,  bordered  by  flowering  shrubs  and  roses  and  which  looked 
over  a  lawn  down  upon  Lake  Windermere. 

“  Does  Miss  Martineau  live  here  ?  ” 

“  She  does.’’ 

“Is  she  at  home?  ” 

“  She  is.” 

“  I  have  called  to  inquire  whether  she  would  see  me?’’ 

“  You  are  aware  that  Miss  Martineau  is  an  invalid,  and  obliged  to  deny  her¬ 
self  to  societv  ?  ” 

«/ 

“Yes;  and  I  did  not  expect  that  she  wrould  receive  me,  now,  but  I  had  a 
hope  that,  at  some  time  during  my  stay  here,  she  might  not  be  unable,  or  un¬ 
willing  to  see  me.  Please  give  her  this  letter,  with  my  card,  and  I  will  wait 
to  know  her  pleasure.” 

The  letter  and  card  were  delivered.  Miss  Martineau,  a  niece,  appeared. 

“My  aunt  will  be  delighted  to  receive  you;  and  she  has  been  looking  for 
you,  but  just  now,  she  is  more  than  usually  unwell.” 

“Perhaps,  to-morrow,”  said  I. 

“Oh,  no,  an  hour  or  two  hence  —  say  eight  o’clock.” 

And  at  that  hour,  I  was  there  again.  Miss  Martineau  received  me  in  the 
drawing-room,  where  she  was  seated,  and  excused  herself  on  the  ground  of 
being  unable  to  rise. 

She  appears  florid,  and  really  handsome,  something  past  sixty,  a  benevolent 
countenance,  with  matronly  ways  and  manner. 

She  applied  her  ear  trumpet;  and  wTe  talked  right  on,  an  hour  and  a  half, 
chiefly,  of  course,  about  the  great  American  question.  Her  intercourse  lias 
been  chiefly  with  Garrisonian  Abolitionists,  and  she  spoke  almost  constantly 
from  their  standpoint,  and,  of  course,  she  wras  very  despondent.  I  gave  her 
my  own  more  practical  views,  and  spoke,  of  course,  hopefully,  if  not  confi¬ 
dently.  She  betrayed,  or  rather  confessed,  an  opinion,  that  I  was  a  politi¬ 
cian,  rather  than  an  abolitionist  of  her  school.  I  explained  to  her,  that  there 
was  need  of  organizers  of  the  anti-slavery  movement,  as  well  as  dis-organizers 
of  the  pro-slavery  forces,  and  that  I  believed  even  Theodore  Parker  and  Wen¬ 
dell  Phillips  were  content  that  I  should  act  in  my  own  way.  She  readily  un¬ 
derstood  and  accepted  all  these  explanations.  Then  asked  about  our  prospects 
of  Republican  success  next  year,  adding: 

“I  know  your  interest  in  it.” 

I  replied  that  I  did  not  have  any  assurance  of  such  an  interest,  as  she  al¬ 
luded  to,  nor  was  I  so  sanguine  as  others  wTere  of  success  next  year,  for  the 
cause;  but  that  I  was  sure  of  onward  progress,  and  of  ultimate  triumph.  At 
length,  she  said : 

“  You  will  not  go  away  to-morrow;  you  will  come  back.”  I  replied  that 
probably  I  could  do  neither,  which  I,  nevertheless,  deeply  regretted. 

She  said:  “My  strength  is  giving  out.  I  have  several  days  been  much 
worse;  and  I  must  forego  this  conversation  now.  You  know  what  is  the 
matter  with  me  ?  ” 


\ 


“No.” 


382 


IN  SCOTLAND. 


[1859. 


“  It  is  enlargement  of  the  heart,  and  conversation  exhausts  me.  It  is  not 
nervousness  at  all.  It  is  an  incurable  disease.  I  only  abide  its  ultimate  de¬ 
velopment;  but  I  am  cheerful.  I  should,  indeed,  be  better,  if  I  did  not  work, 
but  we  can’t  help  but  work  when  there  is  so  much  to  be  done.” 

She  took  up  some  ornamental  embroidery,  or  needlework,  that  lay  before 
her,  and  said: 

“  I  have  made  seventy  pounds  ($350)  this  season,  by  such  work,  for  the 
Abolition  cause,  and  that  will  go  a  good  way,  you  know,  in  sustaining  papers 
and  lectures.” 

I  bade  her  adieu  at  ten  o’clock,  with  sentiments  of  increased  respect  and 
affection . 

No  sooner  had  I  passed  Carlisle,  than  mountains,  naked  of  timber,  and 
sometimes  even  of  heather,  with  intervening  valleys,  in  which  people  were 
cutting  out  peat  for  fuel,  surrounded  me.  The  conversation  of  the  people 
became  more  provincial;  the  men  and  women  wore  more  angular  countenances, 
and  were  dressed  less  studiously ;  bare-foot  children  were  running  about  at  the 
stations;  and  I  learned  from  all  these  indications,  that  I  was  entering  Scot¬ 
land.  Tall  chimneys,  and  coarse  stacks  of  buildings  appeared  frequently,  on 
either  side,  rising  above  the  ruins  of  baronial  castles.  The  neat  and  luxurious 
hedges,  so  universal  in  England,  gave  place  to  mighty  stone  walls,  and  the 
eye  could  discern  mountain  slopes  of  ten  miles  in  length,  unobstructed  by 
groves  or  trees.  The  sheep  were  seen  on  the  summits  of  the  hills,  in  infinite 
numbers,  and  every  thing  looked  as  if  nature  had  denied  to  this  region,  just 
in  proportion  as  she  had  blessed  the  other  parts  of  the  island.  While  I  was 
meditating  on  this  inequality,  and  the  sun  was  setting  (at  nine  o’clock)  on 
Glasgow,  its  departing  rays  shot  upward,  and  illuminated  a  cloud  that  hung 
over  the  city. 

Glasgow  had  been  renewed  and  exalted  within  the  period  of  twenty-six  years 
that  had  occurred  since  my  former  visit.  Now  for  a  distance  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  around  it  forges,  furnaces,  and  other  huge  structures  fill  up  the 
scene,  not  merely  crowding  the  valleys,  but  climbing  the  hills  on  all  sides. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  green  earth.  But  everywhere  multitudes  of  men  and 
engines  were  tearing  up  the  ground  to  its  very  foundations,  and  melting  them, 
or  dissipating  them  into  ashes,  in  ten  thousand  fires  that  climbed  to  the  sky, 
amid  wreaths  of  heavy  and  impenetrable  smoke,  which  blackened  the  earth 
below. 


Great  Britain,  like  our  own  country,  has  had  forty  years  of  peace;  and  this 
development  of  art  and  industry  is  the  use  she  has  made  of  it.  She  makes  all 
America,  and  Asia,  and  Africa  tributary  to  her  work-shops;  and  her  people, 
now  prosperous,  contented,  and  happy,  remain  at  home.  Well  does  she  insist 
that  Germany  shall  not  draw  her  into  the  vortex  of  warthat  has  already  alien¬ 
ated  France  and  Austria.  For  the  fires  of  her  forges  will  go  out  when  she 
shall  seize  the  torch  of  war. 

Standing  here  as  I  do,  and  looking  with  American  eyes  on  what  I  see,  the 


1859.] 


SCOTLAND. 


383 


war  in  Europe  seems  to  me  less  a  war  between  nations,  than  a  civil  war;  for 
the  European  states,  though  not  politically  united,  like  the  American  states, 
are  nevertheless  in  fact  one  great  commonwealth. 

Stirling  Castle,  at  the  distance  of  five  miles,  seems  identified  with,  and  a 
part  of,  the  high  crag  on  which  it  hangs  —  a  bleak  and  weather-beaten  mon¬ 
ument  of  the  obsolete  vices  and  crimes  of  ages  gone  by. 

On  the  north,  the  Grampian  Hills  bound  the  prospect  from  the  one  end  to 
the  other  of  the  horizon.  There  is  Ben  Ledi  and  Ben  Lomond,  and  beyond 
them  are  Loch  Lomond  and  Loch  Katrine  —  at  either  end  of  the  range  lie  the 
two  great  cities  of  this  wonderful  people  —  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh. 

'  » 

The  ruined  castle  of  Donne  stands  near  the  quaint  old  town  of  that  name, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Leith.  It  belongs  to  the  Earl  of  Murray;  but  was  seized, 
and  partly  barricaded  by  the  Pretender  in  1745,  who  remained  a  while.  The 
Kings  and  Queens  of  Scotland  immortalized  it  by  their  visits  there ;  and  it 
traces  its  history  back  to  the  reign  of  Macbeth,  whose  son  is  believed  to  have 
built  it. 

I 

After  leaving  Donne,  we  came  around  through  the  narrow  streets,  and 
thatch-covered  cottages  of  Dumblane.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that,  al¬ 
though  everybody  there  was  eloquent  as  I,  in  the  recitation  of  the  charms  of 
Jessie,  there  was  no  one  who  could  identify  th q  parterre  in  which  the  “Flower 
of  Dumblane  ”  had  blossomed  and  perished. 


My  day  of  sight-seeing  closed  with  a  promenade  under  the  gates  and  through 
the  mysterious  chambers,  and  upon  the  walls  of  Stirling  Castle,  memorable  for 
the  birth,  baptism,  marriages,  contests,  disasters  and  crimes  of  Scotland’s 
Kings;  and  bearing  on  its  walls  wasted  monuments  of  the  age  of  the  Roman 
Conquest,  and  of  the  conversion  of  the  island  from  Paganism  to  Christianity. 
The  scenes  of  Scotland’s  heroism  and  chivalry  lay  nearly  beneath  my  feet,  and 
Walter  Scott’s  remembered  description  of  them,  made  them  intelligible,  almost 
without  a  prompter. 

I  visited  the  courts  of  law  in  what  was  once  the  Parliament  House  of  Scot¬ 
land.  The  judges  and  lawyers  wear  wigs  and  gowns,  but  beneath  these  cover¬ 
ings,  adopted  to  impress  the  vulgar,  I  find  them  essentially  like  my  brethren  of 
the  Bar  at  home. 

There  was  a  dinner  party  at  the  Club,  where  I  met  Lord  Napier,  just  then 
fresh  from  his  home  at  Thirlestane,  his  cousin  Mark  Napier,  Lord  Mansfield, 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  and  the  Lord  Advocate  of  Scotland.  The  theme  of 
conversation — lawyers  —  their  wit,  their  spirits,  and  their  triumphs. 


The  monument  to  Walter  Scott  is  a  miniature  temple  open  on  all  sides,  with 
a  statue  of  the  idol  of  Scotland  in  a  sitting  posture  in  the  center  of  the  floor 
at  the  base.  It  is  the  only  public  monument  that  I  ever  saw  that  I  thought 
perfectly  proper  and  appropriate. 

Burns’  monument  is  a  copy  of  a  Grecian  temple;  but  looks  like  a  summer 


384 


THE  MANUFACTURING  TOWNS. 


[1859. 


house  in  a  country  garden.  Dugald  Stewart’s,  and  Professor  Playfair's,  and 
Nelson’s  are  equally  stupid. 

We  passed  through  the  Canon-gate,  and  by  St.  Ronan’s  Well,  and  across 
Calton  Hill,  and  around  Arthur’s  Seat,  the  most  beautiful  drive  in  the  world, 
I  think. 


I  leap  from  the  grave  to  the  gay  —  from  history  to  poetry  and  romance.  I 
fall  flat  into  the  midst  of  spindles  and  power  looms.  Just  now  I  am  fresh 
from  Holyrood,  and  old  Stirling,  and  from  patrimonial  seats  of  the  nobility  — 
fallen  into  the  black  thick  smoke  of  Yorkshire. 

On  Friday  morning,  I  went  to  look  at  objects  very  different  from  those 
which  had  occupied  me  in  Scotland,  the  monuments,  not  of  decaying  thrones 
and  aristocracies,  but  of  rising  masses  of  men  of  low  estate.  Then  at  the  Gotts, 
I  saw  the  flax  just  as  it  is  stripped  from  its  pithy  stalk,  stretched  out  by  ma¬ 
chines  until  a  single  pound  makes  a  thread  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
yards  long,  and  these  threads  then  woven  into  linen  and  lawn  which  only 
luxury  can  command. 

Then  I  passed  into  the  factory  where  Mr.  Walker  employs  three  thousand 
pairs  of  human 'hands  in  merely ‘regulating  the  machinery,  twenty  times  greater 
in  force,  in  making  woolen  threads,  yarns,  and  fabrics  which  clothe  whole 
kingdoms. 

All  artisans  and  manufacturers  are  republicans  —  all  their  employees  (speak¬ 
ing  in  general  terms)  are  conservative.  How  like  the  United  States  1 

All  the  manufacturers  are  for  peace,  even  to  the  point  of  laxity  in  national 
defense.  The  spindles  are  great  demoralizers  of  national  valor. 

I  almost  think  myself  a  prophet.  I  have  told  all  the  London  statesmen  that 
the  war  would  be  short,  and  England  remain  safe.  Few  believed  it.  Here,  to¬ 
day,  we  have  the  news  of  an  armistice. 


Leeds  has  many  and  various  manufactures,  and  within  a  single  life-time  has 
risen  from  ten  thousand  to  a  population  of  two  hundred  thousand.  Best  of  all, 
I  find  the  manufacturers  studying  how  to  improve,  and  educate,  and  train  to 
independence  and  virtue  the  laborers  to  whom  England  owes  her  renovation 
in  this  century.  The  children  are  not  allowed  to  be  employed  if  their  phys¬ 
ical  constitution  cannot  endure  the  toil  and  confinement,  and  every  employer 
is  obliged  to  see  that  each  child  is  at  school  half  of  his  time,  working  only  the 
other  half.  Here,  in  one  establishment,  I  found  a  thousand  children  at  school. 

Mr.  Walker  took  me  home  with  him  for  the  night.  He  has  a  villa  eight 
hundred  years  old,  ten  miles  from  the  city.  We  talked  late,  building  up 
strong  mutual  sympathies. 

At  Bradford  two  young  men  of  low  and  humble  life  have  built  up  a  manu¬ 
factory  in  which  they  are  making  three  hundred  pieces,  or  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  yards  of  costly  carpeting  a  day,  and  employing,  besides  vast  en¬ 
gines  and  various  machines,  four  thousand  persons.  And  these  enterprising 
men,  too,  are  humanitarians. 


1859.] 


TIIE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICTS. 


385 


How  distinctly  I  see  the  transition  of  society  indicated  in  these  massive, 
modern,  industrial  structures,  towering  over  the  dilapidated  walls  of  baronial 
castles.  It  will  not  be  long  before  the  struggle  in  this  country,  between  an 
ancient  class  trying  to  keep  up  without  labor,  and  a  modern  community  seek¬ 
ing  to  rise  by  it,  will  seriously  change  the  constitution,  which  all  affect,  at 
least,  to  venerate  alike. 

I  stayed  in  London  so  long  as  it  seemed  necessary  to  learn  the  interests  and 
the  men  concerned  in  the  government.  I  find  that  the  element  of  reform,  or 
progress,  or  democracy  —  call  it  by  what  name  you  will  —  is  developed  only 
in  the  manufacturing  districts,  and  I  have  come  out  here  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  that  force.  Birmingham!,  Glasgow,  and  Leeds  are  the  only  towns  I 
have  yet  seen.  But  they  are  enough  to  astonish  and  confound  me.  I  had  no 
conception  of  the  greatness  which  America  has  thrust  upon  England,  for  the 
purpose  of  saving  the  institution  of  slavery  fora  few  years  more.  But,  God  be 
praised,  it  is  working  oqt  peace  and  popular  rights  in  England. 

In  this  busy  town  of  Manchester  to-day,  my  first  visit  was  to  the  most  inter¬ 
esting;  of  all  inventors  and  mechanics  I  have  ever  seen  —  Mr.  Whitworth.  I 
think  a  thousand  men  are  at  work,  with  the  aid  of  steam-power,  in  his  work¬ 
shops,  and  the  whole  scene  is  quite  as  noiseless  as  a  village  school,  or  the  Sen¬ 
ate  Chamber  at  Washington. 

All  I  have  seen  here  confirms  my  conviction  that  our  American  trade  is  en¬ 
riching  England,  and  not  relatively  enriching  ourselves;  that  the  system  is 
made  so  prejudicial  to  us,  by  the  influence  of  the  slave  States  in  their  desire 
to  abridge  the  importance  of  the  free  States. 

At  Stokes,  the  Mintons,  the  most  celebrated  china  manufacturers  of  Eng¬ 
land,  did  not  suffer  me  to  leave  any  thing  unseen,  or,  if  possible,  not  under¬ 
stood.  They  have  five  separate  areas  covered  with  buildings,  each  area  equal  to 
five  or  six  acres,  I  think.  They  employ  fifteen  hundred  hands,  and  the}rmake 
all  kinds  of  earthen  and  china  ware  —  from  the  encaustic  tile  which  they  have 
sent  to  pave  the  floors  of  the  Capitol  of  the  United  States,  to  the  china,  dinner, 
and  tea  services  in  which  a  single  plate  costs  a  hundred  dollars,  besides  all 
forms  and  fashions  of  vases  and  other  ornaments  for  the  table,  the  parlor,  and 
the  drawing-room,  as  well  as  for  the  garden  terrace. 

I  saw  and  studied  carefully  every  part  of  every  process.  I  was  astonished 
by  the  fact  that  machinery  does  almost  nothing,  and  the  human  hand  almost 
every  thing  in  this  department. 

You  will  say,  “  Why  do  you  not  describe  Trentham?  Tell  us  at  once  about 
Trentham!” 

Well,  I  will  do  so.  When  I  looked  out  of  my  window,  this  morning,  T  saw 
all  the  fountains,  great  and  small,  throwing  up  their  crystal  arches  into  the 
bright  sunlight.  The  music  was  sweet  and  animating,  and  I  could  scarcely 
believe  that  this  fairy  exhibition  was  gotten  up  for  me.  But  Mrs.  Stewart 
said  the  Duchess  had  directed  that  every  thing  should  be  shown  to  me,  that 
25 


386 


AT  TRENTHAM. 


[1859. 


could  interest  or  amuse  me.  I  am  spending  the  day  in  going  over  the  gar¬ 
dens. 

Trentham  is  a  landed  estate,  which  covers  a  circumference  of  many  miles. 
There  is  no  one  point  from  which  you  can  see  the  whole.  It  contains,  I 
know  not  how  many  thousand  acres  —  whole  villages,  and  even  large  towns 
nestle  within  it.  It  is  entailed,  as  going  always  to  the  oldest  son.  Its  rental  is 
'  about  $200,000  per  year.  It  is  the  least,  I  think,  of  four  or  five  estates,  all  of 
the  same  character,  belonging  to  the  Duke,  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Most  of  the  lands  and  dwellings  are  rented  out  to  tenants,  from  year  to 
year,  but  if  a  tenant  is  honest,  and  thrifty,  and  punctual,  he  remains  for  life, 
and  his  children  succeed  him.  About  twelve  hundred  acres  are  managed  by 
the  Duke’s  steward,  who  conducts  its  affairs  as  if  he  were  its  owner,  and  ren¬ 
ders  semi-monthly  accounts  to  a  principal  agent  residing  in  London,  who 
really  conducts  the  whole  as  if  it  were  his  own,  under  the  approval  of  the 
Duke.  Each  estate  is  again  subdivided  into  departments  of  works,  or  build¬ 
ings,  gardens,  farms,  etc.,  very  much  like  the  government  of  a  State.  Its  ten¬ 
antry  seem  to  be  independent,  in  regard  to  all  the  world  except  their  landlord; 
toward  him  they  carry  the  idea  of  service  even  to  an  extravagant  length. 
Even  the  steward  of  this  estate,  who  is  a  man  of  genius,  and  cultivation,  and 
taste,  calls  himself  the  head  servant  of  the  Duke.  They  also  pay  great  homage 
to  the  nobility  and  gentry.  Not  one  of  the  upper  servants  here,  although  as¬ 
siduous  to  please  me,  ever  think  of  sitting  in  my  presence  — much  less  at  the 
table  which  they  prepare  for  me. 

The  Hall,  as  the  dwelling  is  called,  is  a  palace  as  large,  or  larger,  than  the 
White  House  at  Washington,  elaborately  built,  and  embellished  in  the  Italian 
style,  with  cupolas,  towers,  clocks,  balustrades,  and  conservatories.  The  Hall 
and  church  occupy  the  site,  and  are  in  part  the  relics  of  an  Abbey. 

On  the  west  the  land  rises  into  hills.  A  mile  or  more  square  of  this  decliv¬ 
ity  constitutes  the  park,  and  is  filled  with  lawns  studded  here  and  there  with 
clumps  of  trees.  The  residue,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  is  covered  with 
woods,  and  in  them  are  gathered  the  waters  of  several  streams,  which,  con¬ 
ducted  together  into  the  valley  on  the  south  front  of  the  Hall,  are  made  to 
serve  dozens  of'  fountains  in  the  gardens,  besides  making  a  lake  half  a  mile 
long,  and  a  quarter  wide,  with  wooded  shores,  and  promontories,  and  islands 
which  might  deceive  Nature  herself. 

The  parterre  is  a  garden  with  flower-beds,  fountains,  classical  statues,  and 
vases.  Descending  from  this  to  a  lower  terrace,  you  reach  the  “Italian  gar¬ 
dens,”  as  they  are  called,  and  these  fill  up  the  space  till  you  reach  the  shore  of 
the  lake,  along  which  runs  a  balustrade  surmounted  with  choice  statues  of 
marble  and  bronze.  These  gardens,  from#the  Hall  to  the  lake,  cover  twelve 
acres.  On  the  left,  the  gardens  are  continued  from  the  lake  across  the  river  to 
a  massive  wall,  and  they  cover  eighty-seven  acres.  What  are  these  gardens? 
They  are  green-houses,  houses  for  tropical  plants,  with  spacious  intervals  filled 
with  hardy  shrubs  and  flowers.  These  gardens  bring  you  quite  round  to  the 
park,  w^hose  entrance  is  screened  by  thick  groves,  and  the  trees  are  various  as 
the  climate  will  tolerate. 


HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT. 


TRENTHAM 


\5 


LIBRARY 
Of  THE 

j^IVt^n  Y  Of  ILLINOIS 


1859.] 


AT  TRENTHAM. 


387 


Standing  now  on  the  esplanade  in  front  of  the  Hall,  your  view  is  bounded 
on  the  sides  by  the  gardens  until  the  lake  opens  before  you,  embowered  in 
wooded  hills,  and  on  the  very  summit  beyond,  overlooking  the  whole  scene,  is 
a  massive  towering  monument  erected  in  memory  of  the  late  Duke,  by  his  ten¬ 
antry.  Deer  are  free  denizens  of  the  park.  A  drive  of  a  mile  brings  you  to  a 
preserve,  overgrown  with  shrubbery,  and  brakes,  in  which  the  pheasants  and 
rabbits  are  raised  under  the  care  of  the  game-keepers.  Velvety  roads  winding 
in  all  directions  give  you  drives  which  constitute  a  labyrinth  to  the  stranger. 

The  dining  hall,  the  drawing-rooms,  the  parlors,  the  conservatories,  the  bil¬ 
liard-room,  the  state  bed-rooms,  the  grand  staircases,  the  corridors,  and  even 
the  ordinary  bedrooms  are  finely  painted  and  embellished  with  rare  works  of 
sculpture,  painting,  and  engraving.  My  bed-room  adjoins  the  room  dedi¬ 
cated  to  the  Crown,  in  memory  of  its  having  been  honored  as  the  dormitory  of 
George  III.  If  his  ghost  lingers  there  now,  it  must  be  scandalized  by  the 
proximity  of  so  radical  a  rebel  as  I  am. 

Every  thing  shows  a  care  to  maintain  a  paternal  relation  between  the  family 
and  the  people  of  the  vicinity.  You  would  imagine  from  what  you  hear,  that 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  live  only  to  provide  for,  and  bless  the  poor.  There  are 
male  schools  and  female  schools  for  the  children,  and  even  spacious  and 
beautiful  gardens  maintained  by  the  Duke  for  the  use  of  the  tenantry  and 
public ;  but  the  palace  and  its  gardens  are  shut  up  to  all  but  the  family  and  their 
guests.  One  sees  readily  when  here,  how  such  vast  estates  are  accumulated. 
The  nobility  and  gentry  intermarry,  and  so,  many  estates  are  gathered  into 
one.  The  last  Duke  of  Sutherland  was  only  Earl  of  Stafford.  He  married  the 
Countess  of  Sutherland,  who  held  the  earldom  and  estate  of  Sutherland  in  her 
own  right.  This  union  brought  two  immense  estates  into  one.  and  the  duke- 
dom  was  created  on  that  basis.  It  is  but  just  to  say,  that  in  all  England,  I 
have  seen  no  jealousy  of  the  people  toward  the  aristocratic  class.  They  are 
sought  for  as  patrons  of  every  object  of  modern  enterprise,  and  they  profit  by 
the  enhanced  value  of  their  estates  from  the  extension  of  manufactories,  and 
internal  improvements.  Their  tenantry  and  laborers  constitute  the  bulk  of 
the  electors  in  the  counties.  The  sick  are  cured  at  their  own  expense,  if  able, 
but  thrown  upon  the  estate  upon  a  certificate  of  the  doctor. 

I  have  gone  at  length  into  this  description  that  it  may  stand  once  for  all,  an 
attempt  at  describing  an  English  nobleman’s  country  estate.  How  much  time 
do  the  family  spend  here  ?  Full  three  months  in  the  year.  One-half  of  the 
year  in  London,  three  months  here,  and  the  other  three  months  divided  between 
their  other  and  similar  residences. 

This,  indeed,  is  an  unnatural  division  of  a  country .  At  a  distance  one  would 
think  it  could  not  last  long.  But  since  I  have  got  near  enough  to  it,  I  have 
found  that  there  is  a  natural  affection  between  the  classes  hard  to  break.  Of 
course,  the  world  is  moving.  These  immense  estates  must  ultimately  become 
prizes  to  the  active  and  industrious  classes;  but  it  will  be  a  slow  progress,  if 
there  be  no  disaster;  a  rapid  one  if  want,  or  famine,  or  pestilence,  or  war 
should  scourge  the  island. 


What  have  I  said  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  groves  of  laurel,  the  intermina' 


388 


DUCAL  LIFE. 


[1859. 


ble  colonnades  of  honeysuckles,  the  meadows  of  geraniums,  the  long  banks  of 
forget-me-nots,  the  arches  of  passion  flowers,  the  groves  of  jessamine? 

A  word  about  how*  all  this  is  made.  Here  labor  and  skill  are  infinitely 
diversified  and  cultivated.  Persons  educate  and  train  themselves  for  every 
department;  and  money  commands  the  services  of  such.  They  design,  and 
estimate  and  do,  all  that  the  wealthy  proprietor  ever  wishes  done.  The  inside 
of  this  palace  is  as  neat  as  the  tidiest  American  lady  could  require,  and  yet 
the  Duchess  sees  it  but  twice  a  year. 

The  gardens  are  made  by  a  Scotchman;  who,  born  poor,  on  the  estate, 
studied  his  art  until  he  designed  all  the  modern  improvements,  and  even  sug¬ 
gested  the  constructive  devices  of  the  Crystal  Palace.  He  is  now  the  steward. 
The  farmer  sows  and  gathers  the  crops,  and  raises  the  cattle  as  if  they  were 
his  own.  The  game-keepers  hazard  their  lives  to  preserve  the  rabbits  and 
pheasants.  The  poultry-keeper  lives  for  the  performance  of  his  duty. 

Yesterday  afternoon,  after  visiting  the  barns,  stables,  granaries,  mills,  me¬ 
chanics’  shops,  and  other  things  of  that  sort,  I  sought  the  poultry-yard  where 
I  saw  every  species,  the  ducks,  geese,  barnyard  fowls  of  every  nation,  doves, 
pheasants  and  pea-fowl,  each  established  in  quarters  constructed  with  reference 
to  their  peculiar  habits ;  but  with  a  stability  and  architectural  grace  worthy 
of  a  human  residence.  Thence  to  the  dog-houses  and  yards,  where  my  visit 
brought  up  to  the  gates  hosts  of  scholars,  impatient  of  restraint,  and  howling, 
barking,  and  yelping  in  a  deafening  chorus.  The  mastiff  tried  to  tear  me  to 
pieces,  and  turned  to  fawn  on  his  master.  The  shepherd  dog  kindly  stole  up 
for  a  caress;  the  hounds  yelped  for  deliverance ;  the  terrier  fretted  and  barked; 
the  pointers  moaned.  I  found  that  dogs  do  not  like  to  be  confined  at  school, 
any  more  than  other  children. 

In  all  this  survey  of  animals  domesticated,  the  poor  hen  seems  to  be  made 
the  butt  of  all  manner  of  tricks  —  always  laying  eggs  for  the  continuance  of 
her  family,  she  is  made  to  sit  on  all  other  hen’s  eggs  but  her  own,  nay  —  they 
shut  her  up  in  a  cage  to  hatch  the  pheasants  which  straightway  they  have 
learned  to  walk,  desert  the  poor  fool  of  a  step-mother,  all  at  once. 

The  pea-fowl  observe  no  laws.  They  fly  the  inclosures,  and  feed  on  straw¬ 
berries  in  the  front  gardens.  But  what  so  graceful  as  the  family  of  swans 
constantly  sailing  on  the  smooth  lake  from  shore  to  shore  ? 

The  church  is  certainly  a  very  pretty  one  —  a  mediaeval  church  restored. 
The  house-keeper  showed  me  the  way  through  halls  and  corridors  to  the  only 
gallery.  It  stretches  quite  across  the  end  of  the  church  opposite  the  desk; 
and  is  exclusively  appropriated  to  the  family.  There,  quite  too  conspicuously, 
I  was  seated  in  the  Duke’s  seat.  Below  me  the  people,  one-half  of  the  church 
appropriated  to  the  servants  and  tenantry;  the  servants  having  precedence, 
and  in  truth  looking  very  unlike  servants.  There  is  no  organ  —  the  music  is 
vocal  exclusively,  and  is  conducted  by  children;  “because  the  Duchess  likes 
to  hear  them  sing,  and  have  them  trained  to  sing.” 

At  the  end  of  the  church,  beneath  the  gallery,  were  the  children  of  the 
Duchess’  schools  —  tidily  dressed  in  uniforms.  At  the  doors  great  baskets  of 


1859.] 


AT  LITCHFIELD. 


389 


huge  loaves  of  white  bread  — one  for  each  poor  person  in  the  parish.  It  was 
apparent  enough  that  the  Hector  is  not  a  “fast”  clergyman,  but  a  sincere  and 
earnest  one.  The  Duke  has  caused  water-works  to  be  constructed,  which  sup¬ 
ply  the  village  and  tenantry  with  pure  and  wholesome  water.  The  preacher, 
on  the  suggestion  of  this  fact,  chose  a  text  which,  in  substance,  says  that  it  is 
God  who  supplieth  us  with  water,  and  keeps  us  in  peace  without  contention. 
He  ardently  complimented  the  great  land-holder  for  his  benevolence,  and 
drew  a  pleasing  picture  of  English  rural  life  —  a  people  living  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  one  who  is  at  once  their  landlord  and  their  friend;  and  following 
their  preacher  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  religion. 

“This,”  said  he,  “is  peace,  the  peace  on  earth,  which  alone  shadows  forth 
the  peace  in  Heaven.” 

He  admonished  his  simple  flock  that  they  should  never  seek  a  change  —  for 
change  is  war;  and  then,  in  contrast,  depicted  the  disasters,  the  carnage,  and 
the  miseries  of  the  war  in  Italy,  only  just  now  closed. 

They  were  satisfied  with  his  conclusion,  although  it  seemed  to  me  by  no 
means  a  logical  one — and  they  devoutly  followed  him  afterward  in  prayers 
for  the  Queen  and  the  aristocracy. 

No  wonder  that  the  English  peasantry  wTho  go  to  the  United  States  are 
always  conservative.  They  are  eminently  loyal  here. 

What  a  vigorous  race  the  Gypsies,  of  whom  I  meet  a  few  in  the  high  roads, 
have  been,  to  resist  the  influences  which  mould  the  mass  of  English  people 
into  relations  of  docility  and  subserviency. 

“  George  Whitfield,  vermin  destroyer,”  was  the  inscription  on  the  Gypsy  cart. 

“  How  do  the  Gypsies  destroy  vermin?  ”  said  I  to  the  steward  of  the  estate. 

“They  don’t,”  said  he,  “they  are  the  vermin  themselves,  and  the  police  is 
fast  destrojing  them.” 

I  am  sure  never  was  sovereign  beloved  and  respected  more  than  the  Queen 
of  this  realm.  Never  did  this  existing  constitution  seem  so  safe,  and  I  think 
it  is  mainly  owing  to  the  fact  that  every  man  and  every  woman  in  England  is 
sure  that  there  is  no  vice  protected  by  the  Throne,  but  that  the  Court  of  Eng¬ 
land  is  moral  and  pure. 

Here  is  one  of  the  turns  of  the  wheel  of  fortune!  I  fell  out  of  my  duke¬ 
dom  at  Trentham  this  morning,  and  here  I  am,  a  vulgar  lodger  at  an  inn  in 
Litchfield,  to-night.  The  fame  of  the  Cathedral  seduced  me  from  a  direct 
journey  to  London,  and  I  am  glad  of  it.  It  is  a  noble  gothic  monument  — 
and  its  three  spires,  how  delicately  they  are  chiseled!  There  are  saints,  and 
martyrs,  and  kings,  all  in  effigy,  as  living  or  as  dead.  How  quaint  they  made 
sucli  things  five  hundred  years  ago!  Such  delicate  tracery,  stone  cut  and 
wrought  into  lace.  Alas,  that  the  days  of  delicious  art  are  gone  with  the  sun¬ 
set  of  blind,  bigoted  faith.  Monarchy  has  left  us  pyramids  and  superstitious 
temples,  the  wonders  of  all  ages.  Is  freedom  to  give  nothing  to  admire?  Is 
truth  to  give  us  only  the  unsatisfactory  pleasures  of  the  spiritual  sense?  It  is 
sad  to  think  of  it.  But  after  all,  railroads  and  steam-engines  avail  more  than 
pyramids,  and  the  electric  art  teaches  faster  and  far  more  widely  than  temples. 


390 


GOOD-BYE  TO  ENGLAND. 


[1859. 


Dr.  Johnson  is  to  Litchfield  what  Shakespeare  is  to  Stratford-on-Avon.  Carved 
in  stone  of  colossal  size,  he  sits  in  the  public  square  directly  fronting  the  well, 
preserved  three-story  house  in  which  he  was  born.  His  fame  is  enough  for  a 
town  even  as  neat  and  pretty  as  this. 

Can  there  be  a  true  literature  in  our  great  country?  Take  out  all  the  interest 
that  female  endurance  and  virtue  give  to  poetry  and  romance,  together  with 
all  the  dignity  that  they  borrow  from  State  and  aristocratic  positions  and  re¬ 
lations,  and  what  would  then  be  left  to  Walter  Scott’s  creations,  or  even  those 
of  Shakespeare  himself?  Our  republican  system  banishes  kings,  queens,  and 
nobles,  and  even  women  from  all  public  occasions.  It  sinks  them  to  the  level 
of  humanity. 

Take  Paris,  and  Helen,  and  Eneas  out  of  the  Iliad,  and  wdiat  would  be  left? 

Milton  alone  lias  dispensed  wdtli  human  affectation  of  divinity.  His  is  truly 
a  republican  poem,  but  he  substitutes  God  and  angels  for  our  homage  and  rev¬ 
erence.  Certainlv  he  can’t  be  imitated.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  new  age  must 
have  a  revelation  of  new  elements  of  poetry  or  it  will  have  no  poetry  at  all. 


England  is  divided  between  two  forces,  one  of  which  is  the  ancient  aristoc¬ 
racy,  the  other  the  growing  republic.  They  harmonize  better  than  might  be 
supposed,  and  England  improves  by  their  eternal  conflict.  I  wrould  not  be  an 
aristocrat  here  —  I  could  not  be  a  plebeian.  Aristocrats  diminish  in  number 
and  in  power;  plebeians  wax  stronger  every  day.  But  all  are  alike  insensible 
to  the  revolution  that  is  going  on,  to  assimilate  them  to  us,  w?ho,  although  the 
younger  members  of  the  family,  are  really  its  leaders,  and  the  formers  of  the 
destiny  of  the  British  race. 

Here  is  a  sprig  from  a  yew  tree  at  Trentham,  one  thousand  years  old. 

At  eleven  o’clock  I  embark  for  France,  on  a  summer  night,  and  on  a  summer 
sea.  The  voyage  is  only  an  hour  and  a  half.  I  have  been  just  two  months  in 
England  —  I  leave  it  with  respect  and  kindness  for  all  I  have  met.  I  hope  I 
have  learned  something  w7orthy  to  be  remembered,  and  something  to  compen¬ 
sate  you  and  your  mother  for  my  long  absence. 

Good-bye  to  England. 

Good- night  to  my  loving  little  reader. 

/  •  " 

How  quickly  do  I  discover  here  that  I  am  notin  England,  or  at  home; 
not  in  a  free  country,  but  in  one  despotically  ruled;  not  in  a  Protestant,  but 
in  a  Catholic  land.  I  wTas  marched  incontinently,  with  the  crowd  of  passen¬ 
gers,  into  the  police  office,  where  sat  at  two  in  the  morning,  a  magistrate  with 
two  secretaries  to  examine,  and  register,  and  viser  our  passports.  Two  or  three 
detectives  stood  around,  scrutinizing  us  to  discover  any  known  political  of¬ 
fender  there  might  be  in  the  arrival.  In  my  case,  how7ever,  the  examination 
wras  not  merely  formal,  but  was  distinguished  by  courtesy,  which  was  due,  I 
suppose,  to  my  official  description  contained  in  the  passport.  So,  also,  at  the 
Custom-House;  no  one  put  his  hand  into  my  trunk,  or  asked  any  annoying 
questions. 


1859.] 


PARIS  UNDER  THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


391 


Take  down  the  “  Sentimental  Journey,”  from  the  shelves,  and  imagine,  as 
you  read  the  chapters  on  Calais,  my  delight  in  finding  myself  a  lodger  in  the 
very  chamber  occupied  by  Sterne  when  they  wTere  written. 


France  has  been  fifty  years  enjoying  a  subdivision  of  lands,  like  America. 
It  seems  a  land  of  indefinite  plenty.  The  crops  are  wheat,  rye,  oats,  beets,  bar¬ 
ley,  beans,  peas,  poppies,  and  flax.  There  are  some  apple  orchards,  but  I  saw 
not  one  vineyard,  not  even  one  vine. 

The  men  and  women  seem  peaceful,  just  as  you  might  suppose  when  the 
tenant  of  the  throne  at  Paris,  be  who  he  may,  can  at  any  day  call  out  one  from 
every  household,  to  fill  up  the  army,  thinned  by  contests  for  empire  in 
Africa,  or  glory  in  Italy. 


Even  by  night,  I  could  see  how  Paris  had  been  changed  and  improved  since 
I  was  here  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  Wider  streets,  and  lighter  architecture 
presented  themselves  on  all  sides.  The  Boulevards  now  filled  the  roadway 
with  equipages,  and  the  space  between  the  sidewalks  and  dwellings  with 
people  sitting,  conversing,  and  drinking  cooling  draughts:  I  should  have 
known  that  this  was  Paris,  had  I  been  dropped  into  it  blindfolded.  It  has 
just  extorted  from  the  world  its  needed  tribute  of  admiration  for  its  chivalry; 
now  it  amuses  itself,  and  all  the  world.  It  gives  freedom  to  Italy,  and  it 
wishes  for  emancipation  to  all  nations;  but  it  makes  the  Army,  not  the  Press, 
the  minister  of  Liberty. 

The  great  feature  of  modern  Paris  is  the  stretching  out  of  gardens  (shaded 
by  walks  or  groves),  from  the  Tuilleries,  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  quite  to 
the  forest  of  Boulogne,  eight  or  ten  miles.  Splendid  edifices,  arches,  temples, 
monuments,  statuary,  adorn  these  gardens.  Theaters,  repositories  of  art, 
concert  halls,  coffee  houses  for  singing,  balconies  for  concerts,  are  located  at 
small  distances  from  each  other.  The  promenades  in  the  gardens,  by  day, 
are  cool  and  pleasant,  at  night,  gas-light  is  poured  forth  profusely  from  the 
walls,  the  trees,  the  houses, ‘and  the  scene  is  that  of  a  general  illumination,  and 
society  surrendering  itself  up  to  recreation  and  amusement. 

I  notice  one  peculiarity  here,  unseen  in  England  or  the  United  States.  The 
army  is  everywhere,  and  seems  like  a  favored  domestic  institution.  Mani¬ 
festly  the  glory  .of  France  is  regarded  as  the  private  fortune  of  every  French¬ 
man;  and  the  intensity  of  nationality  seems  almost  egotism  in  every  one  you 
meet.  I  will  not  venture  now  to  reflect  on  the  fruits  of  this  patriotism. 


Yesterday  I  went  to  the  Louvre.  My  only  previous  visit  was  made  twenty- 
six  years  ago,  and  lasted  only  one  day.  Short  as  it  was,  it  sufficed  to  instruct 
me  in  regard  to  art,  so  that  I  have  been  ever  since  able  to  distinguish  a 
good  work  from  a  bad  one,  and  one  school  from  another.  Yesterday  I  as¬ 
signed  the  day.  I  gazed  with  interest  and  delight  on  the  treasures  of  every 
modern  age  and  school,  and  began  to  be  able  to  distinguish  the  hands  of  the 
different  masters  of  the  same  school.  I  ceased  only  when  I  could  stand  no 
longer. 


392 


PARIS  UNDER  LOUIS  NAPOLEON. 


[1859. 


I  think  that  the  pictures  which  satisfied  me  best  were  Murillo’s  heads,. 
Claude’s  landscapes,  and  Flemish  scenes. 

Those  which  satisfied  me  least  were  historical  subjects,  allegorical  paintings 
which  require  a  key,  and  battle  scenes,  which  I  have  no  love  for. 

Society  in  Europe  is  full  of  paradoxes.  England  is  a  free  country,  yet  the 
division  of  rank  is  painfully  apparent  on  every  side.  France  lives  under  a 
military  despotism,  yet  the  equality  of  the  people  is  as  great  as  in  the  United 
States.  Who  shall  account  for  this?  Perhaps  the  truth  is  that  the  first  re¬ 
public  achieved  the  great  ends  of  equality  in  society,  and  equality  in  political 
rights,  leaving  freedom  yet  to  be  attained.  Does  this  portend  that  a  bloody 
revolution  must  occur  in  England,  before  equality  can  be  secured,  in  addition 
to  the  liberty  already  enjoyed? 

The  ashes  of  Napoleon!  History  banishes  art  from  your  sight,  while  you 
look  upon  the  urn  that  holds  them  in  its  trust.  I  looked  upon  it,  with  in¬ 
terest  indeed,  but  shall  I  confess  it,  I  looked  without  reverence,  without  af¬ 
fection,  without  awe,  and  even  without  compassion.  There  was  a  sad  and 
painful  discordance  between  the  green  laurel  wreaths,  the  long  roll  of  battle¬ 
fields,  the  sword  and  plume  which  garnish  the  tomb,  and  the  religious  emblems 
which  properly  adorn  the  temple  which  incloses  it. 

Every  day  I  live  I  grow  more  intolerant  of  military  despots! 

There  are  three  systems  upon  which  men  are  governed;  one  of  force,  acting 
by  terror;  one  of  fraud,  acting  by  appeal  to  the  imagination  or  the  passions;, 
the  third  of  reason,  by  addressing  the  understandings  and  consciences  of  men. 

Each  of  the  ever-changing  dynasties  seeks  to  impress  its  own  character  on 
the  monuments  of  the  day,  and  even  changes  old  'ones  for  that  purpose. 
When  I  was  here  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  symbols  of  legitimacy  were  newly 
displayed.  The  first  Revolution  inscribed  on  its  edicts,  and  on  the  public 
monuments,  “Liberty  and  Equality.”  The  Empire  erased  them  all.  The 
Revolution  of  1830  restored,  in  part.  Its  motto,  everywhere  seen,  was  “  Lib¬ 
erty  and  Public  Order.”  The  Second  Empire  has  suppressed  all  these ;  and, 
instead  of  expressing  homage  for  either  liberty,  or  for  order,  it  has  substituted 
monuments  of  the  heroism  and  valor  of  the  French  nation,  and  nothing  else. 

I  did  not  enter  the  Hall  of  the  Legislature.  The  name  in  England  and 
in  America  suggests  the  idea  of  the  controlling  will  of  the  people.  Here,  the 
Corps  Legislatif  is  only  practically  a  body  organized  to  express  in  due  form 
and  with  official  solemnity,  the  will  of  the  Emperor. 

I  am  surrounded  by  evidences  that  the  present  Emperor  has  been  successful 
in  satisfying  the  people  of  France,  and  even  its  intelligent  classes.  But,  to  me, 
this  contentment  seems  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  unworthy.  What  is  it  but 
confiding  the  whole  future  of  a  nation,  as  well  as  its  present,  to  the  caprices, 
or  at  best  to  the  fortunes  of  a  man,  without  security  from  him,  or  from  fate? 
Suppose  Napoleon  III  to  die  to-night,  what  must  happen,  but  a  revolution? 
It  is  incident  to  every  dictatorship  that  it  be  followed  by  violent  reaction 


1859.] 


LAMARTINE. 


393 


toward  the  system  which  dictatorship  displaced.  So  it  was  with  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  Caesar,  so  with  Cromwell,  so  with  the  first  Napoleon.  Even  the 
present  system  is  only  a  stage  of  what  yet  seems  an  endless  revolution. 

3  he  first  Napoleon  arrested  and  subdued  the  Republic.  His  fall  brought  back 
the  despotic  system  of  the  Bourbons.  That  was  intolerable,  and  so  a  reaction 
began.  The  Bonapartists  favored  it.  Louis  Philippe,  the  representative  of 
the  popular  cause,  restored  the  statues  of  Napoleon  on  the  Place  Vendome,  fin¬ 
ished  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  brought  Napoleon’s  ashes  to  France. 

The  Bonapartist  movement  lias  now  culminated,  or  is  culminating  under 
Napoleon  III.  Who  can  doubt  that,  on  the  recurrence  of  any  great  disaster 
to  the  system,  or  even  to  the  man  who  represents  it,  the  return  of  either  the 
Republic,  or  of  the  “Legitimist’s”  despotism  must  occur.  Probably  the 
former,  because  it  is,  of  the  two,  that  one  which  is  most  in  harmony  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age. 

_ 

Lamartine,  as  you  know  by  the  popularity  acquired  by  his  writings,  became 
the  arbiter  of  the  Revolution  of  1848;  and  was,  for  a  period  of  three  months, 
the  prominent  Republican  ruler  of  France.  Since  that  period,  the  Republic 
having  been  subverted,  he  has  been  in  the  shade,  and  oppressed  with  pecuni¬ 
ary  embarrassments,  such  as  Walter  Scott  endured. 

Last  night  I  sought  this  great  and  good  man,  who  is  to-day,  as  heretofore, 
the  recognized  head  of  the  Republican  party  in  France.  I  found  him  in  very 
modest  lodgings,  on  the  ground  floor,  with  his  wife,  and  a  small  circle  of 
friends.  He  received  me  with  distinguished  kindness,  as  one  not  entirely 
unknown  to  him  by  report.  He  is  one  of  the  handsomest  of  men, 'and  of 
commanding  presence,  dignified,  but  unassuming.  He  speaks  English  im¬ 
perfectly,  but  apprehended  all  that  I  said,  and  was  pleased  to  say  that  I  had 
analyzed  truly  the  character  and  condition  of  France. 

His  wife  is  an  English  lady,  who  it  seemed  to  me  was  oppressed  with  cares; 
but  she  has  a  noble  spirit  of  devotion  to  him,  and  of  faith  in  the  ultimate  tri¬ 
umph  of  liberty  and  truth.  She  says,  and  evidently  thinks,  that  his  financial 
trouble  resulted  from  the  sacrifices  he  made  for  the  public  during  his  brief, 
but  glorious  political  ascendancy.  Her  walls  and  tables  are  embellished  with 
pictures  in  oil,  and  statuary  in  marble,  wood,  and  porcelain,  all  exquisite,  and 
all  the  work  of  her  own  hands.  All  of  these  he  showed  to  me  with  pride  and 
pleasure.  I  shall  be  tempted  to  try  again  the  fraternal  hospitalities  of  these 
noble  patriots. 

After  I  left  Lamartine,  I  stopped  at  half-past  ten,  at  a  cafe.  It  will  seat 
one  thousand  persons,  and  late  as  the  hour  was,  half  that  number,  mixed  of 
both  sexes,  w7ere  there.  The  French,  like  our  own  people,  are  politicians,  and 
want  always  to  know  the  news.  Free  people  learn  it  through  public  jour¬ 
nals,  and  they  get  at  least  the  whole  truth,  if  they  get  much  more  than  the 
truth.  The  French  people  practically  never  have  had  a  free  press.  They 
turn  out  into  public  streets,  highways,  and  other  places  to  hear  and  to  discuss, 
and  this  is  why  the  revolution  always  begins  in  Paris,  and  is  carried  to  the 
end  there.  The  passion  for  participation  in  public  affairs  cannot  be  suppressed. 


394 


PARISIAN  LIFE. 


[1859. 


I  thought  I  saw,  in  that  crowd  last  night,  the  Dantons  and  the  Robespierres 
of  some  future  revolution,  and  that,  not  even  a  remote  one,  unless  France 
shall  then  be  so  fortunate  as  to  have  some  other  La  Fayette,  or  some  other  La¬ 
martine  to  mediate,  when  the  crisis  comes,  between  the  two  conflicting  pow¬ 
ers  of  conservatism  and  progress. 

Last  evening  was  given  up  to  a  reunion  of  -wliat  the  French  call  “  Beaux 
Esprits  ”  at  the  home  of  Dr.  Castle.  I  met  there,  Madame  Ristori,  who  is  now 
held  the  greatest  actress  in  Europe.  I  reserved  my  judgment  for  trial,  before 
surrendering  my  partiality  for  Charlotte  Cushman.  Ristori  (as  they  call  her 
here)  is  an  Italian  lady,  very  handsome  and  intellectual.  She  goes  soon  to  the 
United  States. 

To-day,  I  have  missed  the  visit  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  but  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Fanny  Kemble,  who  stops  at  this  hotel,  and  of  Je¬ 
rome  Bonaparte,  who  is  waiting  here  to  see  the  Emperor. 


France  reveals  the  activity  of  several  contradictory  forces.  First,  that  of 
the  ancient  regime,  or  those  of  the  party  of  the  Legitimate  Bourbons.  Second, 
that  of  the  Orleanists,  or  Cadet  Bourbons.  Third,  that  of  the  Bonapartists, 
or  the  Emperor  —  a  military  despotism.  Fourth,  that  of  the  Republic.  Each 
party  seems  intent  on  the  establishment  of  its  own  principles  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  others.  Which  will  ultimately  prevail,  and  how  soon?  That  is  what  I 
am  studying. 

Mr.  Grinnell  tells  agood  story  to-day,  illustrative  of  life  in  Paris.  Yesterday 
morning,  crowds  of  persons  rushed  into  the  Champs  Elysees ,  attracted  by  a 
party  carrying  flags,  and  a  band  of  music.  The  ladies  at  G-rinneU’s  called  up 
a  French  servant  from  the  kitchen,  and  asked  what  the  excitement  was,  that 

/  i  7 

had  left  her  alone  there  ?  She  announced  that  the  servants  thought  it  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  revolution.  Soon  afterward,  the  servants  came  quietly 
back,  and  said  that  it  was  only  a  picnic  party  going  at  that  early  hour  into  the 
country. 

How  artistic  the  French  Government  is  in  all  things  !  It  banishes  grief 
from  the  national  heart  (excited  by  the  loss  of  50,000  peasantry,  drawn  by  con¬ 
scription,  in  Italy),  by  a  grand  metropolitan  celebration  of  the  victory  over  the 
Austrians,  and  a  conquest  of  a  province,  renounced  in  the  very  moment  of  ac¬ 
quisition. 

I  went  to  see  the  place  of  the  revolutionary  guillotine,  and  to  imagine  where 
fell  the  head  of  Madame  Roland,  and  the  Girondists  without  number.  I  found 
the  sad  spot;  it  is  embellished  with  monuments.  Cleopatra’s  needle  lifts  its 
beautiful  form  there;  and  the  painful  memories  of  revolutionary  fury  are  ex¬ 
tinguished  under  the  sweet  name  of  Place.de  la  Concorde. 

I  went  to  Notre  Dame.  Its  portal  is  a  noble  specimen  of  mediaeval  architec¬ 
ture.  One  proof,  among  a  thousand,  that  in  society,  art  develops  before  reason 
matures.  Notre  Dame  is  metropolitan;  and  one  might  think  that  the  “  Vicar 
of  Bray  ”  was  a  study  derived  from  its  history.  Its  Cardinals,  Archbishops, 


1859.] 


LOYAL  MONUMENTS. 


395 


and  other  prelates,  go  directly  to  Heaven,  under  the  guidance  of  good  angels 
and  ministering  saints,  if  you  judge  from  their  tombs.  The  church  is  tolerant 
to  all  rulers;  and  preserves  their  costly  presents.  Each  great  political  event, 
which  is  celebrated  with  a  mass,  brings  rich  robes  as  a  present  to  the  church. 
Here  is  the  costly  gift  of  this  kind  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I,  and  it  includes 
also,  his  coronation  robes,  mace,  and  cusliibn.  There  is  a  similar  one  on  the 
coronation  of  Marie  Louise,  and  another  on  the  baptism  of  the  King  of  Rome. 
In  due  historical  sequence,  come  the  gifts  of  Louis  XVIII,  Charles  X,  and  the 
pious  wife  of  Louis  Philippe;  and  this  in  its  turn  gives  place  to  the  precious 
treasures  acquired  by  celebrating  the  marriage  and  coronation  of  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  and  the  baptism  of  her  son,  the  heir-  apparent  to  the  restored  Empire. 

From  Notre  Dame ,  it  is  only  a  step  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  When  I  saw  it, 
so  long  ago,  it  was  a  history  in  stone,  of  the  Legitimate  Monarchy,  from  the 
time  of  Francis  I,  to  the  fearful  overthrow  in  the  Revolution  of  1793.  But 
this  new  Emperor  has  changed  all  that.  The  walls  still  celebrate  the  piety  of 
the  extinction  of  heresy,  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  Henry 
IV,  on  horseback,  is  still  allowed  to  grace  the  portal.  But  all  revolutionary 
memories  and  illustrations  have  given  place  to  Napoleonic  forms,  figures,  and 
inscriptions.  You  only  know  by  referring  to  history,  that  here  in  this  hall 
sat  the  provisional  Republican  Councils  of  1793,  and  1830,  and  1848.  That 
here  from  this  window,  La  Fayette  presented  Louis  XVI  to  the  people.  That 
here,  in  this  same  place,  the  same  noble  patriot  presented  to  the  people,  and 
they  accepted,  another  constitutional  king,  in  the  person  .of  Louis  Philippe. 
And  here,  in  this  hall,  stood  Robespierre,  when  brought  before  his  own  revo¬ 
lutionary  tribunal.  But  who  remembers  all  these  things? 

The  court  of  the  hotel  is  now  visited  as  the  finest  ball-room  in  the  world; 
and  the  Place  de  Greve,  and  the  lantern,  memorable  as  the  scene  of  the  Reign 
of  Terror,  now  wears  the  name  of  Victoria,  impressed  on  them,  when  that  good, 
motherly  Queen  became  a  guest  in  the  Town- Hall  of  Paris. 

It  has  puzzled  me  much  to  know  how  it  is  that  Napoleon  III  makes  altera¬ 
tions —  at  his  own  pleasure  —  in  the  streets,  edifices,  parks,  and  palaces  of 
Paris.  The  whole  secret  was  learned,  when  I  found  that  he,  himself,  appoints 
and  removes  at  pleasure  the  entire  Common  Council. 

To-day  I  spent  an  hour  deeply  interested  in  my  interview  with  some  noble, 
some  royal,  some  divine  personages,  of  times  far  more  ancient  than  any  I  had 
ever  known.  In  short,  I  held  converse  with  Rameses  I,  II,  and  III,  with  his 
gensdarmes,  with  the  prisoners  whom  they  were  conducting  in  their  trains. 
I  found  that  they  affected  pine-apples  and  oranges;  that  they  had  a  great  ad¬ 
miration  for  bulls;  and  that  the  horn  of  that  animal  was  an  ornament  as  highly 
esteemed  by  them,  as  the  ostrich  feather  is  by  some  modern  rivals.  I  learned 
to  see  that  there  was  sense,  and  even  poetry,  in  the  Jewish  expression:  “I 
will  exalt  my  horn  before  the  Lord.”  I  saw  kings  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon 
riding  in  thrones  placed  on  wheels ;  and  so  found  that  there  was  sublimity  in 
the  expression  that  the  “  Chariot  wheels  of  the  God  of  the  Jews  were  of  fire.” 


396 


COUNT  WALEWSKY. 


[185SE 


I  looked  into  the  faces  of  gods  and  goddesses,  which  had  terrified  millions  of 
millions  —  unterrified,  and  indeed  hardly  able  to  hold  my  own  face  in  serious¬ 
ness,  before  objects  so  grotesque,  puerile,  and  ridiculous.  I  looked  into  sarco¬ 
phagi,  and  tombs  in  which  kings  had  reposed  for  centuries,  and  until  their 
proud  forms  had  become  dust  and  powder,  blown  away  by  the  winds. 

\ 

I  must  not  omit  to  set  down  that  I  did  find,  on  a  corner  of  a  house  fronting- 
the  Place  de  Greve,  an  inscription,  once  obliterated,  but  which  has  again 
come  out  into  the  sunlight,  commemorative  of  the  Revolution,  in  the  words 
once  so  portentous,  but  now  obsolete  everywhere;  “  Liberte  —  Egalite  —  et 
Fraternite. 


The  Secretary  of  State  had  invited  Mr.  Mason  to  present  me  to  him  to-day. 
It  was  his  day  for  giving  audiences  to  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  powers.  I 
attended  our  Minister.  We  were  shown  into  a  fine  hall  embellished  with  pic¬ 
tures  and  statuary  peculiar  to  the  Empire.  Over  the  mantel  was  a  very  large 
picture,  commemorating  the  treaty  of  Paris  (which  closed  the  late  Russian 
war).  I  recognized  at  once  the  British  Minister,  Lord  Clarendon.  The  most 
important  figure,  however,  was  that  of  the  French  Secretary  of  State,  the 
Comte  de  Walewsky,  in  whose  house  I  was.  I  saw  at  once  that  it  was  the 
likeness  of  the  first  Napoleon,  softened  and  made  agreeable.  When  I  asked 
who  that  was,  I  was  surprised  by  the  answer  that  it  wTas  the  Comte  de  Wal¬ 
ewsky.  I  remarked  the  strange  resemblance  to  the  Napoleon  head.  The 
answer  was  that  Walewsky  was  the  son  of  a  Polish  lady  with  no  acknowledged 
father,  and  that  he  was  usually  acknowledged  to  be  the  natural  son  of  Napo¬ 
leon  I. 

The  Count  Walewsky  was  a  very  intelligent  and  engaging  man.  He  con¬ 
versed  freely;  and  I  learned  that  the  present  dynasty  here  has  no  especial  re¬ 
spect  for  England.  It  feels  strong.  I  wTas  introduced  to  Lord  Cowley,  and 
all  the  foreign  ministers;  and  found  the  state  of  Europe  was  the  subject  of 
much  anxiety.  Lord  Cowley  told  me  that  his  sister,  Lady  Bulwer,  wTas 
desirous  to  change  the  Turkish  embassy  for  a  return  to  the  United  States. 


Lyons  was  a  town  when  Julius  Caesar  conquered  what  is  now  France. 
The  town  is  rich  in  the  memory  of  Christians  martyred  for  conscience’s 
sake,  and  for  patriots  murdered  for  liberty’s  sake  in  the  French  Revolution. 
Equally  at  Lyons  and  Marseilles,  I  find  that  the  memory  of  the  atrocities  of 
that  great  Revolution  lias  extinguished  the  respect  for  it,  which  it  justly  re¬ 
ceives,  as  the  great,  though  sad  beginning  of  a  new  and  better  form  of  civili¬ 
zation  and  government. 

At  last  I  am  on  this  old  and  famous  sea.  We  embarked  at  ten  last  night.  We 
ran  for  sixty  or  seventy  miles  along  the  coast  of  France,  and  then  lost  sight  of 
laud.  Now,  at  ten  in  the  morning,  we  are  approaching  Corsica.  An  Italian 
sky  is  better  than  an  English  or  a  French  one,  but  it  does  not  surpass  the 
American.  The  Mediterranean  has  hitherto  been  calm  as  a  lake. 

We  have  thirty  passengers  —  mostly  French,  two  Englishmen,  we  two  Amer- 


LAMARTINE. 


THE  CONGRESS  OF  PARIS 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


1859.] 


IN  ROME. 


397 


icans,  one  lady  (French),  three  priests,  two  Capuchin  friars,  with  crowns 
shaven,  bare  head,  bare  feet,  except  sandals  or  soles  strapped  over  the  feet, 
long  woolen  gowns  with  hoods  —  fine  looking,  but  unclean  men.  Most  of  the 
passengers,  like  ourselves,  are  invading  Rome  in  August,  a  remorseless  hot 
season.  There  is  one  child  — a  French  one,  with  a  sunny  face.  He  has  become 
mine  for  the  voyage,  and  we  play  all  manner  of  games,  unconscious  that  we 
are  without  a  common  language.  , 

We  have  awnings  stretched  over  the  deck,  and  we  wander  about  seeking 
for  fresh  air,  and  continually  calling  for  ice-water.  Some  of  the  passengers  of 
the  lay  order  seek  to  forget  the  heat  in  sleep.  Others  play  chess.  The  com¬ 
mon  clergy  seem  to  have  finished  their  prayers,  and  arc  engaged  in  reading 
and  conversation.  The  Capuchins  seem  to  have  a  harder  duty.  They  read  in¬ 
cessantly,  and  count  their  beads,  and  make  signs  of  the  cross,  and  fall  asleep 
in  performing  these  routine  duties  of  devotion.  But  they  rally  again  and  re- 

i 

new  the  task. 


How  you  would  shudder  to  enter,  at  Avignon,  the  hall  in  which  the  Inquisi¬ 
tion  held  its  session,  and  the  funnel-shaped  dungeons  with  their  fire-places  for 
heating  irons  for  the  torture.  How  impossible  it  is  for  mankind  to  pass,  with¬ 
out  martyrdom,  from  religious  error  to  truth,  without  blood,  from  slavery  to 
freedom! 

Just  above  Avignon,  is  Orange,  the  capital  of  the  ancient  Duchy  which  gave 
its  name  to  its  sovereign,  who  carried  the  title  into  the  reigning  family  of 
Holland.  From  William  III,  Prince  of  Orange,  we  borrowed  the  name  of  my 
native  county  in  America  —  and  yet  neither  we,  nor  even  the  successors  of 
that  Prince,  have  any  interest  in  the  territory,  which  became  a  possession  of 
Prussia,  by  the  treaty  of  Ryswick,  and  soon  afterward,  by  bargain,  a  district 
of  France. 


All  the  people  of  Rome,  of  all  conditions,  were  swarming  in  the  narrow 
streets.  We  dashed  through  them,  leaving  them  to  take  shelter  in  the  door¬ 
ways  of  their  homes,  and  yet  they  manifested  no  auger  or  impatience.  Occa¬ 
sionally  a  coach  with  fine  black  horses,  and  two  or  three  footmen  in  livery, 
dashed  along  the  path.  A  red  gown  and  cap.  worn  by  the  person  within,  in¬ 
dicated  him  for  a  Cardinal.  Priests  and  religieuses  wearing  every  form  of 
costume,  and  of  every  color,  white,  black,  blue,  purple,  mingled  among  the 
people,  and  occasionally  marched  in  procession. 

All  sorts  of  merchandise  were  exposed  on  every  side,  and  all  manner  of  arts 
were  exhibited  by  the  merchants;  beggars  of  both  sexes  gathered  around  our 
carriage,  when  we  stopped  to  make  way  for  some  other  vehicle,  or  to  force  a 
way  for  our  own. 

•  We  stood  before  the  Coliseum;  its  lofty  and  massive  walls,  built  in  arches 
rising  upon  arches,  in  varied  style  of  architecture.  We  marked  its  graceful  and 
accurate  elliptical  form.  We  entered  by  the  grand  porch,  where  Emperors,  Sena¬ 
tors,  Priests,  Generals,  and  Vestal  Virgins  had  so  often  gone  in  solemn  pro- 


398 


SUMMER  LIFE  IN  ROME. 


[1859. 


cession,  to  witness  games  in  honor  of  the  triumphs  of  Rome.  We  summoned 
all  our  powers  of  imagination  to  give  the  just  effect  to  the  archings  within, 
that  supported  once  the  benches  from  which  eighty  thousand  spectators  had 
looked  down  upon  the  great  festivals. 

The  moon  was  just  rising,  and  looked  in  through  the  arches  lighting  up  the 
arena  where  gladiators  first,  and  afterward  Christians,  fought  with  wild 
beasts,  to  gratify  the  tastes  of  the  Court  and  the  people  of  Rome. 

On  the  square  in  front,  a  French  soldier  was  blowing  on  his  •trumpet,  the 
retreat,  to  call  his  comrades  to  their  quarters.  The  instrument  produced  a 
magnificent  concert,  each  note  being  distinctly  repeated  as  it  reached  the  yet 
perfect  arch  of  Constantine,  and  afterward  reverberated  through  every  vault 
of  the  massive  Coliseum.  “Two  thousand  years,”  I  said  to  myself,  “work 
strange  changes.  Time  was,  when  a  Gaul,  stationed  on  that  place,  and  sound¬ 
ing  a  call  to  scattered  comrades,  would  have  been  suddenly  brought  to  a  very 
different  kind  of  entertainment,  within  the  walls,  which  now  cheerfully  re¬ 
echoed  his  martial  strain.” 

At  four  this  morning,  we  had  a  breakfast  of  coffee,  bread,  and  eggs,  and  at 
five  o’clock  we  began  our  excursion.  The  sun,  I  suppose,  had  risen ;  but  a 
dense  fog  hung  over  the  city.  The  gates  had  just  been  opened;  and  the 
country-people,  dressed  in  their  picturesque  peasant  style,  came  moving  on 
through  the  streets,  in  their  carts,  freighted  with  butter,  veal,  chickens,  eggs, 
and  wines,  and  drawn  sometimes  by  a  horse,  sometimes  a  mule,  sometimes  an 
ass,  and  more  often  by  sturdy  white  oxen.  Ecclesiastics  and  laymen  gathered 
around  the  marketmen  to  make  their  purchases. 

Two  parties  of  nuns,  all  youthful,  and  even  all  fair  to  look  upon,  dressed 
gracefully,  though  in  their  ecclesiastical  costume,  came  down  before  us.  I 
will  swear,  notwithstanding  my  respect  for  their  vows,  that  they  did  look  at 
my  companion,  Mr.  Forsyth,  whose  hair  is  not  yet  gray ;  nay,  I  did  think 
that,  for  a  moment,  they  even  looked  at  me ;  but  it  was  certainly,  in  my  case, 
only  a  casual  glance,  and  in  his,  by  no  means  a  studied  one.  They  passed  by 
us,  and  by  the  sentinel,  into  the  open  porch. 

How  I  climbed  up  one  staircase  after  another,  at  St.  Peter’s,  first,  to  the 
roof,  an  hundred  and  twenty  feet;  how  I  surveyed  Rome  from  that  elevation; 
how  I  toiled  by  winding  staircases  over  the  inner  roof  of  the  dome,  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  feet  more  from  its  base  to  its  top;  how  I  looked  up  through  the 
lantern,  another  hundred  feet,  and  saw  there  the  Heavenly  Court,  the  Al¬ 
mighty  Father,  surrounded  by  His  angelic  hosts,  far  above  the  blue  sky,  and 
ever-shining  stars ;  how  I  climbed,  not  irreverently,  I  hope,  even  above  that 
lofty  elevation,  and  sat  down  exhausted  on  the  stone  pavement  of  a  small 
conical  chamber,  with  the  canopy,  and  the  high  altar,  and  its  hundred  can¬ 
dlesticks,  which  burn  day  and  night,  around  the  urn  that  contains  the  ashes 
of  the  Chief  of  the  Apostles,  directly  beneath  me,  where  this  conical  chamber 
was  itself  a  contraction  of  the  whole  massive  edifice  below  me,  into  a  sphere 
of  ten  feet  in  diameter,  and  marked  off  by  lines  which  indicated  accurately  the 
vast  compartments  and  proportions  below;  and,  finally,  how  I  climbed,  yet  on 


1859.] 


OLD  AND  NEW  ROME. 


399 


a  narrow  ladder,  thirty  or  forty  feet  more,  and  entered  the  brazen  globe, 
which  here  is  a  sphere  spacious  enough  to  hold  a  small  troop  of  men,  while 
seen  from  the  earth,  it  dwindles  to  the  size  of  a  helmet,  and  then  stood  live 
hundred  feet  above  the  base  of  the  temple,  and  looked  down  from  there  on 
the  ruined  palaces,  forum,  theaters,  and  arches  of  Rome ! 

But  I  may  confess  that  I  was  fatigued  to  very  exhaustion,  when  I  had  de¬ 
scended,  and  found  my  breakfast  waiting  for  me  at  ten  o’clock,  with  half  St. 
Peter’s  huge  area  altogether  unexplored. 

Yon  will  find  it  difficult  to  understand  how  the  new  or  modern,  and  the 
ancient  Rome  are  mingled.  The  ancient  Rome  was  three  or  four  times  larger, 
and  more  populous,  than  the  modern  Rome.  With  the  subversion  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  the  seizure  of  the  city,  its  sacking,  and  devastation  by  alien 
races,  the  people  fled,  the  language  changed,  and  practically,  a  new  people, 
having  only  some  elements  of  the  former,  appeared.  This  new  people,  ceas¬ 
ing  to  be  pagans,  conquerors  of  the  world,  had  a  new,  and  at  first,  a  lower 
civilization.  The  old  habitations,  streets,  forums,  palaces,  and  so  forth,  were 
not  adapted  to  them.  It  was  necessary  to  build  anew.  The  old  decayed,  and 
fell,  and  covered  the  ground  to  depths  varying  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  structures.  The  new,  and  poor  inhabitants 
found  it  easier  to  build,  either  entirely  outside,  or,  as  they  needed  no  cellars, 
to  build  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  city.  They,  therefore,  in  part,  built  on  ground, 
unoccupied,  outside  the  limits  of  the  old  city;  and  in  part,  built  among,  and 
chiefly  upon  the  ruined  mass  of  the  ancient  structures,  appropriating  as  much 
of  the  materials  as  they  found  adapted  to  their  new  use;  and  leaving  the  rest 
to  moulder  and  decay.  Sometimes  they  built  mean  edifices  behind  triumphal 
arches,  and  porticos  of  temples.  Even  the  streets  of  old  Rome  were  buried  up. 

\  Thus  Rome  grew  up,  and  becoming  anew  a  great  commercial  and  political 
city,  in  modern  Italy,  and  taking  the  lead  of  the  world  in  arts,  arms,  and 
chivalry,  an  elegant,  mediaeval  Rome,  obliterated  the  memory  of  the  ancient 
city.  With  the  revival  of  learning,  came  back  a  curiosity,  and  an  interest  in 
reclaiming  what  could  be  rescued,  of  the  monuments  of  the  old  civilization. 
This  has  been  done  by  removing  modern  or  mediaeval  structures,  and  excavat¬ 
ing  the  earth  beneath  them,  and  thus  restoring  whole  streets,  avenues,  and 
ways,  and  with  this,  a  partial  restoration  of  the  most  j)rominent  of  the  old 
monuments. 

St.  Peter’s  Church  is  built  wholly  of  stone,  in  solid  walls  and  columns. 
There  is  no  place  for  a  mouse  or  a  rat  there,  wherefore  I  can’t  explain  what 
that  cat  was  doing  that  I  found  on  the  roof  of  the  church.  But,  I  think, 
celibates  of  both  sexes  have  a  weakness  for  cats.  It  is,  nevertheless,  myste¬ 
rious.  A  goose  saved  Old  Rome — who  knows  but  the  cat  may  have  become 
inspired  to  watch  over  the  new  one? 

Broken  up  in  the  civil  wars,  only  the  magnificent  piers  remain  of  the  great 
aqueduct  of  ancient  Rome.  But  the  system  was  a  gigantic  and  effective  one. 
Descending  the  pathway,  we  find  this  great  aqueduct,  its  covering  renewed  in 


400 


CARDINAL  ANTONELLI. 


[1859. 


part,  and  the  purest  water  flowing  in  it.  Men,  women,  and  children,  two 
thousand  years  ago,  resorted  to  that  spring  continually  with  their  pitchers  and 
urns.  There  is  such  an  endless  procession  attending  it  now,  for  the  same 
purpose.  But  how  different  their  language,  habits,  and  character!  Those 
were  heathen,  on  whom  the  light  of  pure  religion  had  never  shone;  or  at  best, 
had  shone  in  its  morning  twilight.  These  are  Christians,  educated  and 
trained,  and  governed  by  the  long  world-confessed  Chief  of  the  Church  itself. 
Which  shall  we  pronounce  the  wisest  and  the  best?  Mankind  would  divide 
on  that  question. 

At  the  cattle-market  in  ancient  Rome,  there  is  a  marble  arch  which  opens 
into  the  court.  It  is  a  high  and  beautiful  structure  of  white  marble,  which 
might  serve  well  for  a  triumphal  arch.  And  then  there  is  a  marble  porch 
which  leads  into  the  butcher’s  stall.  It  is  engraved  in  bas-relief,  admirably 
executed,  in  which  the  farmer  is  represented  bringing  the  bull  into  the  market; 
and  again  another  plate  shows  the  butcher  standing  beside  the  ox,  with  an  axe 
raised  to  bring  him  to  the  ground ;  a  third  plate,  the  dog  worrying  the  bull; 
a  fourth,  the  butcher  cutting  his  throat.  These  curious  relics  excite  a  deep 
interest,  by  showing  the  familiar  life  of  ancient  times.  It  is  the  familiar  daily 
life  that  history  does  not  teach;  and  in  the  yearnings  for  knowledge  of  it,  we 
seize  on  even  trivial  indications  of  it. 


In  Rome  the  Papal  Government  and  Hierarchy  kept  alive  a  contempt  and 
hatred  of  the  Jews,  as  retaliatory  and  relentless  in  its  character,  as  the  “Know- 
Nothing”  prejudice  in  our  country  against  the  Catholics  themselves.  It  is 
even  as  intolerant  as  the  American,  but  inhuman  dislike  of  white  men  for  the 
African  race,  which  they  have  wronged  so  deeply. 

The  Jews  here  are  assigned  a  special  quarter  where  only  they  may  dwell.  It 
is  filled  up  with  five  thousand  people  of  both  sexes,  and  all  ages  and  condi¬ 
tions;  their  dress,  their  walk,  demeanor,  habits,  conversation,  and  manners 
indicative  of  a  subjected  and  loathed  condition.  But  what  was  more  striking 
than  even  this,  was  the  identity  of  features  and  expression  peculiar  to  that 
race,  wherever  found.  Many  of  the  persons  were  vile  and  ugly,  but  it  was 
Jewish  vileness  and  ugliness,  and  nothing  else.  Some  were  beautiful,  and  a 
fewr  were  even  spirited,  but  it  was  always  Hebrew  beauty  and  Hebrew  vivacity. 
Never  was  my  good  friend,  the  Catholic  priest  who  accompanied  me,  more  as¬ 
tonished,  than  when  I  told  him  that  Jews  are  legislators,  judges,  and  minis¬ 
ters  in  the  United  States. 


We  ascended  a  broad,  easy,  graceful  staircase,  and  in  a  suite  of  apartments, 
extensive,  and  elegantly  furnished,  we  were  received  by  His  Eminence  the  Car¬ 
dinal  Antonelli,  Secretary  of  State  to  the  Pope.  He  was  dressed  in  the  eccle¬ 
siastical  habit  of  his  order.  He  has  a  careworn  and  anxious  aspect;  is  about 
forty-five  years  old,  and  wears  a  most  pleasing  and  courteous  and  unaffected 
demeanor.  He  met  me  at  the  door,  extended  both  his  hands,  grasped  and 
pressed  both  of  mine,  brought  me  to  a  sofa,  seated  me,  and  pronounced  a 
hearty,  spirited,  and  genial  welcome,  that  put  me  quite  at  my  ease.  We  con- 


CARDINAL  ANTONELLI. 


IN  THE  VATICAN 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOI 


1859.] 


THE  ROMAN  CHURCH. 


401 


versed  half  an  hour,  of  politics  in  Europe  and  America,  of  social  and  political 
opinions  and  customs,  and  the  future  of  both  continents,  and  during  all  that 
time,  he  showed  so  much  personal  kindness  toward  myself,  that  I  with  diffi¬ 
culty  found  opportunity  to  let  him  understand  that  I  appreciated  his  own  dif¬ 
ficult  position,  in  European  affairs.  The  Vatican,  he  said,  should  be  wholly 
at  my  command,  when  I  should  come  to  visit  it,  and  his  Holiness  would  wel¬ 
come  me  as  cordially  as  he  himself  had  done. 


One  of  the  first  observations  that  occur  to  a  stranger  here,  is  that  ancient 
Rome  is  regarded  by  the  modern  Romans  with  exactly  the  same  curiosity,  and 
interest,  as  by  foreigners.  So  stupendous  was  the  ancient  Roman  State,  and, 
in  the  fall,  so  entirely  dissevered  from  that  which  has  succeeded  it,  that  no 
sentiment  of  devotion,  or  kindred,  or  sympathy  is  felt  by  the  present  posses¬ 
sors  toward  their  predecessors.  The  moderns  seem  to  regard  themselves  as 
merely  encamped,  in  a  country  which  a  race  of  giants  had  abandoned,  or  on 
which,  like  our  aborigines,  they  had  perished.  Wonderful  tribute  to  the 
genius  of  ancient  Rome! 


The  Church  government  first  won  the  allegiance  of  the  Roman  State,  and  so 
established  itself  firmly  here.  When  that  great  State,  worn  out  and  exhausted, 
fell  into  ruins,  the  only  half-converted  Christian  world  naturally  consented  to 
see  the  Church  here  assume  its  place  as  a  sovereign,  and  allowed  it  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  plenary  political  power  within  its  limited  territory,  and  conceded  to  it 
political  functions  and  influences  throughout  the  world.  Thus  become  a  tem¬ 
poral  power,  with  vast  influences  upon  the  opinions,  and  sentiments,  and  af¬ 
fections  of  mankind,  other  States  have  recognized  it,  negotiated  with  it,  pro¬ 
pitiated  it,  defended  it,  or  opposed  it,  as  they  thought  at  times  expedient. 
When  it  had  strength  enough  to  be  independent,  it  often  favored  freedom; 
now  that  it  is  dependent  on  foreign  States,  which  are  monarchical,  its  influence 
goes  in  that  direction. 

Seen  from  our  side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  Roman  Church,  with  its  present  po¬ 
litical  organization,  seems  ready  to  fall,  as  it  seems  desirable,  for  the  greater 
advancement  of  mankind,  that  it  shall  fall.  But  this  view  is  modified  when 
you  come  here.  The  Temporal  Power  is  indeed  weak,  listless,  and  comtempt- 
ible.  But  Rome  is  now,  as  much  as  it  ever  was,  the  seat  of  a  vast  congrega¬ 
tion  of  clergy,  who  despise  the  temporalities  of  the  Papal  system  as  unworthy 
their  ambition,  but  who  are  engaged  in  extending  and  fortifying  the  Catholic 
Church,  identical  in  their  view  with  the  Christian  religion,  and  this  Church 
Spiritual  was  never  more  earnest,  diligent,  vigorous,  or  enlightened,  than 
now.  They  are  opposed  by  no  effective  Protestant  or  anti-Christian  organi¬ 
zations.  Protestants,  Deists,  and  Mussulmans  are  divided,  and  the  latter  are 
breaking  down  under  the  weight  of  the  defects  of  their  religious  creed.  Very 
little  Temporal  Power  is  now  needed  by  this  Catholic  Church  Propaganda. 


Rome  has  been  two  thousand  five  hundred  years.  Each  of  its  five  hundred 
generations  has  exacted  a  burial  at  the  hands  of  its  successors.  The  Romans 

26 


402 


[1859. 


DOMINE,  QUO  VADIS?*’ 

/ 

buried  then*  dead  chiefly  beyond  the  walls,  and  as  is  now  ascertained,  the  cem¬ 
eteries  bordered  on  both  sides  this  great  avenue  which  led  to  the  city. 

I  rode  out  yesterday  eight  miles  on  this  wonderful  Appian  Way.  I  found 
an  old  Roman  inscription  upon  a  porch,  which  informed  me  that  the  remains  of 
Emilianus  lay  behind  in  the  recess  beyond  it.  I  entered,  and  found  in  a  vaulted 
apartment,  two  thousand  years  old,  not  the  bones,  or  even  the  shade  of  a 
Roman  Senator,  but  an  ass  quietly  sheltering  himself  from  the  heat  of  the  sun. 

I  stopped  next  at  a  place  revered  in  the  history  of  Rome.  It  was  at  the 
Fountain  and  Valley  of  Egeria,  where  the  good  King  Numa  received  from  that 
goddess  the  benign  laws,  which,  faithfully  administered  by  him,  secured  honor 
and  empire  to  the  then  youthful  Roman  people.  But  I  found  no  trace  left  of 
either  the  fountain  or  the  garden. 

I  was  equally  unfortunate  in  my  search  for  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Honor 
and  Virtue,  as  well  as  for  the  Temple  of  Mars,  at  which  the  conquering  armies 
used  to  stop,  when  returning  to  be  received  with  triumphal  processions  within 
the  city. 

But  I  was  more  successful  in  regard  to  Christian  monuments  and  events.  I 
found  the  very  spot  on  which  St.  Peter,  when  going  up  to  Rome,  met  our 
Saviour,  and  held  with  him  an  important  conversation. 

“  Domine  quo  xadis?  ”  (Where  are  you  going?)  said  Peter  to  our  Saviour. 

“  I  come  to  Rome,  to  be  again  crucified,”  was  the  reply. 

You  will  doubt  the  authenticity  of  this  history.  But  there  on  the  identical 
spot  stands  a  church  built  by  the  disciples  of  the  Apostle,  and  bearing  the 
name  of  “  Domine  quo  xadis  f  ” 

Beyond  this  point,  the  road  on  both  sides  is  bordered  by  excavated  vaults 
called  Columbaria.  On  each  side  are  rows,  often  one  above  another,  of  nicely 
arched  niches,  with  hollows  in  the  bottom.  In  these  niches  were  placed  the 
urns  which  contained  the  ashes  of  the  dead  after  the  bodies  had  been  burned. 
The  structure  took  the  name  of  Columbaria ,  from  its  resemblance  to  the  haunt 
of  doves  or  the  dove-cote,  with  the  nests  arranged  in  rows.  Inscriptions,  stat¬ 
ues,  and  bas-reliefs  indicated  the  persons  thus  honored,  many  of  them  singu¬ 
larly  quaint,  and  some  are  ludicrous.  After  seeing  these  ancient  examples,  I 
incline  to  think  that  popular  elegiac  literature  is  always  a  failure  among  all 
nations.  Here  is  an  epitaph : 

“  Tito  Claudio ,  Secundo ,  Philipiano  Coactori ,  Flaxio ,  Irene  TJxori ,  Indulgentis- 
simo .”  (Irene  erects  this  monument  to  Titus  Claudius,  second  son  of  Philip — 
who  was  a  tax-gatherer,  and  was  the  most  indulgent  of  husbands.) 

Among  this  wild  chaotic  confusion  of  sepulchers,  seven  miles  in  length,  is 
only  one  bearing  a  name  known  to  history. 

Judge  now,  with  what  reverent  emotions  I  stopped  at  the  place  which  his¬ 
tory  and  tradition  concur  in  describing  as  the  site  of  the  Three  Taverns,  where 
Paul  relates  that  he  stopped,  and  was  entertained  on  his  journey  as  a  prisoner 
to  Rome. 


The  full  round  moon  was  looking  down  upon  us,  and  it  was  ten  o’clock  when 
we  entered  the  dark  and  narrow  streets  of  Rome  on  our  return.  A  funeral  pro- 


1850.] 


CURIOUS  EPITAPHS. 


403 


cession  was  in  progress.  First,  a  band  of  Capuchin  monks,  then  a  body  of 
Augustine  friars,  then  a  similar  body  of  regular  priests,  then  the  body  on  a 
hearse,  then  penitents  dressed  in  gray  mantles  with  hoods  covering  the  whole 
person  from  head  to  foot,  with  only  small  eyelet  holes,  and  mouth  apertures 
permitting  the  wearers  to  see  and  breathe,  then  a  few  carriages.  Each  mem¬ 
ber  of  this  long  procession  bore  a  long  candle,  and  all  in  concert,  sang  or 
chanted  the  Miserere,  in  tones  loud  and  deep.  The  whole  population  stopped 
and  uncovered  their  heads  while  the  procession  passed.  But  there  must  be 
something  of  the  little,  always,  to  mingle  with  the  great  —  something  of  the 
comic,  to  mar  the  effect  of  tragedy.  So  here,  ragged,  coatless,  hatless,  boys, 
with  papers  artfully  folded,  crowded  up  to  each  of  these  mourners,  and  caught 
the  tallow  as  it  dripped  from  the  candles,  and  carefully  saved  it  to  be  sold  to 
the  tallow-chandler  this  morning. 

Pausing  at  the  Porto  Maggiore  I  found  a  monument  which  is  as  unique  in 
its  construction  as  it  is  expensive  and  magnificent.  It  is  of  marble,  with  col¬ 
umns,  pilasters,  bas-reliefs,  and  other  ornaments  that  would  seem  to  indicate 
the  resting-place  of  an  Augustus.  It  is  crowned  with  bas-reliefs  showing  the 
whole  process  of  making  bread,  from  carrying  the  wheat  to  the  mill,  through 
the  grinding,  kneading,  baking  and  depositing  the  loaves  on  the  table;  while 
the  most  conspicuous  figure  in  the  whole  mausoleum  is  a  sarcophagus  in  the  form 
of  a  bread-basket.  There  are  several  inscriptions ;  one  of  which  informs  us  that 
this  costly  structure  is  the  mausoleum  of  Eurysacius,  a  baker;  and  another 
announces  to  these  remote  generations,  and  to  visitors  from  all  continents,  that 
“  Alista  ”  was  the  wife  of  the  self-honored  baker;  that  she  was  the  very  best 
of  all  wives;  and  that  her  precious  remains  may  be  found  in  this  latter  bread¬ 
basket. 

“  Fuit  Alista  uxor  enihei  Femina  optima  veixsit  quonsque  corporis  reliquiem  quod 
superant ,  sunt  in  hoc  qxmacero.”  Do  not  show  this  letter  to  your  Latin  teacher, 
because  I  fear  that  he  will  say  that  the  illustrious  dead,  however  he  excelled 
in  baking,  was  not  well  versed  in  grammar  and  spelling. 

I  must  stop  to  mention  one  epitaph  more,  on  a  costly  tomb.  I  do  it  because 
it  has  escaped  the  notice  of  the  antiquaries  whose  books  I  have  seen.  It  is 
the  record,  short  and  sweet,  of  one  self-contented  man,  and  is  in  these  words : 

u  P.  T.  Serulius  extruxit  suo  aerumma.  (P.  T.  Serulius  built  this  monument 
with  his  own  money.) 

How  luxuriant  is  life  !  Here  among  these  mouldering,  wasting  monuments 
of  the  proud  and  mighty  dead,  every  thing  is  animate  — lizards  and  chameleons 
glide  over  broken  columns  and  urns;  and  birds  find  houses  in  the  foliage  of 
the  capitals.  Nay,  I  saw  here  the  thistle  flowering  everywhere  among  the 
ruins:  and  attached  to  each  single  flower  was  a  fully-developed  snail,  with 
his  house  of  curious  workmanship,  wrought  by  himself  without  tools  or  hands. 


Just  before  reentering  the  city,  I  surveyed  the  very  ancient  and  interesting 
Church  of  St.  Lawrence,  where  I  saw  the  urn  that  holds  the  ashes,  or  remains, 


404 


THE  PAPAL  BLESSING. 


[1859. 


not  only  of  St.  Lawrence  and  of  St.  Martyn,  but  also  of  St.  Stephen,  the 
Proto-martyr.  I  know  what  you  will  say  now.  You  will  say  that  I  told  you 
that  I  saw  the  grave  of  St.  Stephen  (the  same  St.  Stephen)  in  the  church  at 
Paris;  for  I  did  tell  you  so,  if  I  told  you  all  I  saw  in  that  great  city.  Well, 
what  if  I  did  ?  What  should  hinder  the  dead  saint  from  having  two  resting- 
places,  as  every  Pope  has,  at  the  same  time,  two  palaces  ?  Saints  have  privi¬ 
leges  I  would  have  you  to  know. 

My  morning’s  excursion  closed  with  the  Pantheon.  It  is  at  once  the  most 
simple,  the  most  beautiful,  and  the  best  preserved  work  of  Old  Rome. 


At  ten  o’clock  I  stood  on  the  base  of  one  of  the  marble  columns  which 
support  the  roof  of  the  magnificent  Church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  over¬ 
looking  the  heads  of  the  whole  congregation  of  the  faithful;  and  from  there 
I  saw  the  Holy  Father  ride  through  the  broad  nave  of  the  church,  on  the 
shoulders  of  ten  nobles,  and  descend,  and  take  the  throne  in  the  tribune,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  the  whole  body  of  Cardinals;  receive  their  adoration;  go  through 
the  ceremony  of  High  Mass;  and  then,  borne  in  the  same  way  to  the  balcony 
in  front  of  the  church,  and  there  pronounce  his  blessing  on  the  people  of 
Rome.  He  entered  and  departed  with  a  military  guard;  and  a  like  guard, 
stationed  about  the  columns,  and  in  front  of  the  altar,  protected  the  Bishop 
from  any  irreverent  approach  of  his  spiritual  sheep. 

You  will  ask  me  when  will  all  this  strange  confusion  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  with  human  authority  end  ? 

I  can  only  answer  that,  even  here,  it  would  be  repudiated,  if  it  were  not 
upheld,  from  interested  motives,  by  foreign  monarchies.  France  and  Austria 
maintain  it  here  by  armed  force.  But  neither  France  nor  Austria  can  persist 
in  that  policy  forever.  The  latter  is  a  part  of  upward  rising  Germany.  The 
Bonaparte  race  alone  keeps  down  the  republic  in  France.  That  will  soon  end. 


Returning  homeward,  I  entered  the  Protestant  burying-ground,  the  one 
place  assigned  here  for  the  burial  of  those  who  reject  the  authority  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  Thus  Rome  divides  the  dead,  as  well  as  the  living,  into 
two  classes  — those  whom  she  owns  as  children,  and  those  whom  she  regards 
as  heretics. 

How  strange  did  it  seem  to  me  to  find,  in  that  small  inclosure,  that  fra¬ 
ternity  among  Protestants  established  in  their  death,  which  they  were  so  un¬ 
conscious  of,  while  living!  There  the  tomb-stones  tell  you  promiscuously  of 
the  decay  of  Englishmen,  Germans,  Americans,  Russians,  and  Greeks;  and  the 
hundred  sects,  in  many  nations,  seem  to  commune  in  grief  over  their  bereave¬ 
ments. 

This  morning,  we  entered  a  door  at  the  corner  of  a  very  spacious  room, 
three  sides  of  which  were  filled  with  book-cases  stored  with  books.  Father 
Smith  turned  to  the  right,  as  soon  as  he  entered,  and  kneeled.  I,  standing 
behind  him,  saw  a  venerable,  gray-haired  gentleman,  sitting  a  few  feet  from 
us,  dressed  in  a  simple  white  woolen  cassock,  or  gown,  and  a  library  table  cov¬ 
ered  with  a  very  common  red  cloth  before  him  —  and  this  was  His  Holiness, 


1859.] 


PIUS  IX. 


405 


Pope  Pius  IX.  He  directed  Dr.  Smith  to  rise,  and  turned  toward  him  with 
extended  hand.  He  said,  speaking  in  Italian,  that  he  was  very  thankful  to 
him  for  bringing  Mr.  Seward  to  see  him.  The  Doctor  then  introduced  me.  I 
bowed  to  the  Pope  respectfully,  and  I  think  I  should  have  bowed  again,  but  / 
he  extended  both  his  hands,  invited  me  to  come  on,  and  took  me  at  once  with 
a  cordial  grasp  of  the  hand,  and  said  that  he  hoped  I  would  excuse  him  for 
not  rising,  that  he  was  suffering  severely  of  a  lameness  in  the  foot,  and  could 
not  move. 

With  an  expression  of  benignity  and  vivacity  that  it  would  be  hard  to  de¬ 
scribe,  he  said  he  desired  to  thank  me  for  the  liberality  and  justice  that  I  had 
shown  to  the  children  of  the  Catholic  faith,  in  my  own  country,  and  to  express 
the  hope  that  a  policy  so  generous  would  be  continued ;  and  he  desired  also 
to  assure  me  of  the  great  respect  he  entertained  for  my  characteer. 

I  answered  that  it  was  very  grateful  to  me  to  b$  thus  assured  that  he  ap¬ 
preciated  the  sentiments  of  religious  and  civil  liberty  that  my  country  had 
adopted.  1 

Here  he  corrected  Dr.  Smith,  by  telling  him  that  my  name  was  pronounced 
not  Sew<mZ,  but  ^Steward.  He  said  I  was  formerly  Governor  of  Hew  York,  and 
now  Senator,  and  playfully  said  something  of  good  wishes  for  my  higher  ad¬ 
vancement.  He  said  that  he  had  received  many  books  from  America,  from 
our  Government,  on  geology  and  natural  history,  and  admired  them  very 
much;  and  he  desired  me  to  understand  that  he  was  very  thankful  for  them  — 
saying,  also,  that  the  Americans  cultivated  the  science  of  natural  history  very 
earnestly. 

I  replied,  that  we  had  succeeded  to  a  continent  full  of  treasures.  It  was 
only  a  simple  economy  to  study  its  resources,  in  order  to  develop  and  im¬ 
prove  them.  That  our  liberty  (of  which  he  had  already  spoken)  was  only  to 
be  secured  by  such  a  course  as  would  enable  the  people  to  become  great  and 
happy. 

He  answered,  smiling,  “Oh!  yes.  In  America  you  can  allow  liberty  —  civil 
and  religious  liberty.  But  here,  it  is  different  with  us.  I  represent  a  princi¬ 
ple,  and  that  is,  there  is  only  one  true  religion,  and  diversity  of  views  would 
be  inconsistent  with  it.” 

I  replied,  “You  act  logically  from  your  position,  and  we  also  logically  from 
ours.  Our  position  is  that  the  truth  is  yet  a  subject  of  dispute,  and  we  hold 
that  it  cannot  suffer  by  discussion  —  so  that  we  reach,  in  the  end,  the  truth, 
which  both  parties  hold  to  be  the  great  object  of  human  pursuit.” 

“Oh!  yes,  yes,”  he  said,  “we  are  all  devoted  to  the  establishment  of  truth, 
and  it  is  quite  logical  for  you  to  pursue  so  liberal  a  course,  as  a  consequence 
of  your  principles.”  He  then  asked  who  was  the  last  President  of  the  United 
States.  I  replied,  “  Mr.  Pierce.” 

“  Oh,  yes, —  and  who  is  President  now?  ” 

“Mr.  Buchanan.” 

“  And  Mr.  Cass?  ” 

“He  is  Secretary  of  State.” 

“  Well,”  said  he,  “I  believe  General  Cass  is  an  enlightened  and  liberal  man.” 

He  then  thanked  me  for  bringing  a  book  to  him  from  a  friend  in  London. 


40G 


POPE  PIUS  IX. 


[1S59. 


He  asked  how  I  was  pleased  with  Rome?  I  said  I  was  learning  much  that 
was  quite  new  and  interesting  to  me,  although  really  old  and  less  interesting 
to  the  Romans  themselves. 

“Yes,”  he  said,  “it  is  well  to  come  to  see  Rome,  but  you  will  learn  little 
here  compared  with  what  your  own  great  country  affords.  It  is  a  great  coun¬ 
try,  and  a  happy  one,  but  for  us  here,  there  is  little  to  learn,  and  little  to 
enjoy.” 

Turning  to  Dr.  Smith,  he  said  that  he  desired  him  to  assure  me  again  of  his 
great  respect,  and  his  pleasure  in  becoming  acquainted  with  me. 

I  replied  that  I  should  always  remember  his  very  kind  welcome,  and  I  de¬ 
sired  him  to  accept  my  best  wishes  that  he  might  live  long,  and  enjoy  a  pros¬ 
perous  and  useful  administration. 

“Oh!  no!  no!  I  see  no  hope  of  prosperity  or  of  usefulness  for  me,  nor  of 
prosperity  or  of  happiness  for  poor  Italy.  I  am  placed  here  to  defend  a  princi¬ 
ple,  -with  a  few  quite  valueless  palms  in  my  hands  —  valuable  to  the  Church, 
but  useless  to  other  nations,  yet  all  the  world,  all  the  great  nations,  are  trying 
to  take  them  away  from  me.  If  it  were  only  a  question  affecting  myself,  I 
should  give  them  up  at  once;  but  I  am  a  trustee,  and  must  hold  them  as  w'ell 
as  I  can.  I  believe  that  the  trust  is  of  God,  and  that  it  will  be  saved,  but  if  it 
is  not  His  pleasure  then  it  will  be  lost.  No!  no!  there  is  no  prosperity,  no 
future  for  me,  but  for  you,  for  you,  all  is  different.” 

I  feared  to  pursue  this  conversation,  so  frank  and  ingenuous,  and  signified 
my  readiness  to  depart.  He  made  an  effort  to  get  up,  gave  me  both  his  hands 
again,  and  blessed  me;  and  then  begging  Dr.  Smith  to  express  to  me  how 
much  gratified  he  was  with  my  sentiments  and  conversation,  he  took  leave  of 
us  again. 

Serious  as  this  conversation  was,  it  is  necessary,  in  order  that  you  may  un¬ 
derstand  the  man,  that  I  should  add  that,  throughout  the  whole  interview,  he 
was  cheerful  and  animated,  and  even  playful  in  his  manner.  Certainly  I  for¬ 
got,  from  the  very  first,  that  I  was  standing  before  a  Pope,  and  felt  that  I  was 
in  the  society  of  a  genial,  benevolent,  kind,  and  gracious  old  man. 

There  is  nothing  spent  by  that  good  old  man  on  his  appetites,  pleasures,  or 
ambition,  I  am  sure.  No  monarch  in  the  world  does  so  much  for  art  and 
science,  as  he  does,  in  proportion  to  his  means. 

That  his  principle  is  erroneous  is  evident  enough  to  us;  but  it  is  the  error  in 
which  he  has  been  educated,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  largest  part  of  the 
Christian  world.  If  the  Roman  Catholic  system  is  seen  by  us  in  all  its  absurd¬ 
ity,  let  us  be  just,  and  remember  that,  absurd  as  it  is,  it  -was  the  system  that 
saved  the  religion  and  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  during  its  contest  with  Pagan¬ 
ism  and  Mahommedanism ;  and  that  it  was*  in  fact,  the  highest  development 
of  the  human  mind,  when  it  took  its  present  form  and  character.  It  must 
fall ;  and  it  cannot  escape  responsibility  for  its  errors  and  crimes.  Let  it  then 
have  the  credit  due  to  it  for  its  achievements,  and  the  blessings  it  has  con¬ 
ferred  on  mankind. 


The  early  Christians  wTere  iconoclasts  in  Rome.  Paganism  opposed  and 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

JNIYERSITY  OF  ILLINOI 


ON  THE  APPIAN  WAY. 


PALACE  AT  TURIN 


1859.] 


IX  THE  VATICAN. 


407 


persecuted  them.  They  advanced  by  two  lines;  first,  by  making  martyrdom 
vindicate  the  true  religion ;  next,  by  destroying  the  symbols  and  implements 
of  Paganism.  When  the  battle  was  won,  the  Catholic  Church  relented  of  its 
war  against  the  innocent  symbols  of  the  pagans,  produced  by  the  arts;  and 
chose  justly  to  regard  them  as  monuments  of  civilization;  and  seeing  how  use¬ 
ful  they  could  be  made,  as  models,  in  turning  the  arts  into  the  service  of  the 
true  religion,  it  became  the  conservator  of  the  works  of  the  ancients.  In  this 
simple  statement,  you  have  the  explanation  of  the  art  treasures  of  the  Vatican 
—  and  indeed  of  modern  Rome. 


The  pagans,  at  that  time,  were  accustomed  to  burn  their  dead,  generally, 
and  to  preserve  their  ashes.  The  Christians  rejected  this  practice ;  and  adopted 
the  process  of  burial,  out  of  regard  to  their  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  the  body.  But  they  buried  stealthily,  in  catacombs,  under  the  terrors 
of  persecution.  The  Church  has  gathered  the  lings  and  seals,  and  other  orna¬ 
ments  taken  from  their  graves;  and  amongst  other  things,  the  screws,  hooks, 
pincers,  and  other  imjfiements  of  pagan  torture,  deposited  in  the  graves  of  the 
Christians,  as  evidence  of  their  martyrdom.  It  came  easily  to  be  understood 
that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church  ;  and  so  the  early  Chris¬ 
tians,  by  every  art  and  device,  saved,  if  possible,  some  part  of  the  blood  of 
the  sufferer,  which  they  put  into  a  small  bottle  or  phial,  and  deposited  with 
his  body  in  the  catacombs.  These  phials,  permanently  discolored,  were  res¬ 
cued,  and  preserved  in  great  numbers. 

’ _  \ 

Imagine  yourself  stationed  at  one  end  of  the  enlarged  Capitol  at  Washing¬ 
ton,  with  a  long  row  of  chambers,  opening  before  you,  quite  to  the  other  end ; 
then  imagine  just  such  a  row  of  chambers  crossing  the  first,  and  of  equal 
length.  Imagine  these  chambers  successively  filled  with  sculptures  and  paint¬ 
ing's,  beginning;  with  Phidias,  and  Praxiteles,  and  coming  down  to  the  days 
of  Canova —  not  one  production  unworthy  of  association  with  the  first  masters 

—  the  Apollo  Belvidere,  Venules,  Laocoons,  Diomedes,  Hercules,  Jupiters, 
Christs,  Pauls,  Marys  —  that  the  chisel  and  the  pencil  have  given  to  the  world, 
to  excite  ambition,  love,  awe,  devotion,  veneration,  pity,  or  any  other  passion 

—  and  then  you  have  an  idea  of  the  Vatican. 

It  is  in  the  department  of  manuscripts  that  the  Vatican  excels  all  other 
libraries.  Of  course,  all  manuscript  copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  the 
works  of  the  Fathers  are  there.  But  the  Church  has  been  equally  energetic 
and  persevering  in  collecting  and  preserving  the  manuscripts  of  the  classical 
authors  of  old  Rome,  and  some  of  the  modern  authors.  I  saw  a  recovered 
copy  of  Cicero  de  Hepublica ,  a  poem  of  Petrarch’s,  in  his  own  hand,  portions 
of  Dante,  and  the  handwriting  of  Boccacio,  and  a  large  part  of  Tasso’s 
“Jerusalem  Delivered,”  apparently  the  original  work,  from  which  all  our  re¬ 
prints  have  been  produced. 

If  one  wishes  to  shorten  the  long  period  that  separates  us  from  the  civiliza¬ 
tion  of  the  old  world,  and  to  connect  himself  in  feeling  with  the  buried  past, 
I  know  of  no  way  of  doing  it  so  simply,  as  to  stand  and  look  up  to  the  gigan- 


408 


AT  POMPEY’S  TOMB. 


[1859. 


tic  statue  of  Pompey,  before  which  Julius  Caesar,  his  rival,  but  his  triumphant 
survivor,  when  stabbed  by  the  bold  conspirators,  folded  his  senatorial  robe, 
and  fell.  So  natural  and  lifelike  does  it  seem,  notwithstanding  its  immense 
proportions,  that  it  is  recognized  at  once  as  a  living  witness  of  that  startling 
tragedy.  The  imagination  has  already  been  wrought  up  to  a  pitch  of  extrav¬ 
agance,  in  dwelling  on  the  magnitude  of  the  act,  and  its  mighty  consequences, 
and  forgets  that  the  witness  is  of  stone;  while  the  colossal  size  serves  but  to 
heighten  its  authenticity. 

I  came  here,  to  Albano,  to  find  the  villa  of  Pompey,  and  his  tomb  erected 
by  his  wife  Cornelia.  A  great  square  tower,  forty  feet  in  diameter,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  feet  high,  now  of  rugged  stone  and  brick  exterior,  but  once 
covered  with  a  thick  veneering  of  marble,  dwarfs  all  other  structures  in  the 
vicinity,  and  challenges  attention  far  across  the  campagna  below.  I  needed  no 
guide  to  recognize  it.  But  it  stands  in  the  midst  of  a  field  lowly  cultivated; 
and  I  needed  permission  to  enter.  The  owner  was  found,  and  brought  with 
his  key  to  the  potato-patch ;  but  not  without  raising  a  troup  of  mendicants, 
who  formed  for  me  an  escort,  in  numbers  worthy  of  the  Republican  pilgrim, 
who  came  from  a  far  distant  land  to  pay  homage  to  the  ashes  of  the  Repub¬ 
lican  chief,  who  nobly  died  in  resisting  the  fatal  ambition  of  Cresar. 

On  I  went,  until  I  came  to  this  gigantic  tomb.  Were  the  ashes  still  within  ? 
Was  not  the  urn  there  ?  At  least,  was  there  not  a  statue  ?  What  was  within 
the  sepulchral  chamber  ?  One  side  was  solid.  I  tried  another.  That 
was  solid  also.  I  tried  a  third.  That  had  no  aperture.  A  fourth  had 
a  door  wide  enough,  and  high  enough,  to  permit  the  mourning  Cornelia 
to  enter.  I  entered  the  solemn  sepulchral  chamber,  as  she,  doubtless,  had 
done  so  often  before.  There  was  a  chamber  twelve  feet  by  eight,  a  re¬ 
cess  in  which  funeral  urn,  or  sculptured  sarcophagus,  doubtless  once  had 
stood  —  but  alas  !  the  ashes  of  the  mighty  dead  were  gone  —  no  one  knows 
where,  or  how;  and  the  sepulchral  chamber  has  a  living  tenantry,  black,  hid¬ 
eous,  and  loathsome.  It  was  a  hog-sty  !  How,  in  this  case,  has  “vaulting 
ambition  overreached  itself  !  ”  How  much  better  to  let  the  earth  with  its  green 
mantle  receive  and  cover  up,  deep,  the  dust  which  remains  of  us  after  death, 
than  to  preserve  it,  only  to  be  desecrated  by  successors-  reckless  of  our  honor, 
our  fame,  our  pride  ! 

Passing  through  the  villa  of  the  Duke  Csesarina,  I  came  upon  the  lofty  shore 
of  the  beautiful  lake  of  Nervia,  a  gem,  encased  with  a  mountain  frame,  and 
here  I  wondered  not,  when  I  looked  down  upon  the  smooth  and  lovely  surface 
of  the  little  lake,  that  Diana  had  chosen  its  banks  for  the  spot  where  she 
would  be  worshiped  of  men.  Certainly  there  is  some  relation  between  nature 
and  virtue,  when  we  see  that  a  scene  so  quiet,  so  lovely,  is  thought  by  nations 
so  little  refined  as  the  ancients,  unfit  for  the  worship  of  power  or  passion,  and 
worthy  only  to  be  consecrated  to  purity  and  truth. 

On  the  brow  of  the  mountain,  overlooking  a  valley  of  rich  extent,  and 
covered  with  trees  and  shrubbery,  we  found  the  now  verified  ruin  of  the 


1859.] 


THE  HOME  OF  CICERO. 


409 


Tusculum  of  Cicero.  Alas!  it  is  only  a  ruin.  Hall,  salon,  chamber,  library, 
or  other  apartment,  or  corridor,  where  the  philosopher,  orator,  and  statesman 
lived,  there  is  not  one  that  can  be  traced.  Still  this  is  the  ruin  of  his  home. 
The  antiquarians  have  begun  to  excavate,  and  they  have  fouud  and  removed 
to  safe  places,  statues,  urns,  and  other  works  of  art.  They  have  left  some  of 
the  marble  relics  they  found  there  in  heaps  upon  the  marble  slabs.  The  me¬ 
tallic  ones  are  so  far  covered  by  rust,  that  their  original  forms  or  uses  cannot 
be  discovered,  but  graceful  earthen  and  porcelain  and  glass  vessels  in  broken 
fragments  abound,  with  shattered  mosaic  pavements,  and  frescoed  ceilings; 
and  oyster  shells  enough  are  there  to  tell  that  this  was  the  home  of  a  man  of 
taste,  who  was  not  altogether  disdainful  of  the  Epicurean  philosophy. 

And  this  is  all  that  this,  his  greatest  material  monument,  tells  us  of  Cicero. 
Happily  for  him,  and  for  mankind,  he  left  less  perishable  monuments. 


I  paused  to  tread  leisurely  on  the  pavement  excavated  for  large  distances 
through  the  city  of  that  old  “  Latin  Way  ”  which  has  been  traced  from  Jeru¬ 
salem  in  the  East,  through  the  Eternal  City  of  Italy,  to  York  in  England 
on  the  West,  traversing  the  whole  breadth  of  the  whole  ancient  empire.  Hard 
and  flinty  as  its  unshapen  stone  floor  is,  the  crust  still  preserves  its  place,  and 
the  floor  itself  is  furrowed  into  ruts  with  the  wear  of  chariot-wheels.  What  is 
there  of  virtue,  of  ambition,  of  heroism,  or  of  crime  and  treason,  and  shame  in 
the  history  of  Home,  that  these  stones  would  not  confirm,  if  stones  could 
preach ? 

A  staircase  of  twenty-eight  graceful  marble  steps,  covered  with  beautiful 
carving  of  some  fine  hard  wood  which  had  apertures  permitting  the  marble  to 
be  distinctly  seen,  was  before  me.  This  is  the  identical  staircase  which  led 
up  to  the  audience  chamber  of  Pontius  Pilate  in  Judea,  and  which  the  Saviour 
trod  when  brought  before  that  Governor.  Devout  pilgrims  come  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth  to  behold  it.  Irreverently  I  began  to  walk  up  it,  to  see 
whether  the  audience  chamber  itself  had  been  brought  from  Jerusalem  with 
the  blessed  staircase  by  the  blessed  St.  Helena.  But  I  was  soon  called  back 
by  a  Cistercian  monk,  having  charge  of  the  Holy  Stairs.  A.  manuscript  book 
in  English  was  put  into  my  hands,  which  informed  me  that  the  steps  were 
only  to  be  ascended  by  persons  on  their  knees.  The  book  contained  bulls  of 
successive  Popes,  taking  fourteen  years  of  purgatory  off  from  any  penitent  for 
every  one  of  the  steps  he  shall  ascend  on  his  knees.  But  even  this  liberal  offer 
did  not  tempt  me  to  change  my  position,  and  so  I  gave  up  the  enterprise. 


At  three  o’clock  I  visited  the  Church  of  San  Pancrazio,  outside  of  the  walls  of 
the  city.  An  inscription  tells  us  that  the  saint  was  slain  underneath  the 
church.  Dr.  Smith  spoke,  in  Italian,  to  a  monk  who  was  in  attendance,  and 
he  immediately  brought  from  the  adjoining  monastery  three  lamps.  Each  one 
of  our  party  took  one.  The  monk  opened  a  door,  and  led  the  way  down  a 
rough  stairway  hewn  in  the  earth  and  stone,  tortuous  and  low,  and  so  dark 
that  I  could  never  see  the  ground  before  me  for  the  next  step.  “It  was  here,” 


410 


IN  THE  CATACOMBS. 


[1S59. 


said  the  monk,  “  that  St.  Pancratius  was  slain.”  I  held  up  my  lamp,  and  read 
an  inscription  that  confirmed  the  monk’s  statement. 

I  passed  on  slow,  left  behind  by  my  associates,  and  bewildered.  .  They  would 
call  out  to  me  to  come  on,  but  their  voices  came  from  directions  opposite,  or 
angular  to  that  in  which  I  was  treading,  with  a  cold,  damp  sweat  dripping 
from  my  face.  There  was  room  at  no  time  for  more  than  one  person  to  walk, 
and  often  it  was  necessary  to  stoop,  almost  to  kneel. 

Presently  I  saw  caves  on  either  side  of  me  —  and  rude  shelves  made  in  the 
solid  rocks,  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six  shelves,  one  above  another,  some  sunk 
lower  than  my  feet,  some  far  above  my  head.  It  was  necessary  to  take  hold  of 
the  shelvesto  support  myself  and  assure  myself  against  falling.  A  white  substance, 
like  lime  almost  slaked,  was  strewn  over  them.  The  lime  dissolved  under  my 
hand.  Then  there  was  a  roof  eight  feet  high,  cut  smooth  with  a  chisel,  and 
it  was  plastered  and  painted  in  fresco  with  rude  devices;  and  this  arch  covered 
a  floorway  on  which  tables  were  raised  that  upheld  sarcophagi,  and  these  too 
contained  lime.  It  was  not  difficult  to  know  where  I  was  —  I  was  in  the  Cat¬ 
acombs  of  Pome.  These  caves  were  vaults ;  these  shelves  graves ;  that  lime 
the  dust  of  human  bones.  Narrow,  circuitous,  and  irregular  descents,  some¬ 
times  with  one  step  or  two  or  more,  hewn  in  the  rock  — often  by  an  inclined 
plane,  not  graded  wdtli  any  care,  led  me  down  to  similar  caves,  vaults  and 
shelves,  and  inscriptions  —  one  course  and  path  over  another,  until  I  shrunk 
from  further  progress  in  a  place  so  lonely,  so  dark,  so  loathsome. 

I  examined  the  vaults,  read  the  inscriptions,  and  studied  the  arrangement 
very  briefly,  and  gladly  hailed  the  offer  to  return  to  the  world  where  acts  of 
pardon  may  yet  be  passed,  and  deeds  of  propitiation,  if  not  merit,  may  yet 
be  done. 

The  Christians  labored  under  persecution  at  Rome,  three  hundred  years, 
until  the  conquest,  and  conversion  of  Constantine.  They  burrowed  in  holes 
in  the  rock  tufa  —  soft  when  yet  in  the  earth,  unexposed  to  the  air — they 
sought  refuge  there,  made  rude  chapels  there  for  their  inhibited  worship,  and 
they  buried  their  dead  there.  They  closed  up  every  grave  hermetically,  air 
tight,  and  so  their  places  of  refuge  and  worship  were  prevented  from  becom¬ 
ing  offensive. 

In  three  hundred  years  they  undermined  large  districts.  They  built  family 
cemeteries,  and  rich  vaults,  and  chapels,  according  to  their  wealth.  They 
ornamented  them  with  sarcophagi,  and  bas-relief,  and  frescoes. 

These  excavations  form  a  labyrinth  whose  lines,  in  their  entire  length, 
would  be  more  than  ten  thousand  miles.  Not  less  than  two  or  three  millions 
of  graves  were  made  there.  When  the  persecution  ceased,  the  Christians 
built  churches  over  the  entrances  to  these  vaults,  gathered  martyrs’  bones 
from  them,  and  dedicated  the  churches  to  the  memory  of  the  martyrs.  Then 
the  rite  of  Christian  burial  was  performed  above  ground.  Then  the  Cata¬ 
combs  came  to  be  superstitiously  feared,  then  for  ages  to  be  forgotten. 

The  antiquarians  and  devotees  have,  within  the  last  twenty  years,  become 
aware  of  the  treasures  of  art,  and  of  Christian  relics  deposited  there.  They 
have  opened  accesses;  ascertained  and  mapped  the  paths;  broke  through  the 


1859]. 


A  DAY  IN  POMPEII. 


411 


coffins;  ;m<l  lifted  the  covers  of  the  sarcophagi.  They  found  the  remains  per¬ 
fect  in  form,  but  as  soon  as  the  air  was  admitted,  the  corpses  sank  into  dust. 
They  have  removed  all  the  marbles  that  can  illustrate  the  history  which  the 
Catacombs  preserved,  leaving  the  dead  to  rest  in  peace,  but  bringing  their 
memories  back  to  life. 


Rome  is  old,  and  dull,  and  black,  mediaeval,  and  inconvenient.  But  when 
you  have  been  in  it  long  enough  to  forget  its  general  aspect,  and  to  see  dis¬ 
tinctly,  and  without  prejudice,  its  architectural  and  artistic  embellishments,  it 
is  then  that  it  rises  in  majesty  before  you ;  surpassing,  in  elegance,  all  the  capi¬ 
tals  of  the  whole  world. 


Sit  down  now,  by  me,  for  half  an  hour,  and  I  wfill  try  to  enable  you  to  un¬ 
derstand  —  what  I  never  could  understand  by  mere  reading  —  the  ruined  city 
of  Pompeii. 

Remember  that  Naples  is  on  the  sea-shore,  and  that  Pompeii  is,  or  rather 
was,  also  on  the  sea,  fourteen  miles  east  from  Naples;  and  that  Vesuvius 
stands  just  back  from  the  sea-shore,  half  way  between  the  two  places.  Re¬ 
member  now,  that  Pompeii  stood  on  the  slope  of  the  coast,  and  on  a  hill,  with 
a  valley  lying  between  it  and  the  mountain.  It  wras  a  town  about  as  large  as 
Auburn,  but  infinitely  more  compact.  Vesuvius  was  a  volcano,  ages  before 
Pompeii  was  built,  as  we  see  from  the  fact  that  it  was  chiefly  built  of  lava, 
and  other  stones  that  had  been  poured  down  from  the  crater.  It  wras  an  un¬ 
fortunate  town  always.  It  was  involved  in,  and  knocked  about  by  an  earth¬ 
quake  in  the  year  63  of  our  era.  Its  people  or  authorities  had  collected  ma¬ 
terials,  and  w^ere  restoring  the  city  in  the  year  79.  Then  Vesuvius  broke 
forth.  A  storm  of  ashes  and  cinders  fell  upon  all  the  country  round,  and  on 
Pompeii;  and  by  its  weight,  broke  in  the  roofs  of  the  buildings;  filled  up  the 
streets  and  apartments  to  the  highest  summit  of  the  broken  edifices,  and  all  the 
descent  belowq  and  into  the  city.  When  the  storm  had  ceased,  whether  by  aid 
of  the  earthquake  or  otherwise  we  do  not  know,  the  sea  had  been  crowded  off 
two  miles  from  Pompeii.  That  ill-fated  city  was  buried  up  in  ashes  and  cin¬ 
ders  (now  called  pumice  stones),  but  not  at  all  with  lava.  The  lava  being 
heavy,  could  not  flow  up  from  the  valley  to  reach  the  city.  History  tells  us 
minutely  of  its  destruction,  but  the  very  site  of  the  town  wTas  lost,  until  about 
one  hundred  years  ago,  when  it  wras  accidentally  discovered  by  a  farmer.  In  dig¬ 
ging  a  well,  he  came  into  a  finished  and  painted  chamber  of  a  former  human 
dwelling.  Then  began  the  excavations  which  have  opened  and  exposed  just 
about  one-third  of  the  city.  The  rest  still  remains  in  its  grave.  In  short,  they 
thus  restored  the  lost  city  to  its  ancient  condition  in  all  respects,  except  the 
roofs;  and  it  is  the  old  Pompeii,  roofless,  with  the  sun  and  air  upon  its  temples, 
forums,  theaters,  dining-rooms,  saloons,  shops,  stores,  stables,  and  courts. 

It  is  carefully  wuitched,  and  nobody,  unauthorized,  can  enter  it.  It  is 
cleanly  swept,  and  you  forget  in  traversing  its  streets,  and  its  chambers,  halls, 
and  courts,  that  it  is  a  ruin.  It  is  un tenanted,  and  lifeless,  and  you  expe¬ 
rience  all  the  while  a  sentiment  of  wronder,  where  its  inhabitants  are  gone. 

The  ashes  were  a  good  preservative  from  air,  rain,  and  other  elements  of  de- 


412 


A  DAY  IN  POMPEII. 


[1859. 


0 


struction,  and  so  natural,  and  bright,  and  sound  do  the  walls,  and  the  floors, 
and  columns  appear,  that  they  seem  not  even  old,  or  dark,  or  dingy,  but 
modern  and  bright,  and  you  expect  at  every  turn  that  their  occupants  will 
meet  you,  and  explain  the  disaster  which  has  made  them  abandon  their  homes. 

The  temples  you  see  are  not  Christian  churches,  but  altogether  different 
in  their  construction.  Their  altars  and  their  monuments  are  such  as  history 
tells  you  belonged  to  the  worship  of  ancient  gods.  There  is  no  such  forum 
now  in  New  York,  or  London,  or  Paris,  as  you  find  here. 

The  dwelling-houses,  built  of  stone  with  mosaic  floors,  in  all  cases  without 
windows  in  the  first  story,  with  courts  in  the  center,  opened  to  the  heavens, 
aud  admitting  light  for  the  interior;  the  rooms  mostly  smaller,  and  more  con¬ 
tracted  and  lower  than  those  you  allow  to  your  domestics ;  the  walls  not  pa¬ 
pered,  but  always  covered  with  a  very  thick  and  enduring  coat  of  plaster, 
made  smooth,  and  then  invariably  painted  in  arabesque  or  fresco,  with  imi¬ 
tations  of  cornices,  doorways,  surbases,  and  with  figures  single  or  in-  groups, 
according  to  the  literature,  the  religion,  and  the  traditions  of  the  ancients, 
show  you  that  the  owners  of  these  deserted  dwellings  are  not  Christian,  not 
moderns,  but  those  who  had  their  time  allotted  to  them  to  live  two  thousand 
years  ago. 

The  utensils  they  used  for  worship,  or  for  luxury,  or  for  necessary  domestic 
occupations  are  different  from  those  we  use  now-a-days.  There  are  large  and 
long  earthen  stone  jugs,  or  amphorae,  with  small  mouths,  in  which  the  wine  is 
kept  in  cellars.  The  wine  is  out,  and  in  its  place  are  ashes. 

The  shop-keeper  advertises  his  name  over  the  door-posts;  not  on  a  painted 
and  printed  board,  but  in  a  language  and  handwriting  in  paint,  that  you  do  not 
recognize  as  like  any  you  know.  The  baker’s  oven  is  indeed  our  modern  large 
oven;  but  you  would  never  think  of  the  mill  for  grinding  the  wheat  being 
contained  in  the  bakery,  or  of  this  clumsy  contrivance  of  a  conic  stone  set  up 
with  a  hollow  conic  stone  placed  above  it,  for  grinding,  much  less  of  turning 
these  two  stones  in  opposite  directions  by  means  of  a  lever  moved  round  by  an 
ass,  as  you  see  is  done  here.  Then  such  a  counter  as  this,  for  the  sale  of 
wines  or  oil,  with  great  wide-mouthed  jars  set  down  in  stone  masonry;  or 
such  a  shelf  as  this  for  holding  the  vessels  used  in  supplying  customers. 

When  you  descend  into  the  cellar  of  the  Villa  of  Diomed,  and  find  the 
places  where  eighteen  human  skeletons  were  found,  who  had  taken  refuge 
there,  thinking  that  the  flood  of  ashes  could  not  penetrate  that  retreat,  and 
see  that  nevertheless  it  did  flow  in  through  the  circular  apertures  which  had 
been  made  to  let  in  air  and  light,  and  that  they  had  perished  standing  up 
against  the  walls,  and  thus  buried  standing  in  the  ashes,  one  with  the  key  of  the 
gate  in  his  hand,  others  with  money  on  their  persons,  and  others  with  finger- 
rings,  bracelets,  and  other  jewelry  upon  them, —  you  cannot  but  feel  an  una¬ 
vailing  sympathy  for  their  alarm,  their  horrible  sufferings,  and  their  sad  fates. 

If  I  could  take  to  you  the  niche  in  which  I  found  the  household  gods  of  the 
dwellers  of  one  of  these  habitations,  you  would  place  in  it  at  once  your  Bible 
and  your  cross.  If  I  could  remove  this  beautiful  center-table,  unequaled  by 
any  thing  in  modern  art,  you  would  prize  it  as  the  most  classic  and  beautiful 
article  of  furniture  in  your  parlor. 


1859.  J 


FROM  POMPEII  TO  JOPPA. 


413 


I  made  myself,  for  the  time,  a  Roman.  I  sat  down  on  the  floors  of  the  tem¬ 
ples  of  Venus,  of  Jupiter,  and  of  Vesta,  and  I  brought  up  before  me  the  priest, 
and  the  worshipers,  and  saw  the  animal  writhe,  and  pour  out  his  blood  on 
the  altar  which  stood  before  me. 

I  sat  on  the  seat  of  the  Tribune  in  the  Forum,  and  tried  the  culprits  brought 
before  me,  from  the  dark  dungeon  below.  I  walked  up  and  down  the  Forum, 
and  debated  on  the  baseness  of  Nero,  and  on  the  virtues  of  Cicero,  with 
gowned  men  who  came  around  me.  I  talked  with  Livia  the  Priestess,  whose 
statue  I  found  there,  on  the  probable  efficacy  of  the  sacrifice  she  was  directing. 

I  sat  down  on  the  privileged  seats  in  the  theater,  and  conjured  up  without 
difficulty,  a  gladiatorial  combat  in  which  a  Gaul  was  already  jirostrated,  and 
his  Thracian  victor  stood  impatiently  waiting  to  give  the  mortal  stroke.  I 
appealed  to  the  audience  around  me  on  the  stone  benches  which  rise  up  tier 
upon  tier,  for  many  feet,  but  they  hatefully  rejected  my  appeal.  I  addressed 
myself  to  the  women  of  high  degree,  who  are  enthroned  on  the  still  higher 
seats  which  seem  to  approach  the  open  sky  over  our  heads,  but  they  too  are 
cruel;  the  fatal  word  is  clamorously  uttered  on  all  sides  and  the  bleeding  Gaul 
tastes  of  death,  in  my  very  presence. 

But  at  this  moment,  a  Neapolitan  police  officer  crosses  the  stage,  and  says 
to  me  that  the  sun  has  set;  that  it  is  night;  that  the  theater  and  the  city  must 
be  cleared.  The  audience  and  the  actors  have  vanished.  I  leave  the  town, 
hurriedly,  by  a  gate  which  once  opened  down  to  the  sea,  but  now  on  a  broad 
plain,  and  at  ten  o’clock  at  night,  after  eight  hours  alone  in  Pompeii,  I  am  in 
my  chamber  in  Naples,  weary  and  ready  for  sleep. 

From  Italy,  Seward  went  to  Egypt,  visiting  Cairo,  the  Pyramids 
and  the  Nile.  As  he  traversed  the  same  region  twelve  years  later, 
and  described  it  in  his  “  Travels  Round  the  World,”  it  is  needless  to 
reproduce  his  letters  here.  But  his  voyage  to  the  Holy  Land  was  a 
unique  experience. 


A  CRUISE  IN  THE  LEVANT. 

'  On  Board  the  “  Maii  Brooka.”  ) 
Mediterranean,  Friday ,  September  16,  1859.  } 

As  no  steamboat  would  serve  me,  for  a  fortnight,  and  I  would  not  so  near 
relinquish  a  sight  of  the  Holy  Land,  I  took  passage  yesterday,  together  with 
an  English  officer,  and  my  courier,  on  board  this  vessel  —  a  fruit  boat,  belong¬ 
ing  to  Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa.  It  is  a  cruise  like  my  voyage  to  Labrador; 
but  attended  with  much  greater  privations  and  inconveniences.  The  ship  is  a 
schooner  of  about  twenty  tons;  her  name,  “  The  Blest,1'  is  her  only  good  trait. 
There  are  the  captain,  and  seven  seamen,  all  Arabs,  speaking  the  Arabic  lan¬ 
guage  only.  Although  we  chartered  the  vessel  exclusively,  we  were  per¬ 
suaded  to  let  half  a  dozen  of  the  Jaffa  people  go  home  on  her  deck.  The 
captain,  crew,  and  all  are  very  civil  and  kind  to  us. 

There  are  no  berths,  no  beds,  no  tables,  no  provisions,  no  dishes.  We 
hastily  extemporized  our  arrangements.  A  dozen  chickens,  a  bologna  sausage, 


414 


A  CRUISE  IN  THE  LEVANT. 


[1859. 


six  dozen  eggs,  with  rice  and  bread,  and  tea,  constitute  our  stores.  Four 
pieces  of  matting,  two  laid  under  us,  one  over  us,  and  one  wrapped  around  the 
courier,  serve  for  our  beds.  The  cabin  is  filled  with  dry  sand  for  ballast;  and 
ants,  cockroaches,  and  all  kinds  of  vermin  inhabit  it.  We  therefore  sleep,  as 
well  as  sit,  on  the  deck. 

The  courier  is  our  cook ;  an  inverted  half-barrel  is  our  table ;  but  we  do  not 
approach  it  too  near,  lest  it  may  expose  us  to  vermin.  For  lack  of  chairs,  we 
sit  down  on  the  deck,  and  screen  ourselves  from  the  sun,  as  -well  as  we  can, 
by  the  shade  of  the  sails.  I  am  using  my  hat  on  my  knee,  for  a  writing-desk. 
Scanty  as  our  comforts  are,  we  are  luxuriously  appointed,  and  served,  compared 
with  the  other  persons  on  board.  They  lie  and  sleep  in  the  sun  or  shade,  and 
eat,  I  know  not  what.  Some  prove  themselves  to  be  not  Mussulmans,  but 
Christians,  by  having  a  cross  on  their  rosaries;  but  in  all  else,  they  are  as  veri¬ 
table  Arabs  as  the  followers  of  Islam  could  require;  at  least  so  they  seem. 

The  days  are  hot,  the  nights  delicious.  The  water  blue  and  warm.  The 
moon  and  stars  magnificent  ;  and  just  now  a  fine  breeze.  The  length  of  our 
voyage  is  about  three  hundred  miles.  We  are  a  day  out,  and,  as  yet,  only 
fifty  miles  advanced  toward  our  destination.  Wind  and  waves  forbid  my 
writing  more  now. 

Saturday,  September  17,  1859.  ) 

Still  on  the  “  Mah  Brooka.”  ( 

Ulysses,  in  the  Odyssey,  laments  that  as  he  had  made  no  vows  and  had  no 
victims  slain,  Fate  long  denied  him  a  favoring  gale.  But  we,  though  equally 
impious,  have  had  fair  winds.  On  the  first  day  we  made  our  exit  from  the 
harbor  of  Alexandria,  which  is  rendered  very  dangerous  by  rocks  and  breakers. 

We  passed  the  Isle  of  Pharos,  and  for  many  miles  more,  the  coast  is  marked 
with  the  remains  of  the  forts  and  other  defenses,  built  by  the  French,  in  Bona¬ 
parte’s  memorable  campaign  of  1804.  We  passed  through  the  Bay  of  Aboukir, 
the  scene  of  the  memorable  battle.  Yesterday  morning  we  lost  sight  of  Alex¬ 
andria,  and  its  light-house;  and  in  the  evening  we  passed  Rosetta,  an  import¬ 
ant  seaport  in  the  Delta.  This  morning,  the  third  day  of  our  voyage,  we 
looked  out  upon  a  coast  indented  with  sand  hills,  and  thronged  with  many 
ships.  Soon  Damietta,  situate  at  the  easternmost  mouth  of  the  Nile,  appeared 
in  view.  The  coast  is  low  and  sandy;  the  mouth  of  the  river  unseen,  but  the 
crowd  of  shipping  indicating  a  great  sea-port.  We  are  now  creeping  from 
that  port  toward  Jaffa.  We  still  live  on  good  terms  with  our  Syrian  seamen. 
They  are  polite  and  attentive  to  us.  But  we  live  in  distinct  groups.  A  Syrian 
Christian  old  woman  is  the  only  female.  She  lives  under  the  lee  of  the  small 
boat,  on  the  deck,  wrapped  in  a  blanket.  She  moves  a  distance  of  six  feet,  to 
get  the  necessary  change  of  shade.  Two  Turks,  Mohammedans,  sleep  at  the 
further  end  of  the  boat,  in  their  costly  embroidered  blue  dresses,  continually 
seasick.  The  Syrian  fruit  merchant,  with  his  little  grandson,  lives  in  the  small 
boat  night  and  day;  and  they  have  opened  it  to  me.  At  the  present  hour,  it 
is  very  attractive,  by  being  the  only  place  in  'which  I  can  enjoy  the  breeze, 
and  be  protected  by  the  sails  from  the  eastern  sun.  The  seamen  sing  contin¬ 
ually  Arabic  songs.  The  old  woman  is  mother  to  one  of  the  seamen.  She 
quarrels  with  her  son,  and  scolds  the  whole  crew,  in  her  occasional  waking 


1859.] 


OX  THE  u  MAH  BKOOKA.” 


415 


hours,  during  the  day;  and  at  night  gathers  all  the  watch  around  her,  and 
discourses  most  merrily,  to  the  annoyance  of  us  honest  sleepers. 

Oil  Damietta  the  sea  is  dirty,  and  muddy  from  the  Hood  of  the  Nile.  But 
since  we  have  passed  that  port,  the  sea  is  blue  as  the  violet.  The  nights  are 
balmy,  and  the  skies  are  bright  as  Paradise.  I  wonder  not  that  the  dwellers 
on  the  Mediterranean  shores  have  always  been  poetical  and  devotional.  Fare¬ 
well  Egypt  !  long  sought  for — seen  at  last  ! 

Farewell  Africa  !  the  one  region  of  the  world  which  Providence  seems  to 
have  fortified  against  civilization  ! 

On  Board  the  “Mah  Brooka,”  ) 
Sunday ,  September  18,  1859.  \ 

Light  breezes,  but  fair  all  night.  Stars  multiplied,  larger  and  more  brilliant 
than  I  ever  saw  —  the  “milky  way,”  an  irregular  white  fleece  stretching  quite 
across  the  heavens.  The  habitual  temper  of  the  East  is  patience  and  indiffer¬ 
ence  to  natural  developments.  This  is  the  third  day  of  our  voyage,  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  fourth. 

“Joppa  to-morrow?”  inquired  I  of  the  captain,  an  Arabic  Christian. 

'‘In  sha  Allah'1'  (if  God  pleases),  he  replied.  We  see  no  land.  These 
primitive  sailors  carry  no  compass;  take  no  observations;  keep  no  reckoning; 
but  steer  by  land-marks  where  the  coast  is  visible;  and  by  sun,  moon,  and  stars 
when  out  at  sea.  We  have  seen  no  land  since  we  passed  Damietta;  but  we 
know  by  the  rate  at  which  we  have  sailed,  that  we  are  still  off  the  African 
coast.  If  we  are  fortunate,  the  first  land  we  shall  look  upon  will  be  Syria, 
Palestine,  the  high  hills  that  overlook  Gaza,  and  stretch  beyond  Ascalon. 

The  sea  is  a  strange  reconciler  of  conflicts.  I  always  thought  that  the  under¬ 
standing  so  early  established  between  St.  Paul  and  his  profane  companions,  the 
crew  and  the  passengers  of  the  vessel  that  was  carrying  him  a  prisoner  to  Rome, 
was  the  fruit  of  the  experience  of  common  fears  and  dangers.  The  old  man 
and  boy  whom  I  took  for  Greek  Christians,  turn  out  to  be  Jews  from  Algiers, 
iroino*  home  to  the  land  of  their  forefathers,  to  await  its  promised  restoration, 
under  a  Messiah  yet  to  come.  As  the  evening  draws  on,  and  we  are  no  longer 
obliged  to  seek  hiding  places  from  the  sun,  all  the  passengers  and  crew  un¬ 
consciously  gather  near  the  after-deck;  and  then  they  hold  what  seems  to  us  a 
pleasant  conversation,  forgetting  about  their  national  hatreds.  Jew,  Mussul¬ 
man,  Greek,  and  Catholic  Christians,  all  exhibit  a  degree  of  reverence  for 
sacred  things  and  names,  unknown  in  our  part  of  the  world,  and  all  seem  ani¬ 
mated  by  a  spirit  of  genial  kindness.  We  reciprocate  courtesies  with  them  all. 

A  dreamy  life  is  this,  of  floating  under  canvas  in  Eastern  climes.  I  am  be¬ 
coming  quite  an  Arab.  I  eat  without  a  fork  with  considerable  success,  and  I 
sleep  soundly  stretched  on  my  mat  on  the  deck  with  the  brightest  moon  and 
stars  watching  over  me.  Nevertheless  Mah  Hvooka ,  ship  of  the  Blessed,  I 
pray  thee  hasten  to  Joppa,  the  seat  of  Japliet,  the  son  of  Noah,  for  I  am  weary 

of  the  Land  of  Ham. 

Maii  Brooka,  Monday  Morning ,  September  19,  1859. 

The  birds  came  fluttering  and  singing  about  in  our  canvas,  during  the 
twilight  this  morning.  The  sea  became  paler  and  more  like  vulgar  floods  —  a 


416 


MEDITERRANEAN  VOYAGERS. 


[1859, 


sign  that  land  is  near.  The  sun  rises  before  us  as  usual,  but  now  a  low  shore 
with  a  central  mountain  intervened.  This  is  Asia.  I  look  down  upon  Asia 
for  the  first  time;  Asia,  the  cradle  of  the  human  race;  Asia,  where  art,  science, 
religion,  and  government  —  civilization  in  fact  —  has  run  its  active  career, 
educating  the  Western  world  to  an  imperfect  standard,  and  then,  exhausted 
with  the  effort  required  in  so  vast  an  achievement,  has  fallen  to  the  earth, 
powerless  for  self-preservation  —  lifeless. 

The  part  of  Asia  that  I  see  first,  what  is  it  but  a  sandy  coast,  rising  from  the 
sea  into  a  fertile  verdant  terrace,  with  a  mountain  dominating  over  it?  The 
ancient  land  of  Canaan.  On  the  terrace  I  see  a  village;  pitiful  enough'  in  its 
semi-barbarism,  as  all  Arab  towns  are.  But  it  is,  nevertheless,  the  identical 
Gaza;  and  a  few  miles  beyond  it,  along  the  seashore,  the  eye  draws  in  a  vision 
of  Ascalon  and  of  Ashdod.  The  mountain  is  Mount  Sampson.  Here,  then,  al¬ 
ready,  the  scenes  of  Jewish  adventure,  trial,  and  conflict,  open  before  me.  But 
of  all  the  mighty  transactions  here  of  which  the  Sacred  Historians  and  Prophets 
wrote  and  sung,  there  remain  no  monuments,  no  relic,  only  “the  local  habita¬ 
tion  and  the  name.”  Every  thing  here  seems  to  partake  of  the  reacting  spirit, 
which  has  reduced  the  land  of  the  Philistines  to  its  primeval  barbarism. 

Jaffa  is  the  only  port,  at  which  we  can  enter,  and  still  distant,  although  it 
is  only  sixty  miles  off,  for  wind  has  died  away,  and  sails  are  flapping  against 
the  masts.  The  movements  and  countenances  of  the  crew  and  passengers  all 
manifest  content  and  composure.  The  breakfast,  the  great  event  of  the  morn¬ 
ing,  has  passed.  It  would  amuse  you  to  see  the  morning  repast  on  board  our 
ship.  First,  comes  the  toilet  of  my  English  companion  and  myself.  I  rise 
from  my  mat  bed  on  the  deck,  wash  in  a  bucket  of  sea- water,  and  shave.  I 
am  the  only  person  on  board  who  plies  the  razor.  Then  the  Englishman 
dresses  with  fresh  water.  Then  we  sit  down  on  the  deck,  with  a  half  barrel 
between  us  for  a  table.  We  indulge  in  luxuries  —  tea,  cold  boiled  eggs,  bo¬ 
logna  sausages,  and  bread.  Our  breakfast  removed,  the  others  begin.  The 
Christian  crew  can  have  pea-soup  with  bread,  and  all  eat  with  wooden  spoons 
from  a  common  dish.  The  two  Turks,  without  knife,  fork,  or  spoon,  break¬ 
fast  from  one  dish  of  lentils,  or  beans  and  rice  boiled  together  with  garlic, 
using  their  fingers  with  crusts  of  bread  for  spoons.  The  old  Arabic  matron 
feeds  on  bread.  The  Algerine  Jew,  with  his  pretty  boy  Anastatius,  eat  sweet¬ 
meats  and  bread,  without  implements  of  any  kind.  Our  three  tea-cups  and 
saucers,  knives,  forks,  and  leaden  spoons  are  the  only  table  furniture  of  the 
ship.  But  the  Arabs,  Turks,  and  Jews  surpass  us  in  the  luxury  of  personal 
ornament.  They  wear  turbans,  tassels,  and  gimp  embroidery  profusely.  All 
the  nails  on  their  hands  and  feet  are  painted  with  henna,  and  their  fingers 
covered  with  golden  rings. 

Sunset,  Monday  Evening. 

A  fine  breeze  filled  our  sails;  at  noon  we  set  in  toward  shore,  and  are  hug¬ 
ging  the  coast.  The  shore  is  one  long  stretch  of  low  sand  hills.  The  Desert 
of  Arabia,  of  which  I  saw  the  western  border  at  Cairo,  comes  near  to  the  shore 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  fills  the  space  intervening  between  the  delta  of  the 
Nile  in  Egypt  and  Gaza,  the  ancient  Gath  in  Syria,  formerly  Canaan. 


1S59.] 


THE  IIAD.JI  AND  THE  KORAN. 


417 


We  passed  that  place  at  too  great  a  distance  to  see  it  distinctly;  but  1  could 
see  in  the  distance  the  mountains  which  separate  the  Desert  from  Canaan.  I 
looked  for  Pisgali  but  it  was  too  far  south.  We  are  just  now  passing  Ascalon, 
which  is  in  full  sight,  and  about  six  miles  from  us.  I  can  trace  the  walls,  and 
distinguish  houses  and  groups  of  trees.  There  are  now  no  Goliaths  or  Samp¬ 
sons  there.  If  there  were,  I  could  see  them  from  the  ship.  Ashdod  only  lies 
between  us,  on  the  long  white  coast,  and  Joppa,  our  destination,  which  we  ex¬ 
pect  to  reach  in  the  night.  The  ship  and  her  crew  have  become  intolerable. 
There  has  been  a  general  stripping  off  to  the  skin  of  fine  exterior  garments, 
and  a  search  of  them  and  the  skin  for  vermin.  Behind  the  sandy  shore  is  a 
range  of  the  mountains  of  Judea.  They  are  blue  in  the  distance,  but  whether 
wooded  or  not,  I  can’t  ascertain. 

Tuesday  Morning,  10  A.  M.,  September  20,  1859. 

Still  on  board  the  “  Mali  Brooka  /”  We  passed  Ashdod  in  the  night,  and, 
since  five  o’clock,  have  lain  becalmed,  in  full  sight  of  Jaffa,  which  we  are  now 
trying  to  reach,  by  being  towed  by  men  in  the  small  boat. 

We  have  skirted  the  shores  of  the  Amalekites  and  the  Moabites  of  old. 
We  see  persons  bathing  in  the  surf,  although  only  one  habitation  of  man  has 
been  seen  outside  of  the  villages.  That  is  the  castle  of  Amurad,  the  Sheik  of 
the  Bedouin  Arabs,  who  dwell  in  tents  under  his  protection,  and  execute  his 
commands.  We  should  have  left  the  ship,  and  advanced  by  land  to  Jaffa,  or 
directly  to  Jerusalem,  were  it  possible  to  pass  with  safety  through  the  coun¬ 
try  of  this  Philistine  lord. 

Abdallah  is  a  Mussulman,  who  with  his  wife,  is  just  returning  from  a  pil¬ 
grimage  to  the  holy  cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina.  Having  performed  this  act 
of  devotion,  the  most  meritorious  one  in  the  esteem  of  the  Prophet,  Abdallah 
now  has  taken  the  pro-name  of  Hadji  or  saint,  and  has  become  Hadji-Abdal- 
lah.  His  wife  this  morning  said  to  my  traveling  companion  in  Arabic  when 
saluting  him  —  “  God  is  merciful,  and  if  we  had  a  better  wind,  we  should  have 
arrived  earlier.” 

My  friend  replied,  “Yes,”  and  quoting  the  Koran,  added  “  In  Sha  Allah.” 
(Be  it  as  God  pleases.) 

Hadji-Abdallah  who  had  just  completed  the  saying  of  his  prayers,  with 
due  prostrations,  took  offense  at  the  Christian’s  quoting  the  Alkoran. 

“Do  not  mind,”  said  his  wife  (who  was,  at  the  moment,  picking  the 
vermin  out  of  his  tunic,  that  he  had  handed  her  for  the  purpose),  “It  is 
true  they  worship  fire ;  and  they  will  have  enough  of  it  in  the  next  world ;  we 
ought,  therefore,  to  have  compassion  on  them  in  this  world.” 

Was  not  that  amiable? 

It  is  amusing  to  see  these  barbarians,  who  in  every  way  confess  their  inferi¬ 
ority  to  us,  yet  supremely  happy,  in  the  possession  of  the  true  religion,  while 
we  are  destined  to  the  devil! 

The  wind  became  adverse,  and  beat  ‘ 4  Mah  Brooka ”  back  on  her  course 
We  had  no  way  left,  but  to  take  to  the  small  boat.  Four  sturdy  Arabs  towed 
the  little  craft  through,  and  over  the  breakers,  three  miles  to  a  point  two 
miles  from  Jaffa,  and  then  carried  us  ashore  in  their  arms.  In  about  half  an 
27 


418 


ON  TIIE  MACEDONIAN. 


[1S59. 


hour,  the  collector  and  health  officer  came  to  us  on  the  wall,  looked  at  our  pa¬ 
pers,  took  us  by  the  hand,  and  showed  us  with  great  politeness  into  the  city. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sanders  of  Rhode  Island,  missionaries,  act  for  the  Consul  of  the 
United  States,  in  his  absence.  They  received  us  with  great  kindness;  and, 
being  of  my  own  political  school,  they  would  not  suffer  us  to  depart  from 
their  house  while  in  the  city.  You  may  imagine  how  comfortable  and  refresh¬ 
ing  the  entertainment  of  an  American  family  was,  after  a  six  days’  cruise  on 
the  deck  of  an  Arab  boat. 

I  rose  early  the  next  morning  and  opened  my  window,  which  seemed  to 
stand  almost  perpendicularly  over  the  waves.  At  a  stone’s  throw  from  the 
shore,  was  the  rock  on  which  Andromeda  was  chained  by  the  Nereids  under 
the  watch  of  a  sea-monster,  until  relieved  by  the  sword  of  Perseus,  according 
to  the  classical  mythology  of  the  ancients. 

Right  beneath  me  was  the  spot  whence  Jonah  embarked,  when  he  found 
the  mission  of  a  prophet  too  heavy  for  him.  It  was  the  same  wharf  at  which 
Noah  built  the  Ark;  the  same  on  which  Solomon  received  the  gift  of  the 
prisoners  of  Tyre  and  Sidon;  the  same  on  which  the  Queen  of  Sheba  debarked 
on  her  visit  to  the  wisest  of  kings;  and  the  same  from  which  Paul  embarked 
as  a  prisoner,  carrying  his  appeal  to  Rome.  Pompey,  Titus,  and  Bonaparte 
had  come  there  as  conquerors ;  and  now  there  lay  in  the  little  port  half  a  dozen 
Arab  boats,  the  most  conspicuous  of  them  all  being  “  Mah  Brooka which 
in  the  course  of  the  night  had  been  rowed  up  to  the  dock,  bringing  up  my 
courier  and  baggage. 

Of  his  journeyings  in  the  Holy  Land,  through  the  Vale  of  Sharon, 
up  to  Jerusalem  and  down  to  the  Jordan,  his  letters  contained  minute 
descriptions.  But  his  subsequent  “Travels  Round  the  World"  cover 
the  same  ground.  He  returned  to  Alexandria  in  the  U.  S.  frigate 
Macedonian. 

U.  S.  Ship-of-War  “Macedonian,”  ) 

Sunday  Morning ,  October  2,  1859.  $ 

Once  more  on  the  blue  Mediterranean,  half  way  to  Alexandria,  with  my 
face  set  homeward.  A  noble  ship,  a  gallant  crew,  a  fair  wind,  content  with 
what  I  have  seen,  little  as  it  is,  of  the  East,  although  compelled  to  relinquish 
Constantinople.  *  *  *  Every  thing  on  board  is  the  liveliest  contrast  to* 

“  Mah  Brooka ,”  the  Blessed.  There  are,  all  told,  some  fifteen  or  sixteen 
officers,  and  near  two  hundred  men.  Compasses,  quadrants,  and  all  the  ap¬ 
paratus  of  science,  with  charts  as  our  guides.  We  have  airy  and  spacious 
cabins,  clean  sheets  and  mattresses,  floors  that  would  make  the  tidiest  house¬ 
wife  ashamed  of  her  own, — meats,  fruits,  and  wines,  of  the  richest,  and  in 
abundance.  I  am  learning  a  little  of  the  Navy,  of  its  weariness,  its  ambi¬ 
tions,  and  its  contentions,  that  it  is  not  pleasant;  something  of  its  discipline 
and  spirit,  which  is  gratifying.  On  Sunday  we  had  divine  service,  and  a 
sermon,  and  school,  by  a  chaplain.  It  was  a  solemn,  and  I  am  sure  not  a 
profitless  day.  Yesterday,  the  “  general  quarters,”  the  drill  of  the  whole 
crew,  “all  hands”  in  the  exercise  of  battle,  with  the  casualties  of  boarding, 
being  boarded,  the  ship  taking  fire,  and  all  that. 


1859.] 


LEAVING  ASIA  AND  AFRICA. 


419 


I  come  to  like  men  better  when  they  are  afloat,  than  ashore.  Here  we  are, 
carrying  along  a  whole  flock  of  little  birds  that  flutter  about,  not  only  on  the 
decks,  but  in  the  cabins,  seeking  flies  and  crumbs.  The  commonest  sailor 
cherishes  them  with  great  kindness.  The  Egyptian  dog  has  the  graceless  ears 
and  head  of  a  wolf.  A  year  ago  some  British  men  in  Alexandria,  were  beat¬ 
ing  a  dog,  just  as  some  of  the  ‘ ‘  Macedonian's  ”  crew  were  coming  on  board. 
They  clapped  the  animal  into  the  boat,  and  represented  the  case  to  the  cap¬ 
tain.  The  dog  was  received  on  board.  Daily,  night  and  morning,  when  the 
drums  beat  to  call  the  crew  to  muster,  the  dog  comes  with  them,  and  takes 
always  one  place,  and  there  stands  until  the  drum  beats  retreat.  In  the  drill 
of  the  battle,  he  mounts  a  high  place  out  of  the  way  of  danger,  and  surveys 
the  scene  of  conflict.  I  found  him,  yesterday,  the  safest  guide,  when  I  wanted 
to  be  out  of  the  way. 


I  shall  never  dream  hereafter  of  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  Jerusalem, 
and  of  Judea,  in  a  literal  sense.  In  the  very  age  of  their  greatness  and  glory, 
empire  and  commerce  and  civilization  were  traveling  westward,  as  they  have 
continued  to  travel  ever  since.  There  is  only  solitude,  desolation,  and  mourn¬ 
ing  for  the  East,  magnifying  always  the  authority  of  its  religion,  but  the  ad¬ 
vancement  of  men  and  the  elevation  of  women  are  to  be  effected  in  the  ever- 
civilizing  regions  under  the  setting  sun. 


Mahometans  can  nowhere  form  a  sound  and  healthy  civil  state.  The  re¬ 
linquishment.  of  that  religion  must  precede  any  constitutional  system  of  gov¬ 
ernment.  I  see  no  prospect,  however,  of  a  relinquishment  of  that  religion. 
The  Christian  ministry,  the  Christian  reform,  must  reach  the  family,  every¬ 
where,  to  sow  at  the  hearth,  the  seeds  of  European  civilization.  There  is  no 
family  in  Mahometan  life.  The  men  are  despots,  and  constitute  the  whole  of 
society.  The  women  are  slaves,  and  excluded  from  the  province  of  men. 


The  Austrian  Lloyd  Company  sent  me  a  note,  at  eight  yesterday  morning,  to 
say  that  their  ship  would  sail  at  noon  for  Trieste.  At  ten,  the  captain  of  the 
Macedonian  had  his  barge  manned.  I  left  that  noble  vessel,  receiving  a  kind 
farewell  from  the  officers,  sailors,  and  marines.  As  soon  as  we  had  got  off 
in  the  bay,  the  guns  of  the  Macedonian  gave  me  a  parting  salute,  under  which 
I  passed  to  the  Neptune.  As  I  mounted  her  deck,  she  ran  up  the  stripes  and 
stars  of  my  country  to  her  mast-head,  and  under  their  genial  auspices,  we  set 
sail  from  Africa  at  the  hour  appointed.  The  day  was  beautiful,  the  sky 
bright,  the  sea  calm  and  blue,  and  I  saw  the  forts,  palaces,  windmills,  and 
rifled  catacombs  of  Alexandria,  recede  rapidly  from  my  sight.  Arab  faces, 
and  black  legs  in  red  slippers,  Turkish  turbans,  and  guttural  voices  suddenly 
disappeared,  and  in  their  places  I  found  Europeans  only — Italians,  Germans, 
Frenchmen,  and  Englishmen,  in  the  conventional  costumes  of  the  West.  The 
change  was  agreeable,  indeed,  and  for  a  while,  at  least,  I  was  prepared  to 
forget  all  differences  of  sect  and  politics,  and  welcome  once  more  the  frater¬ 
nity  of  Christians. 


420 


RETURNING  TO  EUROPE. 


[1859.. 


The  land  was  out  of  sight,  when  the  wheels  stopped  their  motion,  an  alarm 
went  forth  into  all  the  cabins,  and  decks,  and  we  all  rushed  to  the  side  of  the 
ship,  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  the  disaster.  Far  behind  us,  half  a  mile  at 
least,  a  human  head  was  seen  in  the  billows,  and  the  cry  rang  out,  “  a  man 
overboard!”  The  engines  backed  the  vessel  on  her  track,  a  small  boat  was 
quickly  let  down.  We  all  watched  the  sufferer.  Our  hearts  sank  within  us, 
and  rose  again,  as  he  alternately  disappeared,  rose  again,  and  battled  with  the 
engulfing  sea.  In  twenty  minutes,  he  was  dragged  on  board,  recovered  his 
exhausted  strength,  and  walked  forward  to  his  place  in  the  steerage. 

“  Was  he  a  passenger — -  a  seaman?  ” 

“  How  did  he  happen  to  fall  off  ?  ”  were  the  universal  inquiries. 

The  answers  told  shortly  the  tale  of  an  unhappy  life.  He  was  destitute  —  a 
German.  The  Pacha  of  Egypt  had  ordered  him  to  leave  that  country ;  and 
sent  him  on  board  the  ship  to  be  conveyed  back  to  his  own  country;  but 
whether  from  compassion,  or  as  banishment  for  crime,  he  did  not  tell,  and  no 
one  knew.  He  had  thought  to  end  his  sorrows,  by  death,  but  repented  in  the 
trial. 

About  four  o’clock,  I  was  sitting  on  the  after-deck,  leaning  backwards 
against  the  stern  rail  of  the  ship,  intently  reading,  when  I  felt  something 
fall  lightly  on  my  arm.  It  was  a  tame  spotted  dove.  He  sat  contentedly 
there,  while  I  walked  forward  and  committed  him  to  the  steward’s  care. 
Overhead,  his  mate  was  circling  about  the  masts,  as  if  she  wished,  but  dared 
not  seek,  the  same  refuge.  After  half  an  hour,  we  freed  my  captive,  and  he 
perched  on  a  spar  and  soon  he  was  joined  by  his  companion,  and  they  then 
composed  themselves  to  sleep.  But  presently  a  hawk,  to  whose  pursuit  we 
were  indebted  for  their  visit,  was  seen  scouring  the  sky,  and  watching  to  seize 
them.  The  sailors  took  the  doves  carefully  in.  But  the  bird  of  prey  now 
needed  a  refuge.  He  alighted  on  the  spars,  and  as  night  came  on,  fell  asleep. 
They  shook  the  rigging,  and  he  fell  into  their  hands.  He  was  safely  caged, 
to  be  freed,  I  hope,  with  the  rest,  when  we  reach  the  coast. 

So  clean,  so  strong,  so  vigorous,  so  graceful,  so  intelligent  do  the  people  of 
this  region  seem,  compared  with  the  population  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  that  civ¬ 
ilization  seems  to  me,  just  now,  to  have  culminated  here  at  Trieste.  There  is 
nothing  squalid  in  the  sights  around  me.  I  am  loth  to  believe  it,  yet  it  does 
seem  to  me,  now,  that  Italy  is  less  happy  in  its  people  than  this  part  of  Aus¬ 
tria.  What  I  see  agreeably  surprises  me  in  its  evidences  of  cultivation,  and 
intellectual  development  and  taste.  There  is  always  a  neat  white  stone  church 
on  every  hill.  The  people  are  peasants;  but  they  are  comfortable,  clean,  and 
live  in  substantial  dwellings.  Dahlias,  and  all  other  flowers  of  the  season 
embellish  every  cottage  ground. 

Every  thing  reminds  me,  however,  that  Austria  is,  just  at  this  moment,  a 
camp.  Soldiers  of  all  arms  and  uniforms,  military  evolutions,  martial  airs, 
thundering  ordnance  are  heard  all  day  long,  and  late  at  night.  I  have  indeed 
found  one,  and  only  one  universal  language  oh  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  exclu- 


1859.] 


IN  AUSTRIA. 


421 


sive  of  England.  It  is  that  which  speaks  through  the  trumpet.  It  is  the  first 
voice  spoken  at  daybreak,  and  the  last  heard  at  midnight.  It  comes  off  from 
every  hill  and  tower,  and  wharf,  when  you  enter,  and  when  you  are  leaving 
towns.  A  igilance  is  lynx-eyed.  Passports  are  demanded  at  every  port  of  ar¬ 
rival;  and  grudgingly  vised  and  delivered  to  you,  at  every  port  of  departure. 
Everywhere  you  are  reminded  of  the  irrepressible  conflict  going  on  between 
freedom  and  tyranny. 

Austria  has  an  immense  army  of  not  less  than  four  hundred  thousand  men, 
with  armaments  and  military  stores,  exactly  proportioned.  Such  are  the  vast 
efforts  she  has  put  forth  to  consolidate  under  German  sway,  an  empire  composed 
of  Croatians,  Dalmatians,  Greeks,  Italians,  Sclavonians,  and  Hungarians.  My 
conclusion  is,  that  Austria  gains  strength  instead  of  losing  it;  and  that  she  is 
unconquerable  and  indivisible.  No  army  that  I  have  ever  seen,  surpasses  hers, 
in  the  excellence  of  its  appointments  and  discipline.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
her  credit  is  endangered,  and  her  finances  depressed;  when  I  contemplate  what 
she  has  done  to  establish  and  consolidate  her  empire.  But  the  people  of  Aus¬ 
tria  are  laborious,  frugal,  and  persevering.  It  would  seem  that  the  agricul¬ 
tural  labor  devolves  almost  exclusively  on  the  women,  so  many  of  the  men 
being  withdrawn  for  the  army.  But  the  agricultural  labor  does  not,  therefore, 
suffer.  No  part  of  the  United  States  shows  more  perfect  cultivation  ;  France 
a  much  inferior  one,  and  England  one  that  is  not  better.  You  nowhere  see 
any  symptoms  of  poverty.  The  people,  a  peasantry  as  they  are,  seem  contented 
and  comfortable.  The  secret  is  that  the  Germans  produce  every  thing,  make 
every  thing,  and  sell  every  thing;  and  they  do  all  this  well.  Whoever  may  be 
Emperor  in  Austria,  her  jjolicy  will  always  be  the  same.  Perseverance  wins. 

Vienna  is  clean  and  neat  and  substantial.  There  is  no  poverty  in  the  streets. 
Not  a  beggar  has  accosted  me;  no  one  has  asked  a  gratuity.  Only  a  Brother 
of  Charity  calls  and  asks  a  small  contribution,  which  he  does  not  stop  to  value 
when  given  for  the  support  of  the  poor  in  the  city,  without  distinction  of 
country,  or  of  religion.  You  will  think  I  have  become  German  in  my  sympa¬ 
thies.  I  have  indeed ;  but  not  any  the  more  a  lover  of  despotism.  Germany 
will  some  day  become  free  and  Republican. 

I  spent  yesterday,  until  twro  o’clock,  in  receiving  visits  from  the  American 
Minister,  the  Austrian  Ministers,  Minister  of  Finance,  etc.  I  wrait  here  to-day 
and  to-morrow  to  see  some  of  the  public  characters  of  Austria;  and  then  I 
shall  resume  my  journey  homeward. 

At  two  o’clock,  Mr.  Jones,  our  Minister,  presented  Mr.  Winthrop  and  my¬ 
self  to  Count  Rechberg,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  or  Secretary  of  State.  He 
is  all  German  in  face,  stature,  and  manner,  evidently  laborious,  as  well  as  in¬ 
telligent.  He  speaks  English  tolerably  well.  He  received  us  very  kindly, 
and  invited  us,  through  the  American  Minister,  to  stay  for  a  presentation  at 
Court.  He  conversed  quite  freely  about  the  condition  of  public  affairs,  which 
I  thought  was  very  oppressive  on  his  spirits.  At  least,  he  spoke  more  seriously 


422 


AT  VIENNA. 


[1859. 


and  gravely  than  other  statesmen  are  accustomed  to  speak  to  strangers.  I  met 
at  the  Secretary’s,  Lord  Loftus,  the  British  Minister,  as  also  the  Ministers  from 
Spain  and  Holland,  and  had  very  pleasant  conversation  with  them. 

The  Church  of  the  Capuchins  has  no  particular  interest,  except  that  it  con¬ 
tains  the  vault  of  the  Imperial  Family.  It  is  almost  enough  to  stifle  all  am¬ 
bition  to  see  this  cemetery.  The  basement  of  a  church,  imperfectly  lighted 
from  above,  and  so  resembling  the  front  basement  of  our  Capitol,  constitutes 
the  vault.  Here  the  remains  of  each  member  of  the  great  house  at  death  are 
deposited,  in  a  sarcophagus  of  iron,  or  bronze,  or  silver,  elaborately  wrought 
with  bas-reliefs,  statues  and  other  artistic  decorations  —  a  burying- ground, 
rather  than  a  vault.  All  that  genius,  when  commanded  or  stimulated  by  re¬ 
ward,  can  do  to  embellish  the  metallic  coffins,  is  done  lavishly  and  boldly. 
There  are  only  sceptres,  swords,  cannons,  flags,  sieges,  marches,  and  the  like 
in  these  illustrations,  and  even  these  are  studied  only  by  torchlight  in  open  day. 

Two  faded  wreaths  of  artificial  flowers  rested  on  coffins  of  the  most  recently 
interred;  and  that  was  all  that  I  found  to  speak  of  kindly  or  gentle  affection 
there. 

Maria  Theresa  reclines  in  silver  over  her  own  perishing  ashes,  even  more 
martial  in  death  than  in  life.  She  has  the  proudest  tomb  of  the  whole  dy¬ 
nasty,  as  indeed  she  deserves  it.  But  it  is  the  tomb  of  an  Amazon,  or  a  Semi- 
ramis,  rather  than  of  a  Christian  woman. 

Maria  Louisa’s  tomb  is  all  that  she  deserved;  and  the  epitaph  tells  all  there 
is  to  be  told.  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of  Austria; 
wife  of  the  Duke  of  Parma;  and  had  been  before  married  to  Napoleon,  then 
Emperor  of  France. 

The  tomb  of  Napoleon  II  is  as  common.  Its  inscription  describes  him 
as  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt,  son  of  Napoleon,  then  Emperor  of  France,  and 
Maria  Louisa,  Archduchess  of  Austria;  and  it  describes  him  as  singularly 
gifted,  highly  cultivated,  and  states  that  he  died  of  consumption.  Austria  has 
not  yet  found  out  that  he  was  in  fact  Emperor  of  France,  a  title  prouder  than 
his  derivation,  through  his  mother,  from  the  House  of  Hapsburg. 

What  have  you  and  I  in  common  with  kings,  queens,  and  emperors?  Yet 
custom  makes  their  fates  subjects  of  interest,  and  most  to  those  who  have  least 
concern  with  them.  Strange  human  nature  1 

At  twelve  Mr.  Jones,  the  American  Minister,  called  for  Mr.  Winthrop  and 
myself  in  his  state  carriage.  We  repaired  first  to  Prince  Esterhazy’s,  a  mag¬ 
nate  of  the  Empire.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  immense  wealth,  a  feudal  prince. 
His  palace  is  one  of  vast  dimensions.  We  ascended  to  the  third  story.  _  He  is 
old,  and  lives  so  high,  so  as  to  see  better.  We  found  a  fine  drawing-room 
elegantly  furnished.  I  was  struck  with  the  fine  marble  bust  of  Napoleon  I  and 
Maria  Louisa,  and  a  fine  portrait  of  Prince  Metternich,  the  Absolute.  Of  all  these 
persons  Esterhazy  was  a  contemporary.  He  came  to  us  a  spirited,  affable,  loqua¬ 
cious,  old  man.  He  discussed  the  affairs  of  the  Empire  with  us,  freely  and 
frankly.  It  is  sad  to  think  that  he  sees  dangers  all  around.  He  betrayed 
rather  than  admitted,  a  conviction,  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  reform  to 


1S59.] 


THE  EMPEROR  OF  AUSTRIA. 


4-23 


]>revent  revolution.  He  told  us  of  the  advice  he  gives  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  the  Emperor. 

Would  the  Emperor  be  likely  to  take  it?  If  he  does  not,  he  has  a  stormy 
career  before  him. 

From  Prince  Esterhazy’s,  Mr.  Jones  leaving  us,  Mr.  Winthrop  and  I  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  the  Palace.  Sentinels  opened  for  us  at  the  door.  Troops  with 
martial  music  were  treading  the  streets  and  court.  An  officer  showed  us  up 
stairs,  where  in  a  large  ante-chamber  were  stationed  guards.  We  laid  down 
great-coats  and  canes,  entered  another  ante-chamber  —  guards  —  a  third,  the 
great  officers  of  the  body-guard,  magnificent  in  their  uniforms  and  equipments. 
A  chamberlain  asked  who  we  were,  and  whom  we  came  to  see. 

“The  Emperor,  by  appointment;  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Winthrop  from  the 
United  States.” 

He  repaired  to  an  inner  chamber.  Presently  the  door  opened;  we  entered; 
the  chamberlain  left.  There  stood  a  youngman  about  twenty-eight  or  twenty- 
nine,  erect  —  a  military  young  man  most  decidedly,  dressed  in  the  gray  uni¬ 
form  of  some  Austrian  corps.  He  said  in  French  that  he  was  happy  to  see  us, 
and  welcome  us  to  Vienna. 

I  replied  in  French,  that  being  travelers  in  Europe,  it  was  of  course,  that  we 
must  visit  the  Austrian  Empire;  that  having  been  already  kindly  received  by 
his  distinguished  Secretary  of  State,  that  it  now  afforded  us  a  very  great 
pleasure  to  be  permitted  to  pay  our  respects  to  His  Majesty. 

“  You  have  traveled  widely  in  Europe?  ”  he  replied  in  a  questioning  manner. 

(Mr.  Winthrop.)  “Mr.  Seward,  my  companion,  has  traveled  in  the  East;  I 
only  in  Europe.  He  has  well  expressed  our  common  feelings.  I  may  perhaps 
add,  for  both  of  us,  that  we  have  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  interesting 
objects  and  monuments  we  have  seen  in  Austria,  especially  with  the  monument 
of  Maria  Theresa,  whose  fame  is  known  throughout  the  world.” 

“  Yes,  but  you  have  a  great  country  at  home.  America  is  a  very  interesting 

countrv  indeed.” 

%/ 

“  It  is  a  great  country,”  I  replied,  “but  as  yet  a  new  one.  All  things  here 
interest  by  their  antiquity.” 

“Ah!  but  America  is  a  very  great  country  —  a  very  beautiful  country,  I 
hear.  Do  you  remain  some  time  in  Vienna?  ” 

“  No ;  I  am  in  Congress,  and  must  be  at  home  by  the  first  of  December.  My 
friend,  Mr.  Winthrop,  will  stay  longer. 

(Mr.  Winthrop.)  “I  am  detained  for  some  time  here  by  the  illness  of  a 
child. 

(Emperor.)  “  You  are  in  the  Senate  also?  ” 

“No.  Your  Majesty.  It  is  eight  years  since  I  was  in  Congress.” 

(I.)  “But  he  will  return  to  public  life.” 

(Emperor.)  “Public  affairs  are  very  interesting  in  the  United  States.  I 
hope  you  will  see  whatever  Vienna  affords  that  is  interesting.” 

(I.)  “Iam  already  quite  deeply  interested.  I  have  looked  with  wonder 
and  admiration  on  your  great  railroad  from  Vienna  to  Trieste.” 

(Emperor.)  “Oh!  you  like  that ! ” 


424 


TTTE  AUSTRIAN  EMPEROR. 


[1859. 


“Yes,  it  is  a  stupendous  work.” 

“I  am  glad  that  you  like  it.  I  regret  that  your  stay  is  so  short  in  Vienna. 
Do  you  leave  very  soon?” 

“I  leave  Vienna  for  Trieste  to-morrow  morning.  Will  you  suffer  me  to 
congratulate  Your  Majesty  on  the  establishment  of  peace?” 

“Oh!  yes,  it  is  very  well.” 

Here  His  Majesty  looked  as  if  to  inquire  whether  there  was  more  to  be  said. 
Mr.  Winthrop  begged  to  express  good  wishes  for  the  health  of  His  Majesty, 
and  the  prosperity  of  his  Empire.  And  thereupon  the  Emperor  again  wishing 
me  a  pleasant  and  safe  return,  and  wishing  for  Mr.  Winthrop  the  speedy  res¬ 
toration  of  his  child,  and  hoping  that  he  might  enjoy  his  visit  here,  bowed  to 
us,  and  we,  of  course,  to  him,  and  we  retreated  to  make  room  for  other  audi¬ 
ences  of  more  importance. 

After  leaving  the  Palace,  we  called  upon  Baron  Broek,  the  Minister  of  Fi¬ 
nance,  and  found  him  cheerful,  buoyant,  notwithstanding  the  sad  condition 
of  his  finances. 

It  was  only  on  Saturday  that  the  Cabinet  had  an  explosion.  One  Minister 
who  was  very  popular,  resigned,  and  another,  who  was  very  odious,  was  dis¬ 
missed.  Austria  is  full  of  discontents.  Hungary  on  one  side  and  Venice  on 
the  other,  are  little  better  than  seditious.  I  confess  that  I  do  not  think 
things  will  go  on  long  without  a  serious  disturbance  in  the  Empire.  If  finance 
is  deranged,  and  taxes  oppressive,  the  other  provinces  will  become  disaffected. 
In  short,  the  time  has  come  when  constitutions  must  be  conceded,  or  there 
will  be  revolutions.  I  think  the  young  Emperor  is  brave;  he  anticipates  the 
use  of  the  sword,  and  is  calculating  to  rely  upon  it.  I  think  that  it  will  prove 
that  the  sword  cannot  extirpate  the  disease.  When  Italy  shall  next  move,  I 
look  to  see  her  find  sympathy,  rather  than  oppression,  in  Germany  itself. 
How  strange,  how  portentous,  the  fact  is  that  this  youthful  Emperor  has 
never  been  seen  in  the  costume  of  a  civilian,  but  always  in  that  of  a  soldier! 
His  army  is  faithful  to  him,  now,  but  the  Empire  is  being  exhausted  in  sup¬ 
plying  its  demands.  All  is  martial  everywhere.  One-third  or  one-half  of  the 
passengers  on  the  railroad  are  officers.  They  are  consuming  the  substance  of 
a  hardy,  vigorous,  laborious  people. 

This  is  Venice.  I  have  as  yet  seen  only  what  might  be  looked  at  from  the 
gondola  which  conveyed  me  from  the  boat  to  the  Hotel  Danielle.  But  even 
that  view  is  sufficient  to  disclose  the  great  solidity,  and  the  exquisite  richness 
and  luxuriance  of  the  architecture  of  the  city.  It  has  sufficed  also  to  correct 
an  idea  I  had  long  entertained,  that  Venice  exhibits  a  rapid  dilapidation.  On 
the  contrary,  the  effect  of  a  coup-d'oeil  is  to  impress  you  with  a  belief  that  the 
city  is  prosperous,  as  well  as  magnificent.  There  is  a  fair  show  of  shipping. 
The  houses  are  high,  fine,  and  the  colors  are  bright.  It  seems  as  if  a  common 
fancy,  a  fancy  for  the  artistic  and  the  beautiful,  influenced  everybody,  and 
filled  every  thing.  The  gondolas  might  have  been  invented  by  fairies.  The 
men,  even  the  commonest,  affect  a  jaunty  air  in  their  dress.  Sculpture  is  bold 
in  its  subjects.  The  bells  keep  up  a  full  and  merry  chime. 


1859.] 


AT  VERONA. 


425 


I  have  gone  through  the  Palace  of  the  Doge,  from  its  lordly  halls  to  its 
lowest  and  darkest  dungeons,  looked  into  the  “  Lions’  Mouth,”  and  crossed  the 
Bridge  of  Sighs.  I  have  stood  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  in  the  Chamber  of  the 
Council  of  Ten,  in  that  of  the  Inquisitory  Council  of  Three,  as  well  as  the  hall 
where  Venice  received  ambassadors  from  all  nations.  I  have  studied  as 
well  as  I  might,  St.  Mark,  its  magnificent  proportions,  its  wilderness  of  orna¬ 
ments,  its  trophies  won  from  neighboring  Christian  and  distant  Turkish 
States,  its  winged  lion.  and. golden  horses.  I  have  stood  on  the  Rialto.  It  is 
still  a  place  where  merchants  congregate.  I  have  traversed  aisles  of  twenty 
other  churches,  and  the  courts  of  as  many  palaces.  I  even  live  in  a  palace. 
All  is,  substantially,  as  it  was  in  Venice  of  the  olden  time  —  proud  and  mag¬ 
nificent  to  look  upon. 

And  yet,  this  is  not  the  ancient  Venice.  The  political  life  has  fled.  The 
social  life  has  changed  from  a  nobility,  a  dominating  priesthood,  and  artists 
who  gave  laws  in  their  arts  to  the  world — Venice  has  subsided  into  the 
condition  and  estate  of  a  provincial  town,  an  unimportant  seaport.  Wealth, 
power,  art,  genius,  pride  have  fled,  and  only  common,  poor,  and  helpless  peo¬ 
ple  possess  the  palaces,  and  monuments  of  their  proud  ancestors.  They  show 
them  for  money,  and  they  live  in  them  without  pride.  The  palaces  are  con¬ 
verted  into  hotels.  The  warehouses  are  abandoned  to  vermin.  But  the 
change  is  only  recent,  and  is  not  yet  complete.  I  saw  one  new  house  only. 

The  porch  of  the  Cathedral  at  Verona  bears  on  its  walls  the  figures  of  the 
famous,  but  fabulous  knights  Orlando  and  Oliver;  and  the  former  has  a  sword 
drawn,  on  which  you  read  the  name  “Durindane,”  rendered  so  familiar  to  us 
by  Ariosto’s  great  poem,  the  “Orlando  Furioso.”  The  Veronese  are  proud  of 
having  furnished  to  Shakespeare,  subjects  for  his  genius.  I  found  the  palaces 
of  the  Montagues  and  the  Capulets,  the  home  and  chamber  of  Juliet,  and 
even  her  tomb;  but  the  latter  is  apocryphal.  At  present  all  are  taverns,  and 
of  the  lowest  order.  It  is  So  that  the  moderns  see  the  monuments  of  their 
predecessors.  The  great  Coliseum  is  now  used  as  a  stable  for  Austrian  cavalry. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  describe,  so  as  to  bring  up  before  you,  the 
magnificent  tombs  of  the  Scaliger  families,  once  the  Dukes,  or  feudal  lords  of 
Verona.  Fortunes  or  estates  that  would  satisfy  a  modern  grandee  were  ex¬ 
pended  in  building  them.  They  were  built  four  or  five  hundred  years  ago; 
and  are  of  most  elaborate  design  and  execution.  They  are  all  of  exquisite 
marble,  three  stories  high,  and  flatter  the  pride  of  the  dead,  by  painting  them 
in  effigy,  as  dead, -or  mounted  on  horseback,  and  in  armor,  as  in  life.  Nations 
go  in  circles.  Our  cemeteries  in  America  are  reproductions  of  those  of  the 
middle  ages,  with  variations.  Doubtless  they  will  seem  as  strange,  five  hun¬ 
dred  years  hence,  as  these  do  now. 

My  time  is  up,  and  I  must  be  off  to  new  scenes.  Farewell  to  Verona —  not 
only  to  the  “  two  gentlemen,”  but  to  all  the  gentlemen  of  Verona,  to  Church 
of  Crusaders,  to  tombs  of  lovers,  and  to  the  theater  of  the  Romans ! 

Making  up  a  party,  with  an  Englishman  and  a  Pole,  we  rode,  in  a  covered 
wagon,  to  the  world’s  latest  battle-ground.  That  battle-ground  is,  as  you 


426 


SOLFERINO  AND  MAGENTA. 


[1359. 


know,  sixteen  miles  long,  and  three,  four,  or  five  wide.  The  combat  reached 
its  crisis,  and  was  determined,  at  Solferino,  a  place  practically  central.  Thither 
we  went,  passing  over  lines  where  the  combatants  had  fought.  The  country 
is  highly  cultivated;  and  there  was  no  sign  that  indicated  it  had  been  so  re¬ 
cently  the  theater  of  a  fearful  conflict. 

Solferino  proper  is  a  straggling  village  built  at  the  base,  and  around  the 
lower  terrace  of  a  lofty  hill.  On  the  hill,  are  a  church,  convent,  and  old  cha¬ 
teau.  Here,  on  this  hill,  the  Austrians,  if  I  recollect  aright,  made  their  most 
determined  stand.  We  left  the  carriage. in  the  town,  and  climbed  the  hill  on 
foot;  then  as  our  recollections  of  the  descriptions  of  the  contest  allowed  us, 
we  called  up  the  dreadful  conflict  in  its  various  places,  and  at  its  different  hours, 
which,  beginning  at  daylight,  lasted  until  ten  at  night,  closing  in  the  midst 
of  a  -war  of  the  elements.  Over  all  the  plain,  where  perhaps  fifty  thousand 
lives  were  sacrificed,  all  was  calm  and  still  as  it  was  before  the  conflict  oc¬ 
curred.  The  church,  the  school-house,  the  chateau,  the  walls,  the  gates,  even 
the  earth  itself,  of  the  Hill  of  Solferino,  gave  evidences  of  the  fight.  There 
are  breaches  in  the  solid  stone  walls,  made  by  bombs  and  cannon  balls,  and 
musket  and  rifle  balls  had  thickly  spotted  every  structure.  The  earth  has  not 
yet  settled  over  the  graves  of  the  tens  of  thousands  buried  under  its  bosom. 
A  few  rude  monuments  to  the  dead  spoke  of  the  sorrow  of  their  surviving 
comrades.  Fragments  of  armor,  uniform,  equipments,  are  yet  found  plenti¬ 
fully.  Nearly  every  peasant  is  clothed  in  the  garments  of  the  Austrian  soldiers. 

How  hard,  said  I  to  myself,  is  the  progress  of  the  human  race  to  its  better 
destiny!  Here  were  a  people  of  five  or  six  millions,  seeking  a  higher  freedom, 
and  a  better  social  condition.  The  effort  to  obtain  it  brought  on  a  conflict, 
on  this  spot,  and  I  stand  among  the  graves  of  fifty  thousand  of  my  fellow- 
men,  who  fell  in  that  fearful  combat.  It  was  really  a  combat  for  freedom,  but 
of  those  who  engaged  in  it,  even  of  those  who  perished  in  it,  perhaps  not  one 
of  one  thousand  knew  or  cared  about  the  question  involved  in  it.  Nearly  all 
were  mercenaries;  and  more  than  half  were  opposed  to  the  cause  of  freedom 
itself.  Nevertheless,  even  these  anomalies  show  how  irrepressible  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  human  liberty  is,  since  it  will  force  even  despots  to  wage  wars,  out  of 
which  it  may  gain  only  consequential  advantages. 

I  stopped  on  the  now  historical  field  of  Magenta,  the  field  of  the  first  battle 
in  the  recent  war.  It  smiles  now  in  the  sunshine,  as  calm,  as  beautiful  as  if 
no  conflict  had  ever  taken  place.  But  there  were  here,  as  at  Solferino,  unmis¬ 
takable  monuments  of  the  dreadful  battle.  Tumuli,  or  rows  of  tumuli,  oblong 
in  form,  each  twenty  feet  long,  by  ten  feet  wide,  line  the  way  of  the  railroad. 
They  are  raised  a  foot  or  two  above  the  earth;  the  grass  does  not  yet  fully 
cover  them.  On  each  is  a  rude  cross,  and  when  I  asked  the  meaning,  I  was 
answered:  “Two  thousand  of  the  field  of  Magenta  are  buried  here.” 

Turin  lay  concealed  in  a  valley  which  the  mountains  seemed  to  surround. 
All  day  long  I  saw  only  signs  of  activity,  life,  art,  cultivation,  taste,  no  pov¬ 
erty,  no  begging,  —  a  country  that  is  free  already,  and  self-governing,  and 
capable  of  being  so.  The  Italian  question,  which  has  been  a  puzzle  to  me 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILL1NOI 


■ 


PRINCE  ESTERHAZY. 


CAVOUR 


1859.] 


COUNT  CAVOUIt. 


427 


ever  since  I  entered  Rome,  has  resolved  itself  promptly  in  my  mind.  This  is 
North  Italy.  It  has  a  healthy,  vigorous,  active,  energetic  population.  It 
deserves  to  be  free,  and  is  so,  and  with  its  moral  forces,  and  its  bravery,  it 
will  remain  so. 

But  Rome  and  Naples  are  South  Italy.  Its  population  are  all  poorer, 
more  indolent,  less  vigorous,  less  energetic.  It  sighs  for  freedom,  but  is  not 
prepared  for  it.  Despotism  and  superstition  have  enervated  it.  How  strange 
that  even  here,  as  in  the  United  States,  slavery  and  freedom  are  questions 
of  climate! 


Yesterday,  Count  Cavour  being  out  of  town,  at  a  country  seat,  I  went  there 
to  visit  him.  He  received  me  very  politely,  very  gratefully.  He  asked  where 
I  had  been,  and  what  opinions  I  had  formed  of  men  and  things  in  Italy.  I 
told  him  I  thought  the  Pope  pious,  sincere,  and  determined  to  endure,  rather 
than  concede,  or  conciliate;  but  I  thought  the  question  whether  he  would  be 
sustained  by  the  Roman  Court  in  this  policy  would  depend  on  the  measure 
of  support  he  would  receive  from  the  Catholics  in  Europe.  While  I  refrained 
from  repeating  any  thing  that  had  been  said  to  me  in  Rome,  Vienna,  or  else¬ 
where,  I  told  him  how  the  Italian  question  stood,  in  my  judgment.  He,  and, 
of  course  you,  have  my  opinion  of  the  sovereigns  engaged. 

He  was  pleased  to  confirm  all  the  opinions  I  expressed,  except  when  I  spoke 
of  obstacles  that  seemed  to  me  at  present  difficult,  if  not  insurmountable.  He 
was,  on  the  contrary,  confident. 

I  told  him  that  I  am  deemed  a  sanguine  man  at  home;  and  such,  just  now, 
was  the  character  awarded  to  him  in  Europe. 

He  says  the  Pope  may  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  city  of  Rome,vas  the  See, 
but  not  a  foot  of  territory  outside  of  it;  and  that  Austria  must  resign  Venice. 

I  doubted  whether  so  much  would  be  obtained  just  now. 

He  spoke  of  Louis  Napoleon,  guardedly,  in  temper,  but  frankly  as  to  his 
policy.  He  thought  Louis  Napoleon’s  letter  to  the  King  of  Sardinia  was  vis-, 
ionary,  and  that  the  writer  caused  it  to  be  published  by  way  of  apology  for 
the  failure  of  the  policy  it  proposed. 

I  thought  so  too ;  and  I  thereupon  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  publica¬ 
tion  would  seriously  detract  from  Louis  Napoleon’s  credit  for  wisdom  and  force 
as  a  statesman. 

To  this  he  assented.  He  hoped  the  Italian  cause  had  the  sympathy  of  the 
American  people. 

I  did  not  confess,  what  I  feel,  that  slavery  in  the  United  States  strangles 
sympathy  with  freedom  in  Europe.  Our  conversation  was  long  and  free ;  but 
I  cannot  repeat  it  all.  He  understood  our  system;  and  generally  our  politics; 
and  made  many  inquiries  about  our  Administration,  particularly  the  Slavery 
Question,  and  the  Lecompton  matter.  He  thanked  me  for  coming  to  see  him, 
and  offered  all  he  could  to  make  my  stay  pleasant.  The  interview  confirmed 
the  opinion  which  I  had  received  from  the  statements  of  others,  that  he, 
although  now  in  retirement  because  he  would  not  compromise  his  consistency, 
is  still,  in  fact,  the  great  leader  in  public  affairs  in  this  kingdom,  as  well  as  the 
leader  of  the  popular  cause  in  Italy. 


428 


THE  KING  OF  ITALY. 


[1859. 


I  have  just  now  come  from  a  long  and  pleasant  interview  with  General  Da- 
homeda,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  this  kingdom.  *  *  *  He  re¬ 

ceived  me  very  graciously,  and  conversed  very  freely  on  public  affairs.  It  is 
quite  clear  that  this  great  Italian  question  is  resolving  itself,  or  has  resolved 
itself,  into  the  question  of  depriving  the  Pope  of  his  temporal  power  and 
estate.  Here,  they  make  no  concealment  of  their  policy,  or  of  their  demand. 
The  Pope  will  be  allowed  to  retain  Rome,  the  City  of  Rome  only;  but  he  must 
surrender  all  the  rest  of  Italy  to  the  people.  They  do  not  stumble  on  this 
point,  that  if  all  the  rest  is  taken  away,  Rome  will  not  long  remain  faithful. 
Even  now,  it  is  only  held  in  subjection  to  the  Pope,  by  the  presence  of  a  French 
army.  How  long  can  the  European  Catholic  States  agree,  among  themselves, 
that  France  shall  virtually  hold  Rome  as  a  conquest  ?  So  long  as  Napoleon 
III  is  in  power,  France  may  be  content  with  the  expense  and  responsibility. 
But  if  France  should  become  Orleanist,  or  Republican,  will  she  herself  be  con¬ 
tent  with  it  ? 

His  Majesty,  Victor  Emanuel,  was  pleased  to  say  that  he  would  receive  me 
this  morning.  I  repaired,  at  ten  o’clock,  with  my  courier  for  a  servant,  to  the 
Royal  Palace.  At  the  door,  I  was  shown  up  stairs,  passed  through  two  rooms 
occupied  by  guards,  into  the  outer  ante-chamber,  where  I  was  received  by  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  presented  to  the  Minister  of  Finance,  and  to  an  aide- 
de-camp  of  His  Majesty,  who  was  in  attendance  as  my  interpreter.  I  suppose 
you  would  not  excuse  an  omission  concerning  my  dress.  So  I  must  say  that 
here,  as  at  Rome  and  Vienna,  I  was  dressed  in  evening  dress,  but  without 
sword  or  chapeau.  It  was  a  day  of  general  audiences.  Several  Ministers  from 
foreign  courts  were  in  attendance  in  the  ante-chamber,  two  women  —  one  a 
lady  of  fashion;  the  other  a  poor  woman  with  some  touching  suit,  I  doubt 
not;  and  one  or  two  persons,  who  I  thought  had  come  to  submit  some  piece 
of  art,  or  some  invention. 

After  one  of  the  Ministers  and  the  lady  had  had  their  audiences,  I  wTas 
called,  simply  by  my  name,  Mons.  Seward.  The  King  was  standing,  and  alone. 
It  may  have  been  a  fancy  of  mine,  but  I  thought  his  countenance  showTed  some¬ 
thing  of  wonder,  and  curiosity  as  to  what  an  American  statesman  might  be 
like.  I  confess  that  he  seemed  to  me  to  look,  as  I  think  I  look,  when  I  am 
embarrassed  by  a  visitor  who  is  not  of  the  accustomed  sort.  I  thought  his 
manner  indicated  previous  study  of  his  address  on  receiving  me,  which  was: 

“  I  am  very  glad  to  receive  you,  and  welcome  you  to  Turin.  Where  do  you 
come  from  ?  ” 

“  From  the  United  States;  but  recently  from  Milan  and  Venice.” 

“  You  have  been  some  time  in  Italy  ?  ” 

“Yes;  at  Rome  and  Naples.”  , 

“  How  long  in  Europe  ?  ” 

“  Six  months;  but  I  have  visited  also  Egypt  and  Jerusalem.” 

“  Oh  !  you  have  had  a  long  voyage.” 

“  Yes.” 

“  Well,  as  you  are  one  of  the  principal  men  in  your  country,  I  hope  that  yon 
will  judge  favorably  of  the  Italian  cause.” 


1859. J 


THE  KING  OF  ITALY. 


429 


“  The  late  campaign  has  been  begun,  and  ended,  since  I  left  home.  I  am 
sure  that  it  has  excited  deep  interest  in  my  country  ;  and  I  have,  therefore, 
studied  it  as  carefully  as  I  could,  from  all  different  stand-points.” 

“  It  was  very  wise  in  you  to  do  so;  and  I  beg  you  to  b,e  assured  that  I  ap¬ 
preciate  very  highly  your  interest  in  our  cause.  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to 
give  it  your  approval.” 

I  replied :  “  The  cause  of  Italy  is  the  cause  of  progress,  of  constitutional 
government;  and  that  is  our  cause  in  America.  Italy  is  always  sure  of  the 
sympathy  of  the  American  people,  when  we  can  feel  any  confidence  that  the 
cause  of  Italy  will  be  sustained  by  the  people  of  Italy  themselves.  But  there 
have  been  so  many  reactions  in  European  progress,  as  to  shake  the  confidence 
of  its  friends  in  America,  and  make  them  distrust  the  earnestness  of  the  best 
movements.” 

“  Well,  since  you  have  been  here,  and  seen  Italy,  what  do  you  think  of  the 
earnestness  of  the  people  ?  ” 

“  Oh,  my  visit  to  Sardinia  and  Lombardy  has  impressed  me  with  full  confi¬ 
dence.” 

“  Then  you  like  the  people  of  Sardinia  ?  ” 

‘‘  Yes;  I  think  Sardinia  the  Scotland  of  Italy.” 

“  Well,  I  shall  always  remember  your  kindness  to  Italy,  and  to  me,  in  com¬ 
ing'  to  see  us ;  and  I  hope  you  will  never  have  occasion  to  speak  otherwise  of 
us  than  you  have  done.” 

“I  ought  to  tell  your  Majesty,  that  I  know  Mr.  Bertinatti,  your  Minister  to 
the  United  States;  and  that  he  is  always  faithful  to  his  principles,  and  to  the 
cause  of  Italy  there.” 

“  I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  to  hear  so  good  an  account  of  Mr.  Bertinatti;  and  I 
hope  he  will  continue  to  be  acceptable  to  you  in  America.” 

Here,  after  a  question  or  two  about  my  route,  and  an  expression  of  regret 
for  my  early  departure,  and  an  explanation  of  the  reason  of  it  by  myself,  the 
King  gave  me  both  his  hands;  and  dismissed  me  with  wishes  for  my  safe  re¬ 
turn  home  to  the  United  States.  The  chamberlain  called  the  next  in  waiting, 
and  I  retired. 

The  palace  is  very  elegant,  and  very  elegantly  furnished.  The  King  is  about 
forty;  in  good  health,  large,  and  erect,  frank  and  manly  in  appearance.  He 
was  dressed  in  black,  his  clothes  full  and  large,  and  he  seemed  like  any  country 
gentleman  on  his  estate. 

The  Hague  is  a  town  of  eighty  thousand  or  ninety  thousand  people,  built  on 
the  ordinary  low  land  of  Holland,  lower  even  than  the  sea  and  protected  by  dykes. 
It  is  intersected  by  canals  in  all  directions,  equally  for  trade  and  for  drainage. 
All  the  houses  are  built  on  piles,  and  they  are  safe  in  the  degree  that  they  are 
low.  Hence  I  found  the  pleasant  feature  of  families  dwelling  on  the  lower 
floors.  It  has,  for  many  a  hundred  years,  been  the  seat  of  government;  and 
like  Washington,  derives  its  chief  elements  of  life  from  that  political  source. 
Its  growth  has  been  slow,  it  changes  little,  but  always  for  the  better.  The 
Hague  to-day  is  not  an  unfair  representation  of  what  New  York  was  many 
years  ago  —  so  far  as  the  architecture  is  concerned,  it  is  like  Philadelphia.  But 


430 


AT  THE  HAGUE. 


[1859. 


it  lias  several  large  squares  planted  with  trees  which  are  very  old;  and  it  has 
small  forest  domains  attached  to  the  royal  palaces. 

On  one  side  of  the  chief  of  the  squares,  Lord  Napier  has  his  temporary 
lodgings  in  a  house  about  equal  to  the  one  wTe  occupy  at  Washington.  I  in¬ 
habit  the  Oude  Doulen,  an  inn  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  square,  as  neat  as 
the  vesture  of  Diana  herself.  I  am  permitted  to  lodge  there  but  to  dwell  in 
his  house. 

The  town  is  dull,  rather  unsocial,  but  rich  and  comfortable. 


This  morning  I  went  with  the  Napiers  to  see  the  House  of  Delegates,  which 
is  in  session.  You  are  aware  that  Holland  is  a  constitutional  monarchy.  The 
Senate  is  elected  by  provinces,  like  Senators  by  States — the  Delegates,  like 
our  Representatives,  by  the  people.  The  Chamber  consists  of  fifty-six  mem¬ 
bers.  There  was  a  great  debate  involving  the  stability  of  the  Ministry.  Nev¬ 
ertheless,  the  tone  and  manner  of  the  debate  was  quiet,  unimpassioned,  and 
calm.  I  thought  that  the  speakers  must  be  speaking  sensibly,  for  they  spoke 
with  deliberation  and  with  great  distinctness.  But  the  debates  were  in  Dutch, 
and,  of  course,  incomprehensible  to  me.  When  the  debate  closed,  we  went  to 
visit  the  Palace  in  the  Wood. 


To-day  I  have  visited  the  Royal  Gallery  of  Paintings.  The  collection  is 
small,  but  excellent.  Almost  every  picture  is  by  a  Dutch  artist,  and  is  invalu¬ 
able  as  the  wrnrk  of  a  master.  Paul  Potter’s  “Bull”  is  perhaps  the  best 
of  the  wdiole.  Strange  to  say,  I  have  learned  on  this  brief  journey  by 
visiting  the  galleries,  that  the  Dutch  masters  excel  in  fidelity  to  nature, 
especially  animal  nature,  and  that  the  sentiment  of  filial  duty,  of  parental 
affection,  of  tenderness  to  animals,  gives  them  a  fine  class  of  subjects,  which 
they  quite  monopolize. 

I  went  yesterday  with  the  Napiers  to  Amsterdam,  and  renewed  my  recol¬ 
lections  of  that  old  and  respected  city.  When  I  saw  it  twenty  years  ago,  it 
seemed  not  unworthy  to  be  the  parent  of  New  York.  But  all  is  changed  now. 
New  York  is  magnificent  as  well  as  great.  Amsterdam  is  plain  as  well  as 
small.  Still  it  is  a  very  interesting  town.  Traversed  by  canals  it  has  some  of 
the  romance  of  Venice,  but  is  a  downright  sober,  busy  town.  Well,  the  Dutch 
are  a  sober,  industrious,  and  respectable  people,  quite  as  good  for  being  plain 
in  their  wrays,  I  doubt  not. 

Henry  Hudson  gave  to  the  Netherlands  the  discovery  of  the  Hudson  river,  in 
1608.  Here  I  am  in  a  hotel  that  bears  its  date  on  its  front,  1625,  only  seventeen 
years  after  the  discovery  of  New  York,  and  coeval  with  the  settlement  of  that 
country.  What  is  very  strange  is,  that  about  every  house,  private  as  well  as 
public,  seems  as  old.  Holland  is  the  country  which  we  American  find  most 
resembling  our  own  in  architecture,  furniture,  habits  of  domestic  life,  etc.  I 
have  just  come  from  a  ride  to  Scheveningen,  the  sea-port  from  which  Charles 
IT  embarked,  when  he  proceeded  to  England  and  restored  the  monarchy  after 
the  death  of  Cromwell. 


1S5D.] 


OX  THE  FIELD  OF  WATERLOO. 


431 


Brussels  is  not  unworthy  of  its  great  history.  Its  citizens  have,  with  admira¬ 
ble  taste,  marked  the  scene  of  two  great  events  in  the  world's  history.  The 
rallying  of  the  Crusaders  under  the  Flemish  standard,  and  the  recognition  of 
the  Empire  of  Germany  by  Charles  V.  The  great  hall  where  this  last  transac¬ 
tion,  so  deeply  affecting,  took  place,  was  accidentally  burned  down.  They 
have  erected,  upon  the  spot,  an  equestrian  statue  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon. 

At  eight  o'clock  this  morning,  I  went  to  visit  Waterloo,  distant  twelve 
miles.  The  road  is  paved  throughout,  and  has  for  a  long  distance,  on  the 
left,  the  forest  of  Soissons.  This  forest,  at  the  time  of  the  great  battle, 
covered  nearly  the  whole  country  between  Brussels  and  Waterloo.  I  found 
a  guide  who  was  born  near  the  spot,  saw  the  battle,  and  who  speaks  tolerable 
English. 

Waterloo  is  a  village,  consisting  of  a  single  street,  beginning  about  two 
miles  north  of  the  battle-ground,  and  tapering  off  into  a  hamlet  called  Mt,  St. 
Jean,  which  borders  on  the  field  itself.  The  guide  says  that  the  people  in  this 
village,  on  the  day  of  the  battle,  abandoned  their  dwellings,  and  sought  safety 
in  the  forest.  The  dwellings  were  used  for  hospitals.  Although  I  have  little 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  war,  yet  I,  nevertheless,  unconscious  of  any  fatigue, 
attended  my  guide  to  the  somewhat  parallel  range  of  low  hills,  on  which 
the  two  armies  were  drawn  up,  and  manoeuvered  within  point  blank  cannon 
shot  of  each  other.  I  studied  the  attack  and  the  defense  of  Hougomont,  and 
La  Haye  Sainte,  the  two  principal  forts  of  the  English.  I  stood  where  Wel¬ 
lington  stood,  while  managing  his  defense,  and  where  Napoleon  stood,  when 
directing  those  fierce  and  tremendous  assaults.  I  do  not  know  that  Blucher, 
coming  up  late  with  his  Prussians,  might  not,  in  any  event,  have  won  a  vic¬ 
tory;  but  I  came,  I  know  not  how  wisely,  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  position  were  with  Wellington;  and  that,  had  it  been  otherwise,  he 
might  have  been  defeated.  But  what,  vou  will  say,  is  military  strategy  to  you; 
and  vou  are  right.  So  I  leave  it. 

“‘Here,”  said  the  guide,  “we  buried  seven  hundred  persons.  Here,  we 
buried  fifteen  hundred  in  the  wood,  that  has  since  been  removed.”  The  King 
has  raised  a  great  monument  two  hundred  feet  high  on  the  central  spot  of  the 
battle  field,  and  placed  the  Belgian  Lion  on  the  top  of  it. 

I  perfectly  remember  forty-four  years  ago,  when  I  was  at  school  at  Florida, 
aud  the  boys  were  dismissed  at  eleven,  for  ten  minutes  of  play,  I  heard  then, 
for  the  first,  of  the  defeat  of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo.  I  had  been  educated  to 
sympathize  with  him.  I  believed  him  ultimately  invincible.  At  this  day,  1 
know  he  was  so  bold,  so  ambitious,  and  so  reckless,  that  he  was  sure  to  be 
overthrown.  I  hardly  know  now  whether  human  society  has  lost  or  gained 
by  his  fall.  Although  a  despot,  he  delighted  in  improvements  of  the  material 
and  moral  conditions  of  nations.  But  he  could  never  have  been  content.  He 
must  have  always  demanded  new  hecatombs  of  victims.  It  is  long,  very 
long,  since  I  forgot  my  puerile  pity  for  him.  Yet  it  came  back  upon  me  to¬ 
day,  for  a  brief  space,  when  I  thought  of  the  day  of  his  escape  from  Elba; 
the  electric  restoration  of  his  Empire;  audits  maintenance  throughout  the 
hundred  days;  of  his  organization  of  an  army  of  seventy -five  thousand  men 


432 


AT  THE  BELGIAN  COURT. 


[1859. 


and  marching  to  this  distant  position  to  meet  the  triumphant  allied  forces  — 
of  the  boldness  of  his  assault  —  of  the  accidents  that  entered  into  the  fate  of 
the  field  —  of  his  defeat  and  flight  —  the  desertion  of  him  by  the  French  peo¬ 
ple —  his  surrender  of  himself  to  the  British  Regent  —  his  unchivalrous  re¬ 
pulse —  his  sad  voyage  to  St.  Helena —  his  impatient  fretting  there  against  the 
bars  of  his  prison  —  his  lonely  death,  denied  all  hope  there,  that  his  last  wish 
might  be  gratified,  that  his  ashes  might  rest  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine. 

Let  us  be  just  after  all.  Had  not  Bonaparte  lived,  and  reigned,  legitimate 
despotism  had  now  been  a  thousand  fold  stronger.  Though  not  a  devotee  of 
liberty,  liberty  has  had  the  chief  benefit  of  his  championship. 

As  soon  as  it  was  daylight,  this  morning,  I  was  abroad  surveying  the 
streets  of  Antwerp.  It  is  a  town  in  which  every  thing,  whenever  built,  seems 
to  have  been  built  so  as  to  endure;  and  nothing  was  built  so  worthlessly,  as  to 
be  ultimately  useless.  So  it  exhibits  in  its  streets  the  progressive  architecture  of 
five  hundred  years.  Even  some  houses  constructed  of  wood,  remain  to  testify 
the  character  of  architecture  when  Antwerp  was  in  its  infancy.  Antwerp  was, 
as  you  know,  for  a  long  time  the  capital  of  the  Flemish  provinces,  the  seat  of 
commerce,  art,  industry,  and  taste  of  the  Empire  of  Germany,  as  it  rose  out  of 
the  confusion  and  debris  of  the  middle  ages.  It  was  the  Venice  of  the  West. 

Antwerp  rejoices  and  glories  in  the  fame  of  Rubens.  They  show'  you  his 
grave,  his  monument,  his  statue,  the  home  in  which  he  lived,  and  in  which  he 
died.  Even  his  two  wives  are  honored  with  tombs,  in  which  their  forms  are 
sculptured  in  marble,  with  exquisite  taste. 

One  needs  to  see  Europe  once  (and  to  study  it  carefully),  to  see  how  the 
material,  or  rather  the  personnel ,  of  the  Sacred  History  impressed  itself,  in  the 
early  ages  of  the  Church,  on  the  human  mind.  Every  actor  in  the  great  trag¬ 
edy  was  a  living,  breathing,  walking,  suffering  human  creature,  in  the  flesh, 
like  ourselves;  and  is  known  as  such,  and  not  merely  as  an  intellectual  or 
spiritual  agent.  Hence  the  hold  the  Church,  with  its  traditions,  and  its  dog¬ 
mas  yet  has  on  the  consciences  of  men,  as  distinguished  from  the  more  specu¬ 
lative  and  rational  views  and  temper  of  Christians  in  our  own  country.  Is 
our  system  the  better  of  the  two?  I  doubt  not  that  it  is.  Did  it  come  into 
the  world  too  late  for  the  permanency  of  the  Christian  religion?  I  am  sure  it 
did  not. 

Leopold  I,  the  King  of  Belgium,  was  a  Prince  of  Saxe  Coburg,  without  a 
kingdom  of  any  account.  He  was  a  handsome,  graceful,  and  good  man,  and 
secured  the  hand  of  Princess  Charlotte,  daughter  of  George  IV  of  England, 
and  heir  apparent  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain.  Her  death  in  child -bed 
left  him  wifeless  and  childless.  He  was  elected  by  the  Belgian  Parlia¬ 
ment  to  be  King  of  this  little,  but  very  independent  State,  about  1835.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Louis  Philippe,  then  King  of  France,  who  is  also  dead. 
He  has  two  sons,  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  and  the  Count  of  Flanders,  and  these 
fairly  connected  by  marriage  to  the  reigning  families  of  Russia  and  Austria. 


1859.] 


THE  KING  OF  BELGIUM. 


433 


The  King  of  Belgium  has  a  pension  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
from  England;  and  is  rich,  as  an  heir  of  Louis  Philippe.  He  is  brother  to  the 
mother  of  the  Queen  of  England,  and  is  held  in  high  esteem  at  that  Court. 
The  Prince  Royal  of  Prussia,  and  the  Princess,  daughter  of  the  present  Queen, 
have  been  visiting  England,  and  had  appointed  to  ayrive  here  on  Saturday  to 
visit  their  uncle,  the  King.  His  Majesty  had  appointed  me  an  audience  for 
yesterday  morning.  But  he  excused  himself  from  that  engagement,  and  invited 
me  instead  to  dine  yesterday  at  the  palace,  at  a  party  given  in  honor  of  his 
royal  guests.  I  went  at  six  o’clock  and  found  a  party  of  thirty-eight  persons. 
The  hosts  were  the  King,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Brabant  (lie  is  heir  appa¬ 
rent),  and  the  Count  of  Flanders;  the  guests,  the  Prince  and  Princess  Royal  of 
Prussia,  the  Prussian  Minister  and  his  wife,  the  British  Minister,  Lord  Howard 
de  Walden  and  his  wife,  the  American  Minister  and  his  wife,  several  ladies  of 
honor  to  the  Court,  and  to  the  Princess,  the  Ministers  of  State,  and  others. 
We  were  all  received  in  a  large  drawing-room,  and  waited  until  perhaps  ten 
minutes  after  six,  when  the  royal  party  entered. 

His  Majesty,  with  great  dignity  and  propriety  of  manner,  passed  down  the 
line  of  his  guests  formed  on  either  side  of  the  room,  speaking  with  and  wel¬ 
coming:  them.  The  ladies  of  the  Court  recognized  in  like  manner  their 
acquaintances.  When  the  King  reached  me,  I  was  presented  to  him  by  Mr. 
Fair,  and  he  spoke  to  me  a  few  complimentary  words,,  chiefly  expressing  his 
satisfaction  that  I  had  come  to  visit  him.  In  the  course  of  an  hour,  I  was 
also  presented  to  the  Dukes,  and  to  the  chief  Ministers,  and  others  of  the 
party.  At  seven,  the  doors  were  thrown  open,  and  the  party  repaired  to 
dinner,  under  the  inspiration  of  music  from  a  very  excellent  band.  Of  course, 
the  party  had  their  places  arranged  according  to  their  ranks.  I  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  seated  at  the  right  of  the  Countess  of  Wohenthal;  and  next  me 
a  Belgian  General,  covered  with  stars  and  other  insignia  of  distinction.  Both 
of  these  persons  were  very  agreeable. 

The  dinner  lasted  an  hour  and  more,  and  wras  quite  elaborate.  Fine,  soft 
music  entered  the  chamber  throughout  the  whole  feast,  and  the  Belgian  and 
Prussian  favorite  airs  were  not  forgotten .  At  length  we  rose,  and  repaired  to 
the  drawing-room,  where  coffee  and  liqueurs  were  served.  The  ladies  drew 
themselves  into  a  circle,  and  were  seated  at  the  upper  end  of  the  salon.  The 
gentlemen  formed  themselves  in  a  line  below,  near  the  wall,  as  before  dinner. 

His  Majesty,  the  two  Dukes,  and  Princes,  then  came  down  the  line,  and 
entered  into  conversation  with  the  guests  successively,  passing  none,  but  stop¬ 
ping  longer  with  some  than  others.  When  the  King  came  to  me,  he  renewed 
his  compliments;  and  then  said  that  my  visit  was  especially  agreeable  to  him, 
for  he  had  a  great  respect  for  the  United  States,  and  desired  always  to  have  a 
very  good  understanding  with  us.  I  told  him  that  the  feeling  was  recipro¬ 
cated;  that  Belgium  is  a  constitutional  kingdom,  a  free  country  —  one  of  the 
very  few  on  the  continent  —  and  that  we  sympathized  with  the  state,  and 
respected  him  for  his  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  free  government. 

He  expressed  his  satisfaction,  and  said  that  if,  at  any  time,  I  should  see  or 
know  any  thing,  which  would  serve  to  bring  the  two  peoples  into  a  nearer 
acquaintance,  he  hoped  I  would  suggest  it. 

28 


434 


KING  LEOPOLD  OF  BELGIUM. 


[1659. 

I  replied  that  since  he  had  emboldened  me  to  speak,  I  thought  I  could  sug¬ 
gest  to  him  a  way  in  which  he  could  make  a  profound  and  pleasing  impression 
on  the  people  of  the  United  States;  that  England  and  the  United  States  had 
dispensed  with  passports,  convinced  that  their  institutions  were  safe,  without 
maintaining  a  police  against  strangers.  That  the  passport  system  which  we 
encounter  everywhere  on  the  continent  is  annoying  to  us,  and  very  offensive; 
that  I  knew  that  other  continental  states  cannot  give  it  up;  nor  need  he  in  re¬ 
gard  to  them,  but  that  by  treaty  with  the  United  States,  he  can  do  it  in  regard 
to  us. 

He  thanked  me.  Said  he  understood  it  perfectly.  \  There  was  no  need  of 
passports  in  England,  and  the  United  States,  and  none  in  Belgium. 

I  said  the  two  branches  of  the  English  race  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  At¬ 
lantic  were  chiefly  charged  with  the  peaceful  civilization  of  the  world ;  and 
Belgium  was  worthy  to  rank  with  us. 

He  said  that  my  suggestion  struck  him  favorably;  and  then  inquired  about 
the  progress  of  things  in  America,  saying  that  he  supposed  that  the  people  of 
America  were  devoted  to  their  own  government,  and  absorbed  in  the  cares  of 
their  own  position. 

I  replied  that  we  belong  to  a  sphere  entirely  separate  from  Europe,  and  have 
occupations  enough  in  building  up  our  own  country,  and  its  influence,  without 
going  out  of  affairs  on  our  own  continent. 

He  was  very  happy  to  know  that  I  was  conservative  in  my  principles,  and 
said  that  time  and  education  of  the  people  would  do  their  work;  that  the 
great  badge  of  a  strong  government  was,  that  it  could  tolerate  discussion,  free 
discussion  of  what  it  was  doing;  and  it  was  the  misfortune  of  the  French  Im¬ 
perial  system,  that  it  could  not  endure  debate;  and  so  he  thought  France  had 
retrograded,  instead  of  advancing,  within  the  last  fifty  years. 

I  said:  “Yes!  in  its  system;  but  I  can’t  believe  that  it  has,  in  the  thoughts 
and  sentiments  of  the  people;  but  Louis  Napoleon  must  come  to  an  end  some¬ 
time,  and  then  France  would  be  restored  from  her  dream  of  glory  to  the  train 
of  liberty.” 

He  said  I  was  quite  right. 

The  conversation  of  the  King  with  me  was  so  long  as  to  excite  remark,  and 
produce  a  canvass  of  my  character,  position,  and  principles,  among  the  lookers- 
on,  according  to  General  Fair.  Equally  kind  and  free  was  the  conversation 
of  the  Dukes  and  Count;  and  it  was  marked  by  the  same  spirit.  All  of  the 
royal  party  gave  me  their  hands  at  parting,  wishing  me  a  safe  voyage,  and 
hoping  that  I  would  remember  their  good  wishes,  in  my  own  country.  The 
royal  party  having  completed  their  tour  around  the  chamber,  the  ladies  rose, 
and  the  King  and  party  retired.  The  guests  left  as  their  carriages  were  an¬ 
nounced,  and  I  was  at  my  hotel  at  half-past  nine. 

We  had,  yesterday,  a  dreary,  rainy,  sleety  day,  but  I  did  not  suffer  the 
weather  to  prevent  me  from  seeing  some  of  the  sights  and  society  of  this  in¬ 
teresting  old  capital.  I  called  on  General  Rogier,  the  Prime  Minister,  and, 
also,  on  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  both  of  whom  I  found  polite  and  in¬ 
teresting  men.  I  had  met  them  on  Sunday  at  the  palace.  *  *  *  In  the 


library 

OF  Ti 
JNIVtRsn  V  of 

■  I 


THE  IMPERIAL  FAMILY. 


SALON  AT  COM PIEGNE 


1859.] 


AT  COMPIEGNE  AND  IN  PARIS. 


435 


afternoon,  Mr.  Rogier  called  on  me.  He  speaks  in  English,  but  I  made  out 
to  converse  with  him  in  French.  He  is  the  Republican  leader,  if  I  may  so 
designate  him,  in  this  country,  and  he  was  infinitely  interested  in  learning  the 
true  condition  of  political  affairs  in  our  country. 

The  rest  of  the  day  I  spent  in  the  Chamber  of  Representatives,  where  I  heard 
a  very  animated  debate  of  a  partisan  character.  The  speakers  spoke  briefly, 
but  very  well.  The  whole  effect  was  like  that  of  a  debate  in  the  House  of 
Assembly  in  New  York.  It  was  very  decorous;  the  question  seemed  an  im¬ 
portant  one. 

When  I  consider  how  strong  party  feeling  is  here,  in  this  little  constitu¬ 
tional  kingdom  of  four  and  a  half  millions,  living  in  the  space  of  one  hundred 
miles  square;  and  contrast  with  the  Belgian  territory  and  system  our  own 
more  extended,  and  vastly  more  democratic  one,  and  consider  the  greatness  of 
the  questions  which  engage  the  American  Government  continually,  I  am  not 
surprised  at  the  zeal  and  vehemence  of  parties  in  the  United  States.  I  wonder 
only,  that  we  are  as  moderate  and  tranquil  as  we  are. 

Of  my  day  spent  at  Compiegne,  on  the  Emperor’s  invitation,  of  the  pleas¬ 
ant  greetings  and  kindly  expressions  received  there  from  him,  and  from  the 
Empress  Eugenie,  I  have  already  written  you.  I  learned  then  that  the  chief, 
the  ruling  thought  of  the  present  government  of  France  is,  how  to  frame  a 
policy  which  shall  render  the  Napoleonic  dynasty  safe,  and  perpetuate  it. 

My  little  work  of  preparation  for  my  voyage  draws  to  an  end,  and  I  am 
beginning  to  experience  how  unsatisfactory  Paris  is,  to  one  who  has  any  earn¬ 
estness  of  character.  Hospitalities,  indeed,  meet  me  on  every  side;  but  I  find 
that  they  are  the  occupations  of  those  who  have  nothing  else  to  do. 

I  have  discovered,  with  great  surprise,  a  large  community  of  Americans  here, 
who  have  virtually  fled  from  the  activity,  the  excitement,  and  the  cares  of 
home;  to  find  rest  in  idleness,  in  a  foreign  land.  The  same  thing  is  true  of 
all  parts  of  France  and  Europe.  Persons,  too  indolent  to  take  part  in  the  re¬ 
sponsibilities  of  public  or  political  affairs,  in  all  countries,  congregate  here,  to 
be  under  the  protection  of  a  vigorous  military  despotism ;  and  amuse  them¬ 
selves,  day  after  day,  with  idle  debate  and  gossip,  about  the  course  of  affairs, 
of  which  they  are  content  to  be  spectators,  instead  of  actors. 

What  I  see  of  American  society  resident- in  Paris  does  not  altogether  please 
me.  There  are  hundreds  of  our  countrymen  who  arrive  and  stop  here,  on  their 
travels;  and  they  are  to  be  commended.  But  there  are  others  who  are  really 
emigres  —  who  take  up  their  residence  here,  and  affect  style,  fashion,  and  dis¬ 
play,  becoming  practically  voluntary  subjects  of  a  despotic  system;  while  they 
croak  continually  over  what  they  regard  as  evidences  of  demoralization  of 
public  spirit  and  virtue  at  home.  Everywhere,  I  am  asked  by  Frenchmen  and 
f  other  Europeans,  if  the  United  States  are  not  about  to  fall  into  dissolution  — 
inquiries  suggested  by  the  croakings  of  Americans,  who  apparently  would  not 
go  home  to  vote  for  the  Union,  to  save  it. 


436 


THE  VOYAGE  HOMEWARD. 


[1859* 


This  is  my  last  day  in  Paris.  I  shall  leave  it  with  content;  and  be  impatient 
until  I  am  once  more  at  home,  and  on  duty. 

The  American  Consul  was  at  the  railroad  station,  at  Havre ;  and  received 
me  with  great  kindness.  I  wTas  ushered  into  apartments  of  great  magnificence 
at  the  hotel;  and  here  I  met  Captain  Lewis  of  the  Arago.  He  was  mate  of  the 
Sully  in  which  I  sailed  from  this  port  on  my  return  to  America  in  1833.  I 
hope  that  I  may  regard  the  coincidence  as  propitious. 

Land  Ho  ! 

We  are  running  down  the  forest-covered  shore  of  Long  Island,  and  already 
leave-takings  have  begun.  For  myself,  I  tremble  between  the  hope  of  meet¬ 
ing  and  the  fear  of  hearing  ill  news  of  those  who  have  indulged  me  in  erratic 
travel  so  long. 

We  found  a  forbidding  coast,  covered  with  snow  at  CowTes;  ran  rapidly 
down  the  shores  of  Scilly  Islands  by  daylight;  and  entered  the  open  sea  under 
a  mollified  and  balmy  atmosphere.  For  the  first  week  we  had  smooth  seas, 
and  nearly  summer  weather.  Then  came  a  west  and  wild  gale  from  ahead, 
slackened  speed,  and  sinking  health  and  courage  among  the  passengers.  We 
rode  through  this  into  a  soft  and  balmy  clime;  which  lasted  for  a  day,  and 
then  awakened  to  find  Christmas  morning,  cold,  piercing,  sleety,  with  the 
winds  in  wild  revelry.  Such  a  Christmas  !  We  could  not  keep  on  our  feet, 
to  sing  and  recite  the  Christmas  service.  No  one  could  keep  foot  on  the 
decks,  covered  with  ice  and  sleet.  The  ship  rocked  and  plunged  under  the 
heavy  weight  of  ice,  on  the  decks,  masts,  spars,  rigging,  pipes,  boats,  every 
thing.  The  waves  raged  in  response  to  the  reckless  shrieks  of  the  wind.  All 
gathered  into  the  cabins,  and  reflected,  sorrowfully,  that  under  God  our  safety 
depended,  not  on  any  thing  we  could  do,  or  man  could  now  do  for  us,  but  on 
the  soundness  of  the  creaking  ship,  and  the  strength  of  the  heavy  engine. 

That  peril  past,  we  looked  for  genial  skies;  but  they  came  not.  A  new  gale, 
more  violent  than  the  last,  met  us  furiously,  as  if  to  repel  us  from  our  native 
shore.  For  two  days,  we  braved  that  last  storm;  and  this  morning,  the  sun 
has  broken  through  the  gloom,  the  sea  is  calm,  the  land  rises  from  its  bosom 
covered  with  trees,  and  home,  with  its  genial  fires  and  glad  voices,  seems  to 
lie  just  behind- a  thin  mist  spread  out  before  us. 


/ 


I860.] 


HOME  AGAIN. 


437 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

1860. 

Welcome  Home.  At  Washington  Again.  Meeting  with  Members  at  the  Capitol.  Bro¬ 
derick’s  Death.  The  John  Brown  Investigation  and  Debate.  Disunion  Talk.  Pen¬ 
nington  Elected  Speaker.  Speech  on  the  Bill  for  Admitting  Kansas.  Southern 
Opinions.  A  Biography.  Spread  of  the  “Irrepressible  Conflict.” 

It  was  a  bleak,  cold,  wintry  night,  near  the  close  of  December,  when 
the  Arago  entered  the  harbor  of  New  York.  A  snow  storm  had 
rendered  it  impossible  to  see  the  steamer  until  she  was  near  Sandy 
Hook;  so  that  news  of  her  coming  was  not  telegraphed  as  usual.  A 
few  friends  and  relatives,  however,  received  it;  and  hastily  gathered 
at  the  Quarantine,  in  the  evening,  to  welcome  him.  The  thermometer 
was  at  zero;  and  when  the  great  black  hull  of  the  steamer  loomed  up, 
her  masts  and  rigging,  sheathed  in  ice,  glistened  in  the  lamp-light. 
As  Seward  descended  the  gangway,  he  was  greeted  by  his  son,  with 
James  Kelly,  and  some  other  friends.  Soon  ashore  and  taking  a  car¬ 
riage,  he  was  driven  to  the  familiar  walls  of  the  Astor  House,  where  a 
bright  fire  and  warm  supper  awaited  him.  Presently  a  salute  of  a 
hundred  guns  was  fired  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  in  honor  of  his  arrival; 
and  its  echoes  brought  into  the  hotel  throngs  of  friends  to  shake  his 
hand  and  welcome  him  home. 

The  next  morning,  a  committee  of  the  Common  Council  waited 
upon  him  to  tender  him  a  public  reception.  Mayor  Tiemann  accom¬ 
panied  him  to  the  City  Hall,  and  there  welcomed  him  in  behalf  of  the 
city.  Seward  in  his  speech  of  acknowledgment  remarked  : 

I  have  been  able  on  many  occasions  to  compare  the  existing  conditions  of 
society  in  Europe  with  what  existed  there  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  I  vis¬ 
ited  the  Eastern  Continent.  I  think  that  I  can  safely  say  that  all  the  nations 
on  that  continent  are  more  prosperous  now  than  they  have  ever  been  before, 
and  are  making  decided  progress  in  all  substantial  improvements.  But  it  is 
manifest  that  the  institutions  of  government  existing  there,  are  either  too  an¬ 
cient,  or  were  founded  on  ancient  principles,  and  are  not  adapted  to  the  exi¬ 
gencies  of  the  present  day.  Therefore  it  is,  that  every  country  in  Europe  is 
balancing  between  the  desire  for  beneficial  changes  and  the  fear  of  innovation. 

It  must  always  be  difficult  to  determine  how  far  we  can  lend  encouragement 
to  those  who  seek  to  reform  the  institutions  of  their  own  country.  But  this  we 
can  always  do :  we  can  conduct  our  affairs,  and  our  foreign  relations,  with  truth, 
candor,  justice,  and  moderation,  and  thus  commend  our  better  system  to  other 
nations.  This  republic  may  prove  to  them,  that  its  system  of  government  is 
founded  upon  public  virtue;  that  as  a  people  we  are  at  unity  among  ourselves, 
and  that  we  are  seeking,  only  by  lawful  means,  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
mankind. 


438 


[I860. 


“welcome  home!” 

The  chamber  where  the  ceremonies  were  held,  was  crowded,  as  were 
the  halls  and  galleries,  and  the  street  outside;  and  after  the  formal 
speech-making  was  over,  two  hours  of  hand-shaking  followed,  only 
terminated  by  the  announcement  that  it  was  time  to  prepare  for  the 
train  that  was  to  take  him  to  Albany. 

There  he  passed  the  night  at  Governor  Morgan’s,  and  early  the  next 
morning  proceeded  by  the  Central  railroad  to  Auburn.  Bleak  and 
cheerless  as  was  the  wintry  landscape,  the  whole  journey  was  one  of 
warmth  and  enthusiasm.  Salutes  and  welcomes  greeted  him  at  every 
city.  Crowds  awaited  him  at  the  stations.  Old  friends  and  political 
followers  boarded  the  train,  to  grasp  him  by  the  hand.  Late  in  the 
day,  when  the  train  reached  Auburn,  he  was  met  by  an  outburst  of 
popular  pride  and  pleasure.  The  streets  were  decorated,  banners 
waved  “  Welcome  Home/’  the  citizen-soldiers,  the  local  authorities, 
societies,  and  even  the  children  of  the  public  schools  were  waiting  to 
escort  him  in  procession  to  his  home.  There,  at  the  gate- way,  he  was 
greeted  by  a  group  composed  of  the  clergymen  of  every  church  in 
town.  No  testimonial  of  regard  could  be  more  fitting,  or  more  touch¬ 
ing,  bearing  evidence,  as  it  did,  to  that  “good-will  among  men”  he 
had  striven  to  practice,  and  to  inculcate,  among  his  townsmen. 

Replying  to  an  address  of  welcome  from  his  old  personal  friend  and 
]3olitical  opponent,  Michael  S.  Myers,  he  said: 

i 

Although  in  this  journey  I  have  traversed  no  small  portions  of  four  conti¬ 
nents — '  Europe,  Africa,  Asia,  and  America — it  is  not  until  now  that  I  have 
found  the  place  which,  above  all  others,  I  admire  the  most  and  love  the  best. 
I  should  not  despair  of  vindicating  this  preference  by  comparison  of  natural 
advantages  and  social  developments.  But  I  will  be  candid,  and  confess  that 
my  partiality  stands  upon  a  simpler,  and  more  natural  logic.  I  prefer  this 
place,  because  it  is  my  place.  You  may  as  well  be  candid,  also,  and  confess 
that  you  like  it  best,  because  it  is  your  place.  I  prefer  this  place,  because  it 
is  the  only  one  where  I  am  left  free  to  act  in  an  individual,  and  not  in  a 
representative  and  public  character.  Whatever  I  may  be  elsewhere,  here  I 
am  never  either  a  magistrate,  or  a  legislator,  but  simply  a  citizen  —  a  man  — 
your  equal,  and  your  like  —  nothing  more,  nor  less,  nor  different. 

The  year  had  been  an  eventful  one  in  Europe,  and  Italy  had  been 
the  theater  of  a  great  war.  Seward  had  found  ample  themes  for 
meditation  at  Magenta,  and  Solferino,  Florence,  Milan,  and  Rome. 
But  on  arriving  in  his  own  country,  he  found  a  political  turmoil,  not 
subsiding  like  that  one,  but  apparently  rising,  day  by  day,  in  angry 
intensity.  The  Republican  party  now  full  grown,  vigorous,  and  uni¬ 
ted,  was  contesting  with  the  Democratic,  the  possession  of  its  ancient 
strongholds  in  the  North.  The  slave-holding  States  were  sullenly  and 


I860.] 


JOHN  BROWN. 


439 


sternly  linking  themselves  together  for  that  conflict  which  they  had 
denied  to  be  “irrepressible.”  All  the  free  States  but  California  had 
given  majorities  adverse  to  the  Administration  in  the  fall  elections. 
New  England  and  the  North-west  were  unitedly  Republican.  Penn¬ 
sylvania  and  Ohio  had  reversed  their  former  political  majorities.  New 
York  had  chosen  State  officers  and  a  Legislature  overwhelmingly 
Republican.  Kansas  was  struggling,  no  longer  in  despair,  but  effect¬ 
ively  to  break  her  bonds.  Her  people  had  rejected  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  called  a  Convention  which  met  at  Wyandotte  in  July, 
and  formed  a  new  one  prohibiting  slavery,  which  was  adopted  by  the 
popular  vote  in  October.  They  had  chosen  a  Republican  Governor 
and  Representative  in  Congress,  and  a  Legislature,  which  repealed  the 
odious  slavery  laws,  passed  an  amnesty  for  political  offenses;  and  on 
the  night  of  its  adjournment,  a  public  bonfire  was  made  of  the  obnox¬ 
ious  “Border  Ruffian  ”  enactments.  Nebraska,  following  the  lead 
of  Kansas,  and  happily  free  from  outside  interference,  had  passed  a 
law  forever  forbidding  “involuntary  servitude,”  in  the  exact  words  of 
the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

At  the  close  of  a  heated  canvass  in  California,  Senator  Broderick, 
an  “  Anti-Lecompton  Democrat,”  had  been  killed  in  a  duel,  under  cir¬ 
cumstances  that  led  to  popular  belief  in  his  dying  declaration,  “They 
have  killed  me,  because  I  was  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery  and 
a  corrupt  Administration.” 

But  the  absorbing  and  engrossing  public  theme  that  confronted 
Seward  on  his  arrival  was  the  wild  and  daring  enterprise  of  “  Old  John 
Brown,”  who  had  sought  to  head  an  insurrection  of  slaves  in  Virginia, 
had,  with  his  handful  of  men,  captured  Harper’s  Ferry,  had  been  sur¬ 
rounded,  overpowered,  seized,  tried,  and  hung.  The  bloody  incidents, 
the  tragic  scenes  of  that  brief  struggle,  aud  the  ensuing  trials,  the 
martyr-like  firmness  with  which  the  old  man,  Bible  in  hand,  had  as¬ 
cended  the  scaffold  and  laid  down  his  life  for  his  cause,  were  still 
fresh  in  the  public  prints,  and  on  everybody’s  lips.  Hot-headed  men 
on  the  pro -slavery  side,  were  pouring  out  wrath  and  vituperation 
against  every  thing  and  everybody  of  anti-slavery  opinions,  accusing 
all  Republicans,  collectively  and  individually,  with  having,  either  di¬ 
rectly  or  indirectly,  aided  and  abetted  John  Brown.  One  specimen 
will  suffice  as  an  illustration.  The  following  advertisement  was  pub¬ 
lished  in  a  Richmond,  Virginia,  paper,  and  widely  copied  North  and 
South : 


440 


“OFF  WITH  HIS  HEAD!” 


[1860. 


$100,000  REWARD. 

Messrs.  Editors: 

I  will  be  one  of  one  hundred  gentlemen  who  will  give  twenty-five  dollars 
each,  for  the  heads  of  the  following  'Traitors : 

Henry  Wilson,  Massachusetts;  Charles  Sumner,  Massachusetts;  Horace 
Greeley,  New  York;  John  P.  Hale,  New  Hampshire;  Wendell  Philips,  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,  Brooklyn;  Rev.  Dr.  Cheever,  New  York;  Rev.  Mr.  Wheeler, 
New  Hampshire;  Schuyler  Colfax,  Anson  Burlingame,  Owen  Lovejoy,  Amos 
P.  Granger,  Edwin  B.  Morgan,  Galusha  A.  Grow,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Edward 
Wade,  Calvin  C.  Chaffee,  William  H.  Kelsey,  William  A.  Howard,  Henry 
Waldron,  John  Sherman,  George  W.  Palmer,  Daniel  W.  Gooch,  Henry  L. 
Dawes,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  I.  Washburn,  jr.,  J.  A.  Bingham,  William  Kellogg, 
E.  B.  Washburne,  Benjamin  Stanton,  Edward  Dodd,  C.  B.  Tompkins,  John 
Covode,  Cad.  C.  Washburne,  Samuel  G.  Andrews,  A.  B.  Olin,  Sidney  Dean, 
Nathaniel  B.  Durfee,  Emory  B.  Pottle,  DeWitt  C.  Leach,  J.  F.  Potter,  T.  Davis, 
Massachusetts;  T.  Davis,  Iowa;  J.  F.  Farnsworth,  C.  L.  Knapp,  R.  E.  Fenton, 
Philemon  Bliss,  Mason  W.  Tappen,  Charles  Case,  James  Pike,  Homer  E.  Boyce, 
Isaac  D.  Clawson,  A.  S.  Murray,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Valentine  B.  Horton,  Free¬ 
man  H.  Morse,  David  Kilgore,  William  Stewart,  Samuel  B.  Curtis,  John  M. 
Wood,  John  M.  Parker,  Stephen  C.  Foster,  Charles  G.  Gilman,  Charles  B. 
Hoard,  John  Thompson,  J.  W.  Sherman,  William  D.  Braxton,  James  Buffing¬ 
ton,  O.  B.  Matteson,  Richard  Mott,  George  K.  Robbins,  Ezekiel  P.  Walton, 
James  Wilson,  S.  A.  Purviance,  Francis  E.  Spinner,  Silas  M.  Burroughs. 

And  I  will  also  be  one  of  one  hundred  to  pay  five  hundred  dollars  each 
($50,000)  for  the  head  of  William  II.  Seward ,  and  would  add  a  similar  reward 
for  Fred  Douglass,  but  regarding  him  head  and  shoulders  above  these  Traitors, 
will  permit  him  to  remain  where  he  now  is. 

RICHMOND. 

When  Congress  met,  the  first  step  taken  in  the  Senate  was  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  a  committee  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  Harper’s 
Ferry  matter.  This  committee  was  now  in  dUily  session,  examining 
witnesses. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  there  was  a  sharp  contest  for  the 
Speakership,  parties  being  almost  evenly  balanced;  the  Republicans 
mustering  112,  the  Democrats  91,  and  all  others  30.  Changes  were  made 
in  candidates,  but  the  dead-lock  still  continued.  Renewed  bitterness 
was  added  to  the  strife  bv  debate  over  a  resolution,  introduced  from  the 
Democratic  side,  which  declared  any  member  “unfit  to  be  Speaker” 
who  had  “  signed  a  recompiendation  of  Helper’s  Compendium  of  the 
Impending  Crisis,”  a  statistical  volume  showing,  by  figures  from  the 
census,  the  relative  effect  of  slavery  and  freedom  in  the  different  por¬ 
tions  of  the  Union. 

Arrived  at  Washington  early  In  January,  Seward  was  met  by  his 
colleague,  Preston  King,  and  the  Republican  members  of  the  New 


I860.] 


THREATS  OF  DISUNION. 


441 


York  delegation,  who  came  in  a  body  to  welcome  him.  On  Monday 
morning  he  went  up  to  the  Capitol,  to  resume  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 
The  newspapers  had  chronicled  his  movements,  and  a  knot  of  curious 
observers  had  gathered  in  the  Senate  gallery,  to  see  how  he  would  be 
received  by  senatorial  associates,  some  of  whom  believed,  or  affected 
to  believe,  that  he  was  somehow  responsible  for  or  implicated  in  the 
\  irginia  raid.  It  was  remarked  when  he  entered,  that  “  while  the  Re¬ 
publican  Senators  came  round  him  with  hearty  greetings,  his  South¬ 
ern  friends  were  afraid  to  be  seen  talking  to  him.  Crittenden,  Pugh, 
and  Douglas  were  quite  friendly;  Slidell,  Mason,  Gfwin,  and  Pierce 
gave  him  their  hands,  and  hurried  by.  The  others  did  not  cross  over 
to  see  him." 

During  the  week  his  house  was  thronged  with  visitors, —  old  friends 
and  political  associates.  The  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin 
delegations  came  collectively. 

Meanwhile,  the  Speakership  contest,  in  the  House  of  Representa¬ 
tives,  and  the  senatorial  investigation  of  John  Brown,  continued  all 
through  January.  Other  legislative  business  was  at  a  standstill. 
These  two  exciting  topics  led  to  stormy  debates,  with  abundance  of 
personal  invective. 

“  Brown,  a  ruffian,  a  thief,  and  a  robber,  nothing  more,"  said  one 
Senator,  “  had  no  resources  of  his  own.  We  want  to  know  where  the 
money  was  supplied.  We  want  to  know  the  incentives  that  led  him 
to  that  expedition."  “  It  cannot  be  disguised,"  said  another,  “that 
the  Northern  heart  sympathizes  with  Brown,  and  his  fate,  because  he 
died  in  the  cause  of  what  they  call  liberty.  *  *  *  The  truth  is, 

that  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Republican  party  to  break  down  the  in¬ 
stitution  of  slavery,  by  fair  means  or  foul  means,  and  if  they  cannot 
accomplish  it  in  one  way,  they  intend  to  accomplish  it  in  another. 
If  they  cannot  accomplish  it,  by  appealing  to  the  slave-holders  them¬ 
selves,  they  mean  to  accomplish  it  by  appealing  to  the  slaves." 

The  feeling  on  the  Republican  side  was  tersely  expressed  by  Wade, 
who,  while  disowning  all  sympathy  with  the  attack  on  Harper’s  Ferry, 
said,  “You  may  treat  old  John  Brown  as  a  common  malefactor,  but 
he  will  not  go  down  to  posterity  in  that  light  at  all." 

Louder  than  ever  before,  now  rose  the  threats  of  disunion.  A  Vir¬ 
ginia  Senator  likened  the  Northern  and  Southern  States  to  “a 
mighty  arch,  while  the  very  keystone  of  this  arch  consists  in  the  black 
marble  block  of  African  slavery.  Knock  that  out,  and  the  mighty 
fabric,  with  all  that  it  upholds,  topples  and  tumbles  to  the  ground." 

“ This  Union,"  said  a  Southern  Congressman,  “great  and  power¬ 
ful  as  it  is,  can  be  tumbled  down  by  the  act  of  any  one  Southern 


442 


THREATS  OF  DISUNION. 


[I860. 


* 


State.  If  Florida  withdraws,  the  Federal  Government  would  not  dare 
attack  her.  If  it  did,  its  bands  would  dissolve,  as  if  melted  by  light¬ 
ning.  ” 

The  possibility  that  the  Republicans  might  carry  the  coming  Presi¬ 
dential  election  was  the  basis  of  outspoken  declarations. 

“Gentlemen  of  the  Republican  party/’  said  one,  “I  warn  you. 
Present  your  sectional  candidate  in  I860;  elect  him  as  the  representa¬ 
tive  of  your  system  of  labor;  take  possession  of  the  Government  as' 
your  instrument  in  this  ‘irrepressible  conflict,’  and  we  of  the  South 
will  tear  the  Constitution  to  pieces,  and  look  to  our  guns  for  justice. ” 

“  We  will  never  submit,”  said  another,  “to  the  inauguration  of  a 
Black  Republican  President.” 

“  You  may  elect  Seward,”  said  another,  “to  be  President  of  the 
North;  but  of  the  South,  never  !” 

“Whenever,”  said  another,  “a  President  is  elected  by  a  fanatical 
majority  of  the  North,  those  whom  I  represent  are  ready,  let  the  con¬ 
sequences  be  what  they  may,  to  fall  back  on  their  reserved  rights,  arid 
say:  ‘As  to  this  Union,  we  have  no  longer  any  lot  or  part  in  it.’  ” 

The  death  of  Broderick  was  formally  announced  in  the  Senate  by 
his  successor,  Mr.  Haun.  Senators  Crittenden,  Seward,  Foster,  Foote, 
and  Toombs  paid  tributes  to  his  memory. 

At  last,  the  long  contest  in  the  House  of  Representatives  came  to 
an  end,  by  the  election,  on  the  forty-fourth  ballot,  of  the  Republican 
candidate,  Governor  William  Pennington  of  New  Jersey,  by  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  one  vote.  This  decided  the  organization  of  the  House.  The 
offices  of  clerk  and  door-keeper,  etc.,  were  speedily  filled  by  Repub¬ 
licans,  and  the  control  of  the  committees  was,  in  accordance  with  es¬ 
tablished  usage,  conceded  to  the  successful  party. 

But  while  “  agitation  ”  came  to  an  end  on  this  question,  it  continued 
to  rage  in  other  forms.  On  the  following  day,  resolutions  were  intro¬ 
duced  in  the  Senate,  declaring  that  neither  Congress  nor  the  Terri¬ 
torial  Legislature  “  possesses  power  to  annul  or  impair  the  consti¬ 
tutional  power  of  any  citizen  to  take  and  hold  his  slaves  in  a 
Territory,”  and  enunciating  the  theory  that  the  Constitution  carried 
and  protected  slavery,  wherever  its  authority  extended.  The  “John 
Brown  Investigation  ”  was  vigorously  pushed.  The  Senate  committee 
asked  and  received  power  to  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses  found 
unwilling  to  testify.  One  was  arrested  at  night,  and  ironed,  but  re¬ 
leased  on  habeas  corpus.  Another  was  imprisoned,  and  remained  some 
months  in  jail.  Others  escaped  arrest  by  concealment. 

On  the  14th,  the  Free  Constitution  of  Kansas,  which  had  been 
framed  by  the  Convention  at  Wyandotte,  was  laid  before  the  Senate. 


I860.] 


FOR  FREEDOM  IN  KANSAS. 


443 


Seward  moved  that  it  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories, 
and  be  printed.  Bnt  even  this  customary  action  was  opposed  by  those 
who  desired  to  thwart  every  step  in  the  direction  of  making  a  free 
State.  On  the  21st,  he  introduced  a  bill  “  for  the  admission  of  the 
State  of  Kansas  into  the  Union.”  The  29th  was  set  down  for  its 
consideration.  Among  the  throng  who  gathered  on  that  day,  in 
the  Senate  Chamber,  to  hear  him,  was  Henry  B.  Stanton,  whose  de- 
scription  of  the  scene,  in  the  Tribune ,  was  so  graphic,  that  it  may  well 
be  reproduced  here: 

The  audience  assembled  to  hear  Governor  Seward’s  speech  filled  every  avail¬ 
able  spot  in  the  Senate  galleries,  and  overflowed  into  all  the  adjacent  lobbies 
and  passages,  crowding  them  with  throngs  eager  to  follow  the  argument  of 
the  Senator,  or  even  to  catch  an  occasional  sentence  or  word.  It  was  on  the 
floor  itself  that  the  most  interesting  spectacle  was  presented.  Every  Senator 
seemed  to  be  in  his  seat.  Hunter,  Davis,  Toombs,  Mason,  Hammond,  Slidell, 
Clingman,  Benjamin,  and  Brown  paid  closest  attention  to  the  speaker.  Crit¬ 
tenden  listened  to  every  word.  Douglas  affected  to  be  self-possessed;  but  his 
nervousness  of  mien  gave  token  that  the  truths  now  uttered,  awakened  memo¬ 
ries  of  the  Lecompton  contest,  when  he,  Seward,  and  Crittenden,  the  famous 
triumvirate,  led  the  allies  in  their  attacks  upon  the  Administration.  The 
members  of  the  House  streamed  over  to  the  north  wing  of  the  Capitol,  almost 
in  a  body,  leaving  Mr.  Reagan  of  Texas  to  discourse  to  empty  benches,  while 
Seward  held  his  levee  in  the  Senate. 

His  speech  was  upon  the  problem  awaiting  solution  by  the  whole  body  of 
our  people.  It  was  the  utterance  of  a  man  whose  sharply-defined  opinions, 
pronounced  twenty  years  ago,  then  found  feeble  echoes,  but  which  have  been 
reiterated,  until  they  have  become  the  creed  and  rallying  cry  of  a  party,  on 
the  eve  of  assuming  the  control  of  the  National  Government.  His  exposition 
of  the  relation  of  the  Constitution  to  slavery  contained,  in  a  few  lucid  sen¬ 
tences,  all  that  is  valuable  upon  that  subject  in  Marshall,  Story,  and  Kent. 
The  historic  sketch  of  parties  and  politics,  and  the  influence  of  slavery  upon 
both  from  the  rise  of  Missouri  Compromise,  onward  to  its  fall,  exhibiting  all  of 
Hallam’s  fidelity  to  fact,  lighted  up  with  the  warm  coloring  of  Bancroft. 
The  episodical  outline  of  the  Kansas  controversy,  and  of  the  Dred  Scott  pro- 
nunciamento,  have  never  been  compressed  into  words  so  few  and  weighty. 
Nothing  could  be  more  felicitous  than  his  invitation  to  the  South  to  come  to 
New  York,  and  proclaim  its  doctrines  from  Lake  Erie  to  Sag  Harbor,  assuring 
its  champions  of  safe  conduct  in  their  raid  upon  his  constituents;  while  the 
suggestion,  that  if  the  South  would  allow  Republicans  the  like  access  to  its 
people,  the  party  would  soon  cast  as  many  votes  below  the  Potomac  as  it  now 
does  north  of  that  river,  was  one  of  those  happy  retorts,  whose  visible  effect 
upon  Senators  must  have  been  seen  to  be  appreciated.  Finally  this  speech 
was  closed  by  an  exposition  alike  original,  sincere,  and  hearty,  of  the  manifold 
advantages  of  the  Federal  Union,  the  firm  hold  it  has  upon  the  people,  and 
the  certainty  that  it  will  survive  the  rudest  shocks  of  faction. 


444 


A  SOUTHEKN  VIEW. 


[1860. 


The  Senators  on  the  opposing  side  of  the  Chamber  unintentionally  bore 
swift  testimony  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  speech,  by  their  haste  to  obtain  the 
floor,  and  combat  its  conclusions.  One  of  the  ablest  and  most  courteous  of 
them  said  in  his  argument: 

Suppose  that  the  agents  of  the  “underground  railroad  ”  were  to  boast  every 
morning,  that  last  night  they  had  carried  awray  seventeen  head  of  horses  from 
New  York,  one  hundred  head  of  horned  cattle  from  Illinois,  and  five  hundred1 
sheep  from  Michigan.  Suppose  the  “  underground  railroad  ”  managers  were 
constantly  boasting  that  Canada  was  constantly  being  made  a  receptacle  for 
your  stolen  goods;  what  would  the  Senator  from  New  York  say?  What 
would  New  York  herself  say?  What  would  all  the  non-slaveholding  States 
say  ?  I  appeal  to  the  Senator  from  Newr  York  (Mr.  Seward)  whether  he  does 
not  know  what  would  be  the  course  of  his  section,  if  Northern  property  was 
taken  instead  of  ours  ?  Are  we  not  your  equals  in  the  confederation  ?  Have 
we  not  the  same  right  to  claim  the  protection  of  the  Government  for  our  prop¬ 
erty,  that  you  have  for  yours  ? 

This  argument,  entirely  logical  in  its  deductions,  illustrates  upon 
what  different  premises  the  North  and  South  were  standing  —  the 
one  insisting  that  slaves  were  property,  the  other  that  they  were  men. 

Throughout  the  country  the  speech  was  read,  reprinted,  and  com¬ 
mented  upon.  Letters  poured  in  by  every  mail,  asking  for  copies,  or 
expressing  gratification.  A  leading  Southern  journal  gave  expression 
to  opinions  prevalent  in  that  section: 

The  great  arch  agitator,  Wm.  H,  Seward,  has  just  returned  to  this  country, 
from  an  eight  months’  tour  in  Europe  and  Asia.  From  the  time  he  landed  in 
New  York  until  he  reached  his  home  in  Auburn,  he  was  feasted,  toasted,  and 
caressed  with  an  adulation  surpassing  anything  which  has  occurred  for  years. 
His  homeward  course  was  the  triumphal  march  of  a  victorious  general.  At 
New  York,  Albany,  Utica,  Rome,  Syracuse,  and  Auburn,  he  was  met  by  tens 
and  hundreds  of  thousands.  Bells  w^ere  rung,  buildings  were  decorated,  salutes 
wTere  fired,  speeches  were  made,  and  an  ovation  of  which  a  monarch  would 
have  felt  proud,  was  given  to  the  distinguished  Black  Republican  Senator. 
Why  all  this  enthusiasm  ?  Why  all  this  immense  out-pouring  of  the  North  to 
do  honor  to  a  great  Abolition  agitator  ?  We  answer  because  the  political  sen¬ 
timents  of  Mr.  Sew’ard  harmonize  w'itli  that  of  the  great  mass  of  Northern 
sentiment.  Mr.  Seward  is  a  great  political  leader.  Unlike  others,  who  are 
willing  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  popular  sentiment,  Sew7ard  leads.  He  stands 
a  head  and  shoulders  above  them  all.  He  marshals  his  forces,  and  directs  the 
way.  The  Abolition  host  follow.  However  wre  may  differ  from  William  H. 
Sewrard,  wre  concede  to  him  honesty  of  purpose,  and  the  highest  order  of 
talent.  He  takes  no  half-way  grounds.  He  does  nothing  by  halves.  Bold, 
fearless,  talented,  and  possessed  of  all  the  requirements  of  a  great  political 
leader,  turning  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left;  gifted  with  a  self-posses¬ 
sion  possessed  by  few  men,  he  listens  to  the  assaults  of  his  enemies,  with  the 
most  perfect  nonchalance ,  and  receives  the  warm  greetings  of  his  friends  with 
a  wmnderful  composure.  He  is  at  once  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous 
man  in  the  Government.  The  biographer  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  the  fol¬ 
lower  in  his  footsteps,  he  caught  the  falling  mantle  of  the  great  defender  of 
Abolition  petitions,  none  other  being  more  worthy.  For  eighteen  years  he  has 
stood  forth  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  great  champion  of  free¬ 
dom,  and  the  stern  opposer  of  slavery.  He  has  fought  us  at  every  step,  dis¬ 
puted  every  inch  of  ground. 


I860.] 


A  BIOGRAPHY. 


445’ 


Other  political  presses,  less  frank,  or  less  well-informed,  published 
every  conceivable  form  of  attack  upon  him,  and  imputed  to  him  a 
variety  of  diverse  and  impossible  crimes.  A-  humorous  writer  in 
Vanity  Fair,  combining  the  information  thus  obtained,  formulated, 
the  following  biography: 


THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD.  * 

BY  A  SOUTHERN  FIRE-EATER. 

4004  B.  C.  Is  born  in  Florida,  New  York. 

4002  “  “  Is  expelled  from  Eden. 

4001  “  “  Kills  his  brother  Abel. 

3874  “  “  Burns  the  Temple  of  Diana,  and  pockets  the  Fire  Insurance. 

2107  “  “  Orders  Daniel  to  be  devoured  by  Lions. 

67  A.  D.  Persecutes  the  Christians. 

64  “  “  Murders  his  Mother,  Agrippina. 

75  “  “  Plays  the  fiddle  while  Brooklyn  is  burning. 

80  “  “  Puts  all  the  children  of  Judea  to  death. 

1409  “  “  Burns  the  Bastile. 

1458  “  “  Murders  the  two  Young  Princes  in  the  Tower. 

1778  “  “  Plots  with  Andre  to  betray  the  American  cause. 

1851  “  “  Bribes  the  London  Times. 

1852  “  “  Invents  the  Russ  Pavement. 

1853  “  “  Is  inaugurated  as  Senator. 

1854  “  “  Swears  allegiance  to  Queen  Victoria  and  Louis  Napoleon. 

1860  “  “  Makes  himself  Perpetual  Dictator. 

1866  “  “  Puts  all  the  slave-holders  to  a  horrible  death. 

1871  “  “  Orders  all  the  whites  to  be  burnt-corked,  and  learns  the  banjo. 

1872  “  “  Governs  the  United  States  as  a  province  of  Liberia. 

The  opinion  was  widely  prevalent  at  the  South,  that  the  Republi¬ 
cans  would  nominate  him  for  their  President,  at  the  coming  election, 
and  menaces  were  based  upon  it. 

“Seward,”  said  one  Southern  Representative  in  Congress,  “is  a 
perjured  traitor,  whom  the  Southerners  could  neither  consistently 
support,  or  even  obey,  should  the  nation  elect  him  President.”  “  Should 
the  Republican  party  succeed  in  the  next  Presidential  election,  my 
advice  to  the  South  is  to  snap  the  cords  of  the  Union  at  once,  and 
forever.”  “  Should  William  II.  Seward  be  elected  in  1860,”  exclaimed 
a  Virginia  orator,  “where  i»  the  man  now  in  our  midst,  who  would 
not  call  for  the  impeachment  of  a  Governor  of  Virginia,  who  would 
silently  suffer  the  armory  at  Harper's  Ferry  to  pass  under  the  control 
of  such  an  executive  head  ?  ”  And  even  the  Governor  of  the  “  Old 
Dominion,”  in  his  message,  referring  to  the  possible  election  of  My. 
Seward,  said,  “the  idea  of  permitting  such  a  man  to  have  the  con¬ 
trol  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  the  appointment  of  high  executive 
and  judicial  officers,  postmasters  included,  cannot  be  entertained  for 
a  moment.” 


446 


THE  LEMMON  SLAVE  CASE. 


[1860. 


His  house  in  Washington,  at  this  period,  was  thronged  with  visitors, 
singly,  and  in  committees  or  delegations.  It  had  become  a  sort  of 
Republican  head-quarters,  for  advice  and  conference. 

North  and  South,  the  “irrepressible  conflict  ”  was  spreading  and  in¬ 
creasing.  In  the  State  capitals,  debates  were  going  on,  with  almost  as 
much  fervor  as  in  Congress.  In  remote  country  villages,  as  well  as  in 
commercial  centers,  the  engrossing  tojiic  was  the  struggle  over  slavery. 
Northern  Legislatures  passed  “Personal  Liberty  Bills,”  for  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  their  citizens  who  might  be  arrested  under  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  Southern  statesmen  canvassed  plans  for  dividing  Texas 
into  five  slave  States,  with  ten  Senators,  for  carrying  slavery  into 
Southern  California,  or  establishing  it  in  the  Indian  Territory  and  New 
Mexico.  Laws  were  proposed,  and  in  some  States  passed,  forbidding- 
emancipation  of  slaves,  and  looking  to  the  enslavement  of  free  ne¬ 
groes.  Anti-slavery  journals  were  summarily  suppressed,  preachers 
silenced,  and  “Abolitionists”  who  ventured  to  inculcate  their  doc¬ 
trines  in  the  South  were  assailed  with  indignities  and  driven  from  the 
State.  Intolerance  on  that  subject  was  claimed  to  be  a  public  duty, 
essential  to  self-preservation. 

While  the  Senate  remained  firm  in  defense  of  the  pro-slavery  policy, 
there  were  signs  of  the  growing  strength  of  the  anti-slavery  feeling 
throughout  the  North.  It  was  estimated  that  a  million  copies  of 
Seward’s  February  speech  had  been  printed  and  distributed.  The 
local  elections  in  Northern  States  showed  Republican  gains.  In  a 
law-abiding  community,  the  decision  of  a  judicial  tribunal  has  great 
weight;  and  now  came  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  at  Albany, 
in  the  Lemmon  Slave  Case.  In  that  court  of  last  resort,  Mr.  Evarts 
had  argued  on  behalf  of  the  slaves,  and  Mr.  O’Conor  on  behalf  of  the 
owner,  and  the  decision  of  the  court  below,  setting  the  “chattels  ”  at 
liberty,  was  affirmed. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Grow  introduced  a  bill  for 
the  admission  of  Kansas,  similar  to  that  presented  in  the  Senate  by 
Seward.  After  a  long  debate,  it  had  received  134  votes,  while  only 
73  were  cast  agains't  it.  It  then  returned  to  the  Senate  to  encounter 
renewed  hostility  and  delay. 


1860.1 


CONVENTIONS  AND  CANDIDATES. 


447 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

1860. 

The  Presidential  Canvass.  The  Charleston  Convention.  The  Platform.  Douglas  and 
Davis.  A  Divided  Party.  Chase,  Dennison,  Wade,  and  Corwin.  Republican  Dele¬ 
gates.  The  Chicago  Convention.  Receiving  the  News  at  Auburn.  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin  Nominated.  Evarts,  Andrew,  and  Blair.  Public  Feeling.  Newspaper  Com¬ 
ments.  Letter  to  the  New  York  Committee.  Return  to  Washington. 

Toward  the  close  of  April,  Washington  was  overflowing  with  politi¬ 
cal  excitement  and  gossip.  The  Presidential  canvass  was  at  hand. 
The  National  Conventions  were  about  assembling  to  nominate  candi¬ 
dates.  Many  delegates  to  each  were  visiting  the  capital.  The  Demo¬ 
cratic  Convention  was  the  first,  having  been  called  to  meet  at  Charles¬ 
ton,  S.  C.,  on  the  23d  of  April.  Seward  wrote  home: 

Washington,  April  25,  1860. 

0 

Our  telegraphic  advices  from  Charleston  favor  Douglas  to-day.  One  can 
hardly  realize  that  the  once  great  Democratic  party  could  be  so  alarmed  as  it 
is  now. 

April  27. 

I  had  an  impromptu  dinner  yesterday.  Baron  Branneker,  a  Hungarian, — 
an  intelligent  and  accomplished  gentleman;  Governor  Chase,  sound,  hand¬ 
some,  and  complacent;  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  reserved,  but  emphatic; 
Judge  Merrick  of  Boston,  modest  and  sensible,  and  Arthur  Fletcher.  The 
party  remained  from  six  until  past  nine. 

Julia  and  I  went  to  a  party  given  by  Baroness  Gerolt.  It  was  mixed,  and 
seemed  to  show  how  much  mischief  bad-tempered  people  can  make.  A  Sena¬ 
tor  or  two  of  the  South  could  not  remember  that  they  had  ever  seen  me — - 
but  the  party  was  largely  foreign,  and  this  portion  did  not  remember  having 
seen  any  one  else.  Besides,  the  officials  of  the  Administration  came  around 
me  for  sympathy  and  cheer,  in  their  alarm  at  Douglas’  prospects,  and  I  was 
rather  more  conspicuous  than  I  desired. 

The  Republican  State  Convention  at  Baltimore,  Montgomery  Blair  presid¬ 
ing,  was  mobbed  yesterday.  Every  advance  in  this  great  revolution  toward 
freedom  brings  us  into  encounter  with  violence.  But  what  better  assurance 
of  success  could  we  have? 

April  28. 

I  dined  yesterday  at  Mr.  Gurley’s  with  a  party  called  to  honor  Governor 
Chase,  and  Governor  Dennison  of  Ohio.  It  was  largely  Ohioan.  Corwin  and 
Wade  were  there.  When  I  have  observed  how  cold  some  of  my  associates  in 
the  Senate  are  toward  me,  it  has  caused  me  to  inquire  whether  I  am  not,  in 
some  way,  unworthy.  But  I  found  much  comfort  yesterday,  when  I  found 
three  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  all  from  Ohio,  and  all  eminent  and  excel¬ 
lent  men,  but  each  preferring  anybody  out  of  Ohio,  to  his  two  rivals  within. 


448 


THE  CHARLESTON  CONVENTION. 


[1860. 


We  suppose  that  the  Charleston  Convention  comes  to  a  conclusion,  and  re- 
lieves  the  public  suspense  to-day. 

I  am  going  out  to  Silver  Spring  to  dine,  to-day,  with  a  party,  also  in  honor 
of  the  Ohioans. 

April  29. 

I  met  at  Silver  Spring,  yesterday,  Governor  Chase,  and  his  daughter,  now 
grown  to  be  a  young  lady,  pleasant  and  well-cultivated,  Governor  Dennison 
and  his  wife,  she  a  sister  of  my  fellow  traveler  Mrs.  Neal,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Winter 
Davis,  Montgomery  Blair,  Frank  and  his  wife,  and  Betty  Blair,  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Adams,  and  we  had  a  pleasant  season. 

A  huge  mail  kept  me  up  until  past  midnight.  Since  early  in  the  day,  no 
one  has  been  in  to  tell  me  any  news  from  Charleston.  An  interruption  of  the 
telegraph  leaves  us  in  blank  ignorance  of  the  doings  of  the  Convention,  at 
what  we  suppose  to  be  a  crisis  in  its  deliberations. 

April  30. 

The  Senate  does  nothing.  I  spent  the  evening,  yesterday,  with  the  Wash¬ 
burns.  To-day  I  am  at  home,  and  quiet,  since  I  do  not  care  to  discuss  with 
quidnuncs  either  of  the  two  prominent  topics  of  the  hour  —  the  Charleston 
doings,  or  the  prize  fight. 

The  Northern  Democracy  have  carried  the  platform,  and  Douglas’  friends 
are  exulting  in  the  prospect  of  his  nomination,  over  a  reluctant  and  distracted 
South. 

May  Day. 

The  Charleston  Convention  in  a  crisis,  indicative  of  a  dissolution  of  the 
Democratic  party.  Everybody  wise  about  what  is  actually  being  done  at  the 
moment  at  Charleston,  while  the  telegraph  reports  only  too  slowly  confirm 
their  conjectures. 

May  2. 

Your  Sunday  letter  duly  came,  and  it  was  welcome  as  the  sunshine  and  the 
songs  of  birds,  which  it  describes.  Whatever  is  done,  or  not  done,  I  hope  to 
be  at  home  on  Saturday  night  of  next  week.  But  it  will  be  as  well  not  to 
mention  it. 

The  Charleston  struggle  will  probably  close  to-day,  and  then  the  Chicago 
troubles  will  revive  more  earnestly  than  ever.  I  see  true  friends,  and  hear  of 
so  many  fickle  and  timid  ones  as  almost  to  make  me  sorry  that  I  have  ever 
attempted  to  organize  a  party  to  save  the  country. 

May  4. 

We  breathe  more  freely  here,  since  the  suspense  that  has  been  created  at 
Charleston  is  broken,  although  only  temporarily.  How  strange,  yet  how 
logical,  the  course  of  events!  Just  at  the  moment  when  one  party,  pressed  by 
the  other,  is  seeking  to  disavow  the  cardinal  article  of  uncompromising  an¬ 
tagonism  between  freedom  and  slavery  in  the  country,  the  party  that  denies  it 
is  riven  asunder  by  the  very  antagonism  which  it  had  disputed.  I  am  on  the 
lookout  now  for  the  next  pretext  of  demoralization  among  Republicans. 

As  these  letters  indicate,  the  Democratic  National  Convention  was 
still  in  session,  and  its  protracted  sittings  were  marked  by  stormy  de- 


I860.] 


THE  DEMOCRATS  AT  CHARLESTON. 


449 


bates.  The  delegates  were  found  to  be  divided  into  two  irreconcilable 
factions  —  those  who  upheld  the  Douglas  doctrines  of  “Popular 
Sovereignty"  in  the  Territories,  and  those  who  insisted  that  the  Con¬ 
stitution  protected  the  slave-holder’s  right  to  take  his  “property"  to 
the  Territories,  and  hold  it  there.  There  was  a  middle  faction,  which 
sought  to  evoke  harmony  out  of  discord,  by  judicious  phrasing  in  the 
“platform."  Unless  some  platform  could  be  made  on  which  all 
could  stand,  united  support  of  any  candidate  was  impossible.  After 
a  week’s  struggle,  resolutions  were  adopted,  reaffirming  the  platform 
put  forward  by  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1856,  with  the 
addition  of  one  referring  the  question  of  slave  property,  under  the 
Constitution,  to  the  Supreme  Court. 

This  was  regarded  as  a  “Douglas  victory,"  and  the  delegates  from 
seven  Southern  States  formally  seceded  and  organized  a  separate  Con¬ 
vention.  After  passing  resolutions,  enunciating  their  views,  they  ad¬ 
journed  to  meet  at  Richmond  on  the  lltli  of  June. 

Meanwhile  the  main  body,  or  what  was  left  of  it,  balloted  four  days 
unsuccessfully,  for  a  candidate,  and  then  they  adjourned  to  meet  at 
Baltimore  on  June  18th.  When  the  news  reached  Washington,  Sena¬ 
tor  Jefferson  Davis  introduced  resolutions  in  the  Senate  affirming  the 
doctrines  of  the  seceders.  They  ivere  understood  to  have  the  approval 
of  the  Administration.  The  bulk  of  the  party  at  the  North,  however, 
seemed  inclined  to  favor  the  Douglas  side.  The  places  of  the  seceders 
*  were  filled  by  new  delegates,  and  during  the  six  weeks  interval,  the 
contest  between  the  warring  factions  went  on  in  their  public  gather¬ 
ings  and  in  the  press. 

Now  came  the  turn  of  the  Republicans.  Already  delegates  to  the 
Chicago  Convention  were  visiting  Washington  for  conference  with 
each  other  and  with  their  representatives  and  advisers  in  Congress. 
Seward  wrote: 

Washington,  May  5. 

Washington  begins  to  be  uncomfortable.  Next  week  this  time  I  trust  I  shall 
be  with  you,  mayhap  to  remain. 

Jeff  Davis  opens  battle  against  Northern  Douglas  Democracy  in  the  Senate 
next  Monday. 

3 fay  9. 

To-day  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  has  made  a  solemn  defense  of  the  South  against 
“Squatter  Sovereignty  ”  and  the  Republicans,  warning  (not  “menacing”  he 
says),  that  a  Republican  Administration  could  not  be  inaugurated. 

The  Democrats  are  returning  from  Charleston,  implacable,  beyond  any 
former  enmity  toward  us,  but  more  implacable  toward  each  other. 

It  had  been  Seward's  habit  during  life  to  abstain  from  participating 
in  any  contest  respecting  his  own  candidacy.  “  That  work,"  he  used 

29 


450 


THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION-. 


[I860. 


to  say,  he  preferred  to  leave  “  to  those  to  whom  it  belonged.”  He  de¬ 
cided,  therefore,  to  spend  the  coming  fortnight  at  Auburn.  There  was 
another  reason  for  the  visit,  in  the  fact  that  a  fire  had  recently  swept, 
away  the  barns  in  the  rear  of  his  house,  and  his  directions  were  needed 
in  regard  to  rebuilding. 

During  his  visit  in  the  preceding  year  to  Palestine,  Ayoub  Bey  had 
intimated  his  intention  to  send  him  some  Arabian  horses.  Early  in 
the  spring,  the  horses  reached  New  York.  Three  had  been  shipped 
—  a  mare,  and  two  stallions.  The  mare  had  died  on  the  voyage,  but 
the  survivors  were  forwarded  to  Auburn,  where  they  and  their  long 
and  carefully  recorded  Arab  pedigree,  were  the  objects  of  much  curi¬ 
osity  and  attention.  Subsequently,  Seward  sent  them  to  the  State 
Agricultural  Society. 

Arrived  at  home,  he  remained  there  during  the  period  of  the  Chicago 
Convention,  which  met  on  the  lGth  of  May,  his  fifty-ninth  birthday. 

His  fellow-townsmen  and  political  followers  gathered  at  the  tele¬ 
graph  office  in  the  morning,  eager  for  the  news,  and  entertaining  little 
doubt  that  the  result  would  be  in  accordance  with  their  hopes.  First 
came  the  announcement  of  the  assembling  of  the  delegates  and  spec¬ 
tators  and  the  enthusiasm  and  harmony  in  the  “Wigwam.” 

Then  came  rumors  that  “  the  doubtful  States  ”  wanted  some  one  “  to 
conciliate  the  Conservatives.”  Then,  an  announcement  “the  New 
York,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin  delegates  are  unanimous  for  Seward.” 
Then  a  story  that  there  was  a  “strong  pressure  against  Seward,”  from 
various  quarters,  but  unable  to  combine  upon  a  candidate. 

Then  came  the  intelligence  that  the  Convention  had  been  called  to 
order  by  Governor  Morgan,  and  chosen  David  Wilmot  temporary 
chairman,  amid  cheers  and  unanimity.  Then  the  election  of  George 
Ashmun  to  preside,  the  completion  of  the  organization,  and  the  ad¬ 
journment. 

On  the  following  morning  came  the  news  that  the  “  Seward 
men  wrere  marching  in  procession  to  the  *  Wigwam,’  four  thousand 
strong  ”  —  then  that  the  “  platform  ”  had  been  reported,  and  that  the 
resolutions  were  “sound  and  stirring,”  “  every  thing  that  could  be 
desired.” 

Then  came  the  report  that  there  was  “a  breeze  over  an  amendment 
by  Giddings;  ”  then  the  action  upon  it;  and  then  the  resolutions  them¬ 
selves,  in  detail.  New  and  more  definite  rumors  followed,  about 
“  delegations  divided  ”  between  different  candidates,  and  efforts  to 
combine  on  Cameron,  Chase,  Bates,  McLean  or  Lincoln;  their  lack  of 
success,  and  by  whom  they  were  made. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day  came  news  that  the  “  balloting  had 


I860.] 


TIIE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION. 


451 


begun/  followed  by  that  of  a  “  sudden  adjournment/’  which  was  in¬ 
explicable.  But  in  conclusion  came  the  dispatch:  “  Platform  adopted. 
Will  ballot  to-morrow.  Chances  best  for  Seward.” 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  the  little  group  at  the  Auburn 
telegraph  office  were  gratified  with  the  news  that  the  “nominations 
are  begun;  ”  that  “  Evarts  proposed  the  name  of  Seward,”  and  it  was 
“  received  with  tumultuous  cheering.”  Then  the  announcement  of  the 
outburst  of  wild  excitement,  when  u  Judd  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln.” 
Then  the  naming  of  other  candidates;  and  then,  at  last,  the  balloting. 

Only  too  swiftly  followed  the  rest  of  the  news.  When  the  intelli¬ 
gence  came  that  Seward  was  defeated,  and  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Hannibal  Hamlin  were  chosen  as  the  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President,  the  friends  who  had  gathered  in  the  telegraph 
room  silently  dispersed,  with  hearts  too  full  for  utterance.  The 
monotonous  and  impartial  little  instrument  kept  on,  rapidly  ticking 
out  the  additional  proceedings  —  the  haste  of  delegates  to  change 
their  votes  —  the  speeches,  the  uproar  of  excitement  and  congratula¬ 
tions,  hushed  to  momentary  silence,  when  Mr.  Evarts  rose  to  say: 

The  State  of  New  York,  by  a  full  delegation,  with  complete  unanimity  of 
purpose  at  home,  came  to  this  Convention,  and  presented,  as  its  choice,  one 
who  had  served  the  State  from  boyhood  up,  who  had  labored  for  and  loved  it. 
We  came  from  a  great  State,  with,  as  we  thought,  a  great  statesman  and  our 
love  of  the  great  republic,  from  which  we  are  all  delegates,  the  great  American 
Union,  and  our  love  of  our  statesman  and  candidate,  made  us  think  that  we 
did  our  duty  to  the  country,  and  the  whole  country,  in  expressing  our  love 
and  preference  for  him.  For,  it  was  from  Governor  Seward  that  most  of  us 
learned  to  love  republican  principles  and  the  Republican  party.  His  fidelity 
to  the  country,  the  Constitution  and  the  laws;  his  fidelity  to  the  party,  and  the 
principle  that  the  majority  govern ;  his  interest  in  the  advancement  of  our 
party  to  its  victory,  that  our  country  may  rise  to  its  true  glory,  induces  me  to 
assume  to  speak  his  sentiments,  as  I  do,  indeed,  the  opinions  of  our  whole 
delegation,  when  I  move  you,  as  I  do  now,  that  the  nomination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  of  Illinois,  as  the  Republican  candidate,  be  made  unanimous. 

Then  followed  the  touching  words  of  John  A.  Andrew,  in  behalf 
of  Massachusetts: 

The  affection  of  our  hearts,  and  the  judgment  of  our  intellects,  bound  our 
political  fortunes  to  William  Henry  Seward  of  New  York  —  to  him  who  is  the 
brightest  and  most  shining  light  of  this  political  generation  —  to  him  who,  by 
the  unanimous  selection  of  the  foes  of  our  cause,  and  our  men,  has  for  years 
been  the  determined  standard-bearer  of  liberty,  ever  faithful,  ever  true. 

Then  the  assent  of  Carl  Schurz  for  Wisconsin: 

We  stood  by  Mr.  Seward  to  the  last ;  and  we  stand  by  him  now  in  sup¬ 
porting  Mr.  Lincoln. 


452 


THE  HEWS  IN  AUBURN. 


[1860. 


Then  Austin  Blair’s  answer  for  his  State: 

Michigan  has  nothing  to  take  back.  She  has  not  sent  me  forward  to  wor¬ 
ship  the  rising  sun,  but  she  has  put  me  forward  to  say  that  at  your  behests 
here  to-day,  she  lays  down  her  first,  best  loved  candidate,  to  take  up  yours, 
with  some  bleeding  of  the  heart,  with  some  quivering  in  the  veins;  but  she 
does  not  fear  that  the  fame  of  Seward  wfill  suffer,  for  she  knows  that  his  fame 
is  a  portion  of  the  history  of  the  American  Union.  We  stand  by  him  still. 
We  have  followed  him  with  a  single  eye,  and  with  unwavering  faith  in  times 
past.  We  marshal  now  behind  him  in  the  grand  column  which  shall  go  out 
to  battle  for  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois. 

Seward  sat  calmly  at  work  in  his  study,  alone;  and  rightly  judging 
that,  when  no  friend  came  with  news,  there  was  no  news  that  friends 
would  love  to  bring.  When  it  came  at  last,  it  was  followed  by  the  in¬ 
formation  that  no  Republican  could  be  found  in  Auburn,  “  just  yet,” 
who  felt  like  penning  the  customary  paragraph  for  the  Daily  Adver¬ 
tiser ,  announcing  and  approving  the  nominations.  He  smiled,  and 
taking  up  his  pen,  wrote: 

No  truer  exposition  of  the  Republican  creed  could  be  given,  than  the  plat¬ 
form  adopted  by  the  Convention  contains.  No  truer  or  firmer  defenders  of  the 
Republican  faith  could  have  been  found  in  the  Union,  than  the  distinguished 
and  esteemed  citizens  on  whom  the  honors  of  the  nomination  have  fallen. 
Their  election,  we  trust  by  a  decisive  majority,  will  restore  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  to  its  constitutional  and  ancient  course.  Let  the  watch¬ 
word  of  the  Republican  party  be  “Union  and  Liberty,”  and  onward  to  vic¬ 
tory. 

So  when  the  evening  paper  was  published,  it  had  this  paragraph  at 
the  head  of  its  columns,  following  the  names  of  the  nominees.  But 
enthusiasm  for  Republican  “  victory”  had  died  out  in  Auburn.  To 
Seward’s  life-long  associates  there  the  blow  was  as  crushing  as  it  was 
unexpected.  It  shattered  hopes  they  had  been  cherishing  for  years. 
They  instinctively  realized  that  it  was  no  ordinary  political  defeat,  to 
be  retrieved  in  some  subsequent  campaign.  It  was  the  deposition,  final 
and  irrevocable,  of  the  leader  whom  they  had  so  long  trusted  and  fol¬ 
lowed.  Profound  discouragement  was  mingled  with  apprehensions 
for  the  future  of  the  party  and  the  country.  Even  his  political  op¬ 
ponents  shared  in  the  general  gloom  that  pervaded  the  village.  A 
traveler  reported,  that  “  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  a  funeral  going  on, 

all  over  Auburn.  Seward  was  the  onlv  cheerful  man  in  town.” 

•/ 

lie  wrote  to  his  son  at  Albany: 

Auburn,  May  18,  Friday,  6  P.  M. 

It  is  necessary  that  wTe  replace  our  lost  barn  and  outbuildings,  and  your 
counsel  as  to  location  and  arrangements  is  necessary.  I  suppose  Mr.  Dawson 


I860.] 


AFTER  TIIE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION. 


453 


will  be  home  to-morrow  or  Monday.  Can  you  come  lip  with  Anna?  We  are 
all  well,  and  I  think  the  least  unhappy  of  all  the  families  in  our  little  city. 

To  Weed  he  wrote: 

May  18. 

You  have  my  unbounded  gratitude  for  this  last,  as  for  the  whole  life  of  ef¬ 
forts  in  my  behalf.  I  wish  that  I  was  sure  that  your  sense  of  the  disappoint¬ 
ment  is  as  light  as  my  own.  It  ought  to  be  equally  so,  for  we  have  been 
equally  thoughtful  and  zealous,  for  friends,  party,  and  country,  and  I  know 
not  what  has  been  left  undone  that  could  have  been  done,  or  done  that  ought 
to  be  regretted.  You  see  that  I  am  not  expecting  you  to  stop  here  on  your 
way  home,  although  Mrs.  Seward  and  I  have  hoped  that  Harriet  might  stay 
with  us  a  day  or  two. 

During  the  following  week  throngs  of  visitors  and  friends  came  to 
him,  from  all  the  western  counties  of  the  State,  “not,”  as  they  said, 
“to  console,  but  to  be  consoled/7  by  such  counsel  as  he  might  be  able 
to  give  them  regarding  the  political  outlook.  Of  course,  the  States 
where  the  nominees  were  best  known  were  responding  with  heartiness 
to  the  nominations.  In  Illinois,  where  it  was  accepted  as  the  fitting 
and  triumphant  end  of  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debate,  it  was  re¬ 
ceived  with  enthusiasm.  But  in  New  York,  and  other  States  in 
which  Seward  had  hitherto  been  regarded  as  the  party’s  leader,  feel¬ 
ings  akin  to  those  at  Auburn  largely  prevailed,  and  there  was  danger 
that  discouragement  might  lead  to  apathy.  One  warm-hearted  West¬ 
ern  friend  said,  “When  I  got  the  news,  I  felt  as  if  I  didn’t  want  to 
have  any  thing  more  to  do  with  white  men’s  politics,  and  about  ready 
to  go  out  and  live  among  the  Potawattomies.” 

Now  came  the  newspapers  by  every  mail,  with  their  comments  on 
the  unexpected  result.  The  Republican  journals  accepted  and  ex¬ 
tolled  the  nominations,  occasionally  with  a  half-regretful  tribute  to 
Seward,  but  striving  to  make  the  best  of  matters,  and  urging  ener¬ 
getic  and  harmonious  party  action.  The  Democratic  journals,  for 
the  most  part,  seemed  to  have  no  disposition  to  exult  in  his  over¬ 
throw.  The  Albany  Argus  headed  a  trenchant  article,  “Action  de¬ 
voured  by  His  Own  Dogs.” 

“  Governor  Seward,”  said  one  of  his  friends,  “  how  is  it  that  you  keep 
your  equanimity,  under  a  disappointment  that  oppresses  the  whole 
of  us?  ” 

“Why  should  I  not?”  was  his  reply.  “For  twenty  years  I  have 
been  breasting  a  daily  storm  of  censure.  Now  all  the  world  seems 
disposed  to  speak  kindly  of  me.  Look  in  that  pile  of  papers  —  Re¬ 
publican  and  Democratic  —  and  you  will  find  there  is  hardly  one  un¬ 
kind  word.  When  I  went  out  to  market  this  morning,”  he  added, 


454 


RETURNING  TO  WASHINGTON. 


[1S60. 


“  I  had  the  rare  experience  of  a  man  walking  about  town,  after  he  is 
dead,  and  hearing  what  people  would  say  of  him.  I  confess  I  was  un¬ 
prepared  for  so  much  real  grief,  as  I  heard  expressed  at  every  corner.  ” 
A  day  or  two  later  came  an  earnest  and  touching  letter  from  the 
Republican  Central  Committee  in  New  York.  He  wrote  in  reply: 

May  21. 

I  will  not  affect  to  conceal  the  sensibility  with  which  I  have  received  the  letters 
in  which  you,  and  so  many  other  respected  friends,  have  tendered  to  nje  ex¬ 
pressions  of  renewed  and  enduring  confidence. 

My  friends  know  very  well  that,  while  they  have  always  generously  made 
my  promotion  to  public  trusts  their  own  exclusive  care,  mine  has  only  been  to 
execute  them  faithfully,  so  as  to  be  able,  at  the  close  of  their  assigned  terms,  to 
resign  them  into  the  hands  of  the  people  without  forfeiture  of  the  public  confi¬ 
dence.  The  presentation  of  my  name  to  the  Chicago  Convention  was  thus 
their  act,  not  mine.  I  find  in  the  resolutions  of  the  Convention  a  platform  as 
satisfactory  to  me  as  if  it  had  been  framed  with  my  own  hands;  and  in  the 
candidates  adopted  by  it,  eminent  and  able  Republicans  with  whom  I  have 
cordially  co-operated  in  maintaining  the  principles  embodied  in  that  excellent 
creed.  I  cheerfully  give  them  a  sincere  and  earnest  support.  I  trust,  more¬ 
over,  that  those  with  whom  I  have  labored  so  long  that  common  service  in  a 
noble  cause  has  created  between  them  and  myself  relations  of  personal  friend¬ 
ship,  unsurpassed  in  the  experience  of  political  men,  will  indulge  me  in  a  con¬ 
fident  belief  that  no  sense  of  disappointment  will  be  allowed  by  them  to  hinder 
or  delay,  or  in  any  way  embarrass  the  progress  of  that  cause  to  the  consumma¬ 
tion  which  is  demanded  by  a  patriotic  regard  to  the  welfare  and  safety  of  the 
country,  and  the  best  interests  of  mankind . 

A  few  days  afterward,  as  lie  was  making  his  arrangements  to  return 
to  Washington,  he  wrote  to  Weed: 

Sunday ,  May  27. 

Washington  was  no  place  for  me  during  the  excitement  of  last  week.  I 
knew  that  home  was  the  safest  against  the  inquisitiveness  of  gossips,  and  I  was 
disposed  to  think  that  I  could  brave  the  taunts  about  my  absence  —  being  duly 
paired  and  under  call  by  telegraph.  The  Kansas  Bill  comes  up  on  Wednesday, 
the  first  important  question.  I  shall  be  there. 

After  showing  myself  there,  and  thus  ending  the  scenes  of  the  Convention, 
I  shall  be  quite  at  liberty  to  meet  you  at  New  York  or  at  Albany  whenever 
you  wish.  The  political  interest  that  clustered  around  me  so  strongly  will  now 
entirely  drop  off.  I  have  need  of  no  further  labors  or  sacrifices  by  friends,  and 
I  long  to  see  you  and  Harriet  once  more  at  liberty  to  study  art,  and  forget 
cares  and  toils  in  Europe. 

Arrived  at  Washington,  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

Washington,  May  30,  1860. 

The  journey  and  the  reappearance  at  Washington  in  the  character  of  a  leader 
deposed  by  my  own  party,  in  the  hour  of  organization  for  decisive  battle,  thank 
God  are  past  —  and  so  the  last  of  the  humiliations  has  been  endured. 


I 


I860.] 


RETURNING  TO  WASHINGTON. 


455 


At  Syracuse,  Rome,  Utica,  Schenectady,  friends,  who  had  not  yet  recovered 
from  the  blow  their  hopes  had  received,  gathered  around  me.  Aly  Irish  friends 
in  Utica  alone  had  voices,  and  they  used  them  to  curse  the  party  which  had, 
as  they  thought,  surrendered  itself  to  the  embrace  of  Intolerance.  Weed, 
Lewis  Benedict,  and  Corning  met  me  at  the  depot  in  Albany,  also  Gilbert 
Davidson.  Weed  was  subdued,  gentle,  sad.  Corning,  leader  of  the  Democ¬ 
racy,  as  he  is,  was  inconsolable. 

I  met  Caroline  Schoolcraft  coming  over  to  meet  her  husband,  but  he  had 
stopped  for  some  time,  broken-hearted,  at  St.  Catharines  in  Canada. 

Aly  way  down  the  river  in  the  cars  was  much  the  same  in  regard  to  incidents, 
as  the  journey  from  Auburn  to  Albany.  It  was  nine  o’clock  when  we  reached 
Thirty-first  street.  Two  policemen  entered  the  cars,  and  in  a  quiet,  respectful 
manner,  announced  their  errand  to  give  information  about  hotels,  boarding¬ 
houses,  and  connections  with  other  routes.  The  passengers  rapidly  left  the 
cars,  as  we  stopped  at  different  stations.  Only  three  or  four  remained  as  we 
approached  Hudson  street.  I  was  sitting  alone  in  the  darkest  corner  of  the 
car,  when  one  of  those  policemen,  who  had  disappeared,  returned,  and  coming 
up  to  me  said  in  an  Irish  dialect,  with  faltering  utterance : 

“Have  I  the  honor  to  speak  to  the  Honorable  H.  W.  Seward  ?  ” 

I  answered:  “  Aly  name  is  Seward.” 

“Well,  sir,”  said  he,  as  he  gave  a  warm  pressure  of  the  hand,  “  I  can¬ 
not  leave  the  cars  to-night,  without  invoking  the  blessing  of  God  upon  you,” 
and  immediately  retired.  He  was  gone,  and  everybody  else.  I  was  alone. 

Blatchford,  Grinnell,  Draper,  and  Evarts  had  a  supper  for  me  at  the  Astor. 
In  the  midst  of  our  animated  conversation  about  Chicago,  Air.  Griswold  of 
the  Tribune  office,  entered. 

“  I  have  come,  by  direction  of  Air.  Greelej-,  to  ask  if  you  have  any  thing  for 
him.” 

“  No,  sir,”  I  answered,  “I  have  nothing  for  Air.  Greeley.” 

“  I  presume,”  he  replied,  “that  he  refers  to  a  letter.” 

“No,  sir,”  I  rejoined  mildly,  “I  have  nothing  for  Air.  Greeley.” 

I  arrived  here  on  Tuesday  night.  Preston  King,  with  a  carriage,  met  me 
at  the  depot,  and  conveyed  me  to  my  home.  It  seemed  sad  and  mournful. 
Dr.  Nott’s  benevolent  face,  Lord  Napier’s  complacent  one,  Jefferson’s  benig¬ 
nant  one,  and  Lady  Napier’s  loving  one,  seemed  all  like  pictures  of  the  dead. 
Even  “Napoleon  at  Fontainebleau,”  seemed  more  frightfully  desolate  than 
ever.  Spaulding  and  Israel  Washburn  came  in  during  supper,  and  we  talked 
■of  Chicago,  and  their  trials  and  their  disappointments,  until  midnight. 

After  reading  the  newspapers  and  letters,  yesterday  morning,  I  went  to  the 
Adams’,  and  found  them  generous,  kind,  and  faithful  as  ever.  I  accepted 
their  invitation  for  dinner,  drove  to  the  Capitol,  and  entered  the  Senate.  The 
scene  was  entirely  changed  from  my  entrance  into  the  Chamber  last  winter. 
Cameron  greeted  me  kindly;  Wilkinson  of  Minnesota,  and  Sumner,  cordially 
and  manfully.  Other  Republican  Senators  came  to  me,  but  in  a  manner  that 
showed  a  consciousness  of  embarrassment,  wdiich  made  the  courtesy  a  conven¬ 
tional  one;  only  Wilson  came  half  a  dozen  times,  and  sat  down  b}’’  me,  wait¬ 
ing  for  me  to  open  a  conversation  on  the  transactions  at  Chicago.  Mason, 


456 


BELL  AND  EVERETT. 


[I860. 


Gwin,  Davis,  and  most  of  the  Democrats,  came  to  me  with  frank,  open,  sym¬ 
pathizing  words,  thus  showing  that  their  past  prejudices  had  been  buried,  in 
the  victory  they  had  achieved  over  me. 

I  dined  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams,  Israel  Washburn,  Sumner,  and  Mr. 
Pierce,  a  delegate  from  Massachusetts.  Good  men  came  through  the  day  to 
see  me,  and  also  this  morning.  Their  eyes  fill  with  tears,  and  they  become 
speechless,  as  they  speak  of  what  they  call  “  ingratitude.”  They  console  them¬ 
selves  with  the  vain  hope  of  a  day  of  “vindication  ;  ”  and  my  letters  all  talk  of 
the  same  thing.  But  they  awaken  no  response  in  my  heart.  I  have  not 
shrunk  from  any  fiery  trial  prepared  for  me  by  the  enemies  of  my  cause.  But 
I  shall  not  hold  myself  bound  to  try,  a  second  time,  the  magnanimity  of  its 
friends. 


CHAPTER  L. 

1860. 

The  Greeley  Letter.  Charles  Francis  Adams.  John  L.  Schoolcraft.  Close  of  the  Ses¬ 
sion.  The  Two  Democratic  Conventions.  Douglas  and  Johnson .  Breckinridge  and 
Lane.  “  On  the  Stump.”  In  New  England.  The  Boston  Speech.  Telegraph  Ex¬ 
tended  to  St.  Paul.  The  Western  Tour.  The  “  Wide-Awakes.”  Receptions  and 
Speeches  at  Detroit,  Lansing,  Kalamazoo,  Madison,  Lacrosse,  St.  Paul.  A  Prediction 
of  Alaska.  A  Warning  of  the  War.  Receptions  at  Dubuque,  Chillicothe,  St.  Joseph, 
Leavenworth,  Lawrence,  Atchison,  St.  Louis.  Meeting  with  Lincoln  at  Springfield. 
At  Chicago.  Reminiscence  of  John  Brown.  Cleveland.  Erie.  Buffalo.  At  Home. 
Visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Close  of  the  Canvass.  New  York  Speech.  The  Night 
Before  Election.  Lincoln  and  Hamliu  Elected. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  19th  of  May,  another  National  Convention  as¬ 
sembled  at  Baltimore.  This  was  composed  chiefly  of  those  who  had 
been  “Americans  ”  or  “  Know-Nothings,”  and  “  Old  Whigs,”  who 
were  not  yet  prepared  to  join  either  the  Republican,  or  the  Democratic 
organizations.  They  now  took  the  name  of  the  “  Constitutional  Union 
Party,”  adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  their  plat¬ 
form,  and  nominated  John  Bell  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett 
of  Massachusetts,  for  President  and  Vice-President.  They  were  sc 
inconsiderable  in  numbers,  that  they  could  not  hope  for  success  at  the 
polls,  further  than,  perhaps,  to  throw  the  election  into  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

Seward  wrote  home: 

Washington,  June  2,  1860. 

Wo  are  having  a  gentle  northerly  breeze,  which  makes  breathing  here  a 
little  more  free.  Mr.  Adams  has  made  a  great  speech,  as  they  say,  and  I  re- 


1860.  ] 


Greeley's  letter. 


457 


joice  at  it.  I  trust  that  lie  will  stay  up  the  Republican  party  against  all  de¬ 
moralizing  influences. 

I  go  at  eleven  to  visit  the  Japanese,  in  return  of  their  call. 

Senate  Chamber,  June  4. 

This  morning,  I  found  your  very  beautiful  and  touching  letter,  which  is 
very  just  as  well  as  very  natural.  Sumner  is  making  a  speech  against  slavery 
—  elaborate,  unsparing,  and  denunciatory.  The  Southern  Senators,  nearly  all, 
have  withdrawn  from  the  Chamber.  We  are  promised  to  adjourn  on  the  18th. 

,  Tuesday,  June  5. 

I  am  distressed  to-day  by  a  note  from  Weed  saying,  that  Schoolcraft  is  dan¬ 
gerously  ill  at  St.  Catharines.  If  it  were  not  for  the  Kansas  Bill,  I  would  go 
straight  there. 

I  will  send  you  Mr.  Adams’  speech.  It  is  strong  as  iron,  clear  as  crystal, 
genial  as  dew. 

To  Weed  he  wrote: 

June  7. 

I  should  think  you  ought  to  come  on,  if  I  knew  whom  you  could  impress. 
But,  just  now,  independence  of,  and  separation  from  you,  are  the  prevailing 
sentiments  here. 

The  adjournment  is  yet  uncertain.  It  is  not  yet  impossible  that  faction  may 
occur  again  in  the  House.  We  ha£e  now  no  head;  no  council;  no  command; 
a  committee  without  funds;  a  party  without  organization.  I  do  not  find  any 
prospect  of  a  joint  reorganization  of  the  Democratic  party,  but  perhaps  you 
can  see  through  what  is  going  on,  among  them,  better  than  I. 

One  of  the  incidents  of  the  early  summer  was  the  publication  by 
Mr.  Greeley,  in  the  Tribune ,  of  his  letter  to  Seward  in  1854,  in  which 
he  said  that  he  “announced  the  dissolution  of  the  firm  of  Seward, 
Weed,  and  Greeley."  It,  of  course,  became  the  theme  of  varied  com¬ 
ment,  by  the  political  journals.  Mr.  Weed,  who  had  not  before  seen 
it,  said,  in  the  columns  of  the  Evening  Journal: 

One  word  in  relation  to  the  supposed  political  firm.  Mr.  Greeley  brought 
into  it  his  full  quota  of  capital.  But  were  there  no  beneficial  results,  no  ac¬ 
cruing  advantages  to  himself?  Did  he  not  attain,  in  the  sixteen  years,  a  high 
position,  a  world- wide  reputation,  and  an  ample  fortune?  Admit  as  we  do 
that  he  (Mr.  Greeley)  is  not  as  wealthy  as  we  wish  he  was,  it  is  not  because 
the  Tribune  has  not  made  his  fortune,  but  because  he  did  not  keep  it  —  be¬ 
cause  it  went  (as  other  people’s  money  goes)  to  friends,  to  pay  indorsements) 
and  in  bad  investments.  In  conclusion,  we  cannot  withhold  an  expression  of 
sincere  regret  that  this  letter  has  been  called  out.  Having  remained  six  years 
in  blissful  ignorance  of  its  contents,  we  should  have  much  preferred  to  have 
ever  remained  so.  It  jars  harshly  upon  cherished  memories.  It  destroys  ideals 
of  disinterestedness  and  generosity,  which  relieved  political  life  from  so  much 
that  is  selfish,  sordid,  and  rapacious. 


458 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SESSION. 


[1860. 


On  the  following  day  a  telegraphic  dispatch  from  St.  Catharines, 
Canada,  advised  him  that  his  old  friend  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who  was  de¬ 
layed  at  that  place  by  illness  on  his  return  from  Chicago,  was  rapidly 
sinking.  Seward  started  at  once  to  endeavor  to  reach  his  bedside  be¬ 
fore  his  death.  Returning,  a  few  days  later,  after  this  sad  duty,  he 
wrote: 

Washington,  Wednesday  Morning ,  June  IB. 

I  am  at  home;  that  is,  at  this  home,  again.  It  is  no  pleasant  experience, 
this  of  tiie  decline  of  life.  Only  think  that,  not  to  speak  of  brave  and  faith¬ 
ful  though  remote  friends,  I  have,  in  four  months,  been  called  away  to  bury 
three  of  the  nearest,  and  two  of  them  of  my  own  kin !  Schoolcraft’s  funeral 
was  one  of  universal  interest  and  sympathy.  I  met  Mrs.  Schuyler  on  my 
way  down  to  Newr  York,  and  had  a  very  pleasant  hour  or  two  with  her. 
Blatchford  met  me  at  the  station  in  New  York,  and  went  on  with  me  to  Mr. 
Gregory’s,  a  friend  of  mine,  with  whom  I  staid  on  Monday  night,  doomed  as  I 
wras  to  receive  a  political  club,  when  I  was  seeking  escape  from  political  asso¬ 
ciations.  I  came  here  last  night.  All  the  family  well.  I  have  just  come  from 
market,  and  at  eleven  I  shall  go  to  the  Senate  tread-mill,  for  day  and  night, 
cheerful,  however,  in  the  thought,  that  responsibility' has  passed  away  from 
me,  and  that  the  shadow  of  it  grows  shorter  every  day. 

The  closing  weeks  of  the  session  of  Congress  were  marked  chiefly 
by  haste  and  non-action.  The  majority  of  the  members  were  natu¬ 
rally  anxious  to  get  home,  to  take  part  in  the  coming  Presidential  and 
congressional  campaign,  and  were  disinclined  to  give  votes,  upon  pub¬ 
lic  measures,  that  might  come  up  as  troublesome  issues  in  the  can¬ 
vass.  Enough  were  of  this  mind  to  postpone  the  tariff,  though  Sew¬ 
ard  earnestly  protested  against  the  postponement. 

In  like  manner  the  “  Homestead  Bill  ”  failed,  though  a  compro¬ 
mise  measure,  embodying  some  of  its  features,  passed  both  Houses, 
and  then  was  vetoed  by  the  President.  The  Pacific  railroad  was  put 
over,  and  the  measures  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  were  de¬ 
feated.  Seward,  who  had  been  their  earnest  advocate,  declared  his 
intention  to  renew  his  efforts  to  arrest  the  infamous  traffic,  at  the 
next  session. 

He  wrote  home: 

Tuesday ,  June  19. 

An  uncertainty  hangs  over  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  The  day  fixed 
is  next  Monday,  but  we  talk  of  to-morrow,  and  the  next  day.  We  are  packing 
up  here,  and  I  mean,  adjournment  or  no  adjournment,  to  be  at  home  with  all 
my  retinue,  on  Saturday  night,  Monday  night,  or  Tuesday  night,  at  all  events, 
in  time  for  Willie’s  wedding. 

The  two  Conventions,  representing  the  divided  opinions  of  the 
Democratic  party,  had  now  held  their  respective  sessions.  That 


I860.] 


IN  THE  CANVASS. 


459 


which  assembled  in  Baltimore,  on  the  18th  of  June,  after  further 
•contests  and  more  withdrawal  of  delegates,  had  nominated  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  for  President,  and  Benjamin  Fitzpatrick  of  Alabama,  for 
Vice-President.  The  latter  having  declined,  Herschel  V.  Johnson  of 
Georgia,  was  nominated  in  his  stead.  The  Convention  which  met  at 
Richmond,  on  the  11th  of  June,  had  again  adjourned  till  the  28th, 
at  Baltimore,  where  they  nominated  John  C.  Breckinridge  of  Ken- 
tucky,  for  President  and  Joseph  Lane  of  Oregon,  for  Vice-President. 
So  the  Presidential  es  campaign ”  was  fairly  opened,  and  in  progress. 

Congress  having  adjourned,  Seward  hastened  home,  in  order  to  be 
present  at  the  wedding  of  his  youngest  son,  William  H.  Seward,  Jr., 
to  Miss  Janet  Watson  of  Auburn.  He  wrote  to  Weed: 

Aubukn,  June  26. 

1  * 

I  escaped  on  Friday,  to  give  the  needful  attention  to  Willie’s  marriage,  which 
comes  off  to-morrow.  I  had  not  been  able,  until  this  last  moment,  to  inquire 
into  the  condition  of  his  affairs,  and  to  hear  and  counsel,  as  a  child  has  a  right 
to  expect,  in  so  important  a  transaction.  So,  of  course,  I  cannot  be  at' Albany 
to-morrow  evening.  I  saw  that  it  would  be  useless  for  us  to  talk  about  the 
duties  of  the  canvass,  until  we  could  know  the  form  and  body  which  the  De¬ 
mocracy  should  take  on ;  and  so  I  did  not  much  care  for  the  disappointment, 
when  I  found  you  absent  from  home,  on  my  way  through  Albany  last  Satur¬ 
day.  But  the  time  has  now  come.  If  I  can  rightly,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of 
my  friends,  remain  at  rest,  I  want  to  do  so.  I  am  content  to  quit  with  the 
political  world,  when  it  proposes  to  quit  with  me.  But  I  am  not  insensible  to 
the  claims  of  a  million  of  friends,  nor  indifferent  to  the  opinion  of  mankind. 
All  that  seems  to  me  clear,  just  now,  is  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  rush  in 
at  the  beginning  of  the  canvass,  and  so  seem,  most  falsely,  to  fear  that  I  shall 
be  forgotten.  Later  in  the  canvass,  it  mav  be  seen  that  I  am  wanted  for  the 
public  interest.  Of  all  this  I  want  to  talk  with  you  quietly.  Alas,  that  it 
must  be  now  only  you  and  I.  Schoolcraft  has  gone !  I  will  stand  by  you,  so 
long  as  you  have  thought  or  heart  to  stand  by  even  one  of  our  good  friends, 
or  the  country. 

Early  in  August,  Seward  went  to  New  England.  After  a  visit  at 
Mr.  Evarts’  summer  home,  in  Windsor,  Vermont,  he  proceeded 
through  Newr  Hampshire  to  Maine.  Crowds  thronged  at  railway  sta¬ 
tions  to  greet  him.  The  inhabitants  of  various  towns,  with  their 
local  authorities,  received  him  with  addresses  of  welcome,  to  which  he 
suitably  responded.  His  journey  from  Windsor,  through  Bellows 
Falls,  Keene,  Dover,  and  Bangor  to  Portland,  was  a  series  of  such 
greetings.  At  Portland,  he  was  the  guest  of  his  old  friend  Israel 
Washburn. 

Arriving  at  Boston,  on  the  evening  of  a  long,  hot,  and  dusty  day  of 
travel,  he  was  met  at  the  depot  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  and  Henry 


4G0 


SPEECHES  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


[I860. 


Wilson,  and  a  reception  committee,  who  escorted  him  to  the  Revere 
House.  Here  a  large  assemblage  was  awaiting  his  coming.  Governor 
N.  P.  Banks  presented  him  to  the  people.  He  had  already  been  called 
out  seven  or  eight  times,  during  the  day,  on  the  train,  to  answer  ad¬ 
dresses  of  welcome.  He,  however,  responded  with  earnest  warmth. 
One  or  two  passages  in  this  speech  were  often  quoted  afterward. 
During  the  ensuing  year,  when  the  Massachusetts  troops  came  on  to 
the  defense  of  Washington,  some  of  them  asked  him  if  he  remembered 
saying,  in  this  speech:  “It  behooves  you,  solid  men  of  Boston,  if 
such  are  here,  and  if  the  solid  men  are  not  here,  then  the  lightermen 
of  Massachusetts,  to  bear  onward,  and  forward,  first  in  the  ranks, 
the  flag  of  freedom.”  Other  speeches  followed,  by  Henry  Wilson  and 
Charles  Francis  Adams;  and  it  was  after  midnight,  when  the  crowd 
dispersed.  A  day  was  spent  at  Quincy,  with  the  Adams  family,  and 
then  he  returned  homeward.  Numerous  demonstrations  of  respect 
greeted  him  at  various  towns  along  the  way. 

Invitations  now  began  to  pour  in  upon  him  from  different  States. 
Many  of  them  contained  expressions  implying  that  the  campaign  was 
not  proceeding  as  satisfactorily  as  the  writers  had  hoped,  but  that  they 
believed  his  presence  and  speeches  would  re-awaken  the  old  enthusiasm. 
He  signified  his  readiness  to  comply,  but  found  little  time  at  Auburn 
to  devote  to  the  necessary  study. 

A  pleasant  greeting  came  from  St.  Paul.  The  telegraph  had  just 
now  been  extended  into  Minnesota,  and  the  first  dispatch  over  the 
wires  was  this: 

St.  Paul,  August  29,  1 :45  P.  M. 

To  Governor  Seward,  Auburn,  N.  Y. : 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Winslow  we  are  enabled  to  send  this,  the  first 
dispatch  ever  transmitted  by  lightning  from  St.  Paul  to  East,  as  complimentary 
to  you. 

(Signed)  M.  S.  WILKINSON, 

AARON  GOODRICH. 

He  replied: 

Auburn,  August  29,  8 :  30  P.  4f. 

To  M.  S.  AVilkinson  and  A.  Goodrich:. 

You  have  grappled  New  York,  now  lay  hold  on  San  Francisco. 

(Signed)  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

* 

Toward  the  close  of  the  month  he  wrote  to  bis  son: 

I  set  out  for  the  West  on  Saturday  of  next  week ;  sleep  at  Niagara  and  spend 
Sunday  there.  Monday  morning  I  go  by  Grand  Trunk  railroad.  I  have  pre¬ 
pared  or  nearly  prepared  one  speech.  For  the  rest,  I  trust  to  the  inspiration 
of  the  moment.  I  shall  furnish  no  copies  for  the  press,  except  at  Detroit. 


I860.] 


THE  WESTERN  TOUR. 


461 


At  the  appointed  time  he  started,  accompanied  by  his  daughter 
Fanny,  with  her  friend,  Ellen  Perry,  and  Mr.  George  E.  Baker.  The 
party  grew  in  number  as  it  proceeded,  by  the  accession  of  General 
James  W.  Nye  and  his  daughter,  Charles  Francis  Adams  and  his  son, 
Oharles  F.  Adams,  jr.,  and  others. 

It  was  in  1860  that  the  young  men,  taking  a  hint  from  the  torch-light 
processions  of  the  volunteer  firemen,  first  organized  “  Wide-Awake  ” 
■clubs.  With  an  inexpensive  but  effective  equipment  of  glazed  cap  and 
■cape,  and  a  lighted  torch,  they  drilled  and  marched,  executing  manoeu¬ 
vres  with  military  precision  to  the  sound  of  martial  music.  It  was  a 
novelty  that  enlivened  the  tedium  of  speech-making,  and  drew  crowds 
to  attend  political  meetings,  that  otherwise  would  have  kept  aloof. 
The  custom,  thus  introduced  by  the  young  Republicans  in  1860,  has 
been  ever  since  continued  by  both  parties,  in  subsequent  Presidential 
■campaigns. 

At  every  step  in  this  Western  tour,  he  was  greeted  with  popular 
enthusiasm  and  hospitality.  Cannons,  brass  bands,  and  processions 
of  torch-bearing  “  Wide-Awakes  ”  seemed  to  be  awaiting  the  arrival 
of  the  special  car,  whenever  it  rolled  into  a  village.  In  the  large  cities 
the  receptions  became  veritable  ovations.  The  streets  were  lined  with 
dense,  crowds,  and  decked  with  lavish  displays  of  flags  and  mottoes, 
evergreens  and  flowers.  The  speeches  of  welcome  were  full  of  deep 
feeling.  At  Albion,  at  Lockport,  and  at  Niagara,  were  large  gather¬ 
ings.  At  Detroit  a  magnificent  torch-light  parade,  followed  b}^a  great 
meeting,  assembled  to  listen  to  his  address. 

This  Detroit  speech,  afterward  published  under  the  title  of  “  The 
National  Divergence  and  Return,”  contained  allusions  to  men  and 
parties  now  become  historical.  In  it  he  recounted  the  failure  of  the 
efforts  of  statesmen  during  forty  years  to  make  any  lasting  adjustment 
of  the  slavery  question.  “  John  Quincy  Adams,”  said  he,  “  the  purest 
and  wisest  statesman  I  ever  knew,  died  despairing  of  a  peaceful  solution 
of  the  problem.”  He  pointed  out  how  ill  success  had  attended  the 
attempts  of  Van  Buren,  Polk,  Pierce,  Buchanan,  in  the  White  House, 
while  like  ill  success  had  attended  the  labors  of  Calhoun,  Benton,  Clay, 
and  Webster  in  Congress,  showing  that  “the  difficulties  of  establishing 
a  satisfactory  policy  have  overtasked  even  our  most  eminent  statesmen. 
They  certainly  were  neither  incapable  nor  selfish  men.”  Nor  had 
political  parties  been  any  more  successful.  “  The  dashing,  unterrified, 
defiant,  Jackson  party,”  the  “generous,  though  not  unprejudiced, 
Whig  party,  that  so  often  re-combined  its  shattered  columns.”  the 
recent  “American  party,”  that  “  sprang  at  one  bound  from  ten  thou¬ 
sand  dark  chambers”  —  all  had  perished,  while  the  Democratic  party 


462 


IN  MICHIGAN. 


[1860. 


“  with  its  crew  divided,  as  the  hulk  breaks  in  two,  were  framing  rafts 
to  sustain  themselves  one  night  more  on  the  tempestuous  sea  of  na¬ 
tional  politics.”  He  added,  “  the  parties  of  our  country,  what  are  they,, 
but  ourselves,  the  people  of  the  country?  Thus  the  faults  of  past  Ad¬ 
ministrations,  and  the  responsibilities  for  existing  evils,  are  brought 
directly  home  to  yourselves,  and  myself,  and  to  the  whole  people.” 
He  narrated  how  the  nation  had  deviated  from  the  true  path  forty 
years,  adding  “Territory  after  Territory,  region  after  region,  not  merely 
neglecting  to  keep  slavery  out,  but  removing  the  barriers  against  it, 
which  we  found  standing.  In  doing  this,  we  have  defied  the  moral 
opinions  of  mankind,  overturned  the  laws  and  systems  of  our  fathers,, 
and  dishonored  their  memories.  My  humble  advice  then  is,  that  we 
return,  and  re-establish  the  original  policy  of  the  nation,  and  hence¬ 
forth  hold,  as  we  did  in  the  beginning,  that  freedom  is  the  normal,  en¬ 
during,  and  permanent  condition  of  society  in  the  United  States.” 

That  evening  came  a  great  procession  of  “Wide-Awakes  ”  from  the 
towns  on  the  lake-shore  and  in  the  interior  of  the  State.  The  streets 
in  front  of  Mr.  Chandler's  house  gleamed  and  shone  with  thousands 
of  torches.  Seward  was  called  to  the  balcony,  and  said: 

To-day  the  young  men  of  the  United  States  are  for  the  first  time  on  the  side 
of  freedom  against  slavery.  Go  on  then  and  do  your  work.  Put  this  great 
cause  into  the  keeping  of  your  great,  honest,  worthy  leader,  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Believe  me  sincere,  when  I  say,  that  if  it  had  devolved  upon  me  to  select  from 
all  the  men  in  the  United  States  a  man  to  whom  I  should  confide  the  standard 
of  this  cause  —  which  is  the  object  for  which  I  have  lived  and  labored,  and  for 
which  I  would  be  willing  to  die  —  that  man  would  have  been  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

At  DeWitt,  a  cavalcade  of  two  hundred  horsemen  met  and  escorted 
him  to  the  State  capital,  nine  miles  distant,  where  twenty  thousand 
people  were  assembled. 

One  of  the  incidents  of  the  gathering  at  Lansing  was  an  address  to 
him  by  the  students  of  the  State  Agricultural  College,  in  which  they 
said  they  had  learned  to  love  him  “  for  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
truth  and  humanity,  and  to  look  to  him  for  instruction  in  the  great 
principles  of  civil  liberty.  ”  Seward,  in  his  speech  at  the  Capitol,  saidr 

While  you  think  I  have  come  here  to  instruct  you,  I  have,  in  fact,  come  to 
complete  my  own  education.  I  wanted  to  see  for  myself  how  an  American 
State  is  planted,  organized,  perfected  —  I  see  it  all,  now,  and  here  before  me. 
*  *  *  All  future  States  shall  be  made  exactly  as  Michigan  was  made.  That 

process  is  to  keep  slavery  out  the  Territory,  wdiile  it  is  a  Territory,  and  then  it 
must  and  will  be  a  free  State  when  it  comes  to  be  a  State. 

Pushing  on,  after  a  brief  stay  at  Mr.  Hosmer’s,  he  next  visited  Jack- 


1S60.J 


SPEECHES  AND  WELCOMES. 


463 


son,  where  there  was  a  similar  assemblage.  It  was  past  midnight 
when  he  reached  Kalamazoo,  hut  the  whole  town  was  awake  and  a 
huge  bon-fire  blazing  in  the  square. 

All  parties  united  in  the  reception  at  Madison,  Wisconsin.  The 
State  and  city  authorities,  the  military  and  fire  companies,  and  the 
various  societies  met  him  at  the  station.  Chauncev  Abbott  welcomed 
him  in  behalf  of  the  city,  and  Governor  Randall,  in  behalf  of  the  State. 
Seward,  in  his  reply,  said: 

It  has  been  by  a  simple  rule  of  interpretation  that  I  have  studied  the  Con¬ 
stitution  of  my  country.  That  rule  has  been  —  that  by  no  word,  no  act,  no 
combination  into  which  I  might  enter,  should  any  human  being,  much  less  any 
class  of  human  beings,  of  any  nation,  race,  or  kindred,  be  repressed,  and  kept 
down  in  the  least  degree,  in  their  efforts  to  rise  to  a  higher  state  of  liberty  and 
happiness. 

Here  he  paused  a  couple  of  days,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Hopkins.  At 
the  great  meeting  he  spoke  from  the  steps  of  the  Capitol.  In  closing 
his  speech,  he  said: 

You  are  in  the  land  which  produces  the  wheat  and  the  corn,  the  cereal 
grains  —  the  land  that  is  covered  with  the  oak,  and  where  the  slave  cannot 
live.  I  speak  to  you  because  I  feel  that  I  am,  and  during  all  my  mature  life 
have  been,  one  of  you.  Although  of  New  York,  I  am  still  a  citizen  of  the 
North-west.  The  North-west  extends  eastward  to  the  base  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains,  and  does  not  all  of  Western  New  York  lie  westward  of  the  Alle¬ 
ghany  mountains?  Whence  comes  all  the  inspiration  of  “Free  Soil”  which 
spreads  itself  with  such  cheerful  voices  over  all  these  plains?  Why,  from  New 
York  westward  of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  The  people  before  me  —  who 
are  you  but  New  York  men,  while  you  are  men  of  the  North-west? 

At  this  point,  a  large  number  of  voices  in  the  audience  responded, 
indicating  the  different  counties  in  New  Yrork  from  which  they  had  emi¬ 
grated, —  “Cayuga,”  “  Genesee,”  “  Yates,”  “Seneca,”  “Ontario,” 
etc.,  so  that  Seward  remarked: 

Why,  I  thought  I  was  midway  between  the  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi,  but  I 
find  I  am  at  home,  among  old  neighbors  and  friends. 

Reaching  the  Mississippi  river,  the  party  embarked  at  Prairie-du 
Chien  upon  a  steamboat  for  St.  Paul.  The  journey  up  the  river 
was,  however,  several  times  arrested,  in  order  to  comply  with  the 
washes  of  the  people  of  the  various  towns  along  its  banks,  all 
of  whom  seemed  eager  to  see  him  and  hear  him.  At  La  Crosse, 
although  it  was  early  in  the  morning,  a  great  procession  was  waiting 
to  receive  him  on  landing,  and  escort  him  to  the  grounds  of  the  Turn- 
verein.  Among  other  things,  he  said  here: 

We  see  and  hear  abundant  evidences  that  we  are  after  all  not  separate  and  dis- 


464 


AT  ST.  PAUL. 


[1860. 


tinct  peoples  —  not  distinct  peoples  of  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  New  York,  and  Mas¬ 
sachusetts,  but  that  we  are  one  people.  It  is  an  assurance  that  enables  us  to 
trample  under  our  feet  every  menace  of  disunion. 

During  the  following  day,  the  boat  was  repeatedly  stopped  at  differ¬ 
ent  landings,  in  order  that  the  populace  gathered  on  the  shore  might 
see  and  greet  him  with  their  enthusiastic  salutations,  to  which  he 
would  reply  by  a  brief  address  to  them  from  the  upper  deck.  A  re¬ 
ception  committee  from  St.  Paul  met  him  at  one  of  these  landings, 
and  accompanied  him  to  their  city.  It  was  Sunday  morning  when 
they  arrived,  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  proceed  quietly  to  the  house  of 
Colonel  Oaks,  and  rest  there.  Monday  morning  was  devoted  to  an 
excursion  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  and  Minnehaha.  It  was  even¬ 
ing  when  they  returned  to  St.  Paul.  Thousands  of  “  Wide-Awakes  ” 
and  citizens  had  assembled  in  front  of  the  hotel,  to  give  him  welcome 
and  a  serenade.  An  artillery  salute  was  fired,  and  then  Judge  Good¬ 
rich,  coming  out  with  Seward  on  the  balcony,  presented  him  to  the 
people,  in  an  enthusiastic  speech. 

The  following  day  witnessed  an  assemblage  in  front  of  the  Capitol, 
which,  as  one  of  those  present  described  it,  “  seemed  to  be  a  gather¬ 
ing  of  the  people  of  the  whole  State.”  John  W.  North  made  the  in¬ 
troductory  speech.  Seward’s  speech  on  this  occasion  is  one  of  the 
best  remembered  of  his  efforts.  It  was  an  embodiment  of  the  thoughts 
which  had  come  to  him  during  the  varied  scenes  of  this  journey,  and 
was  made  with  more  than  usual  animation  and  fervor. 

Ilis  words  were  caught  up  and  echoed  with  enthusiastic  cheers  by 
the  dense  throng  around  him.  Of  the  scene  around  him  he  said: 

I  find  myself  now,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  highlands  in  the  center  of  the 
continent,  equi-distant  from  the  waters  of  Hudson’s  Bay,  and  the  Gulf  of  Mex¬ 
ico,  from  the  Atlantic  ocean,  to  the  ocean  in  which  the  sun  sets  —  here  on  the 
spot  where  spring  up,  almost  side  by  side,  the  two  great  rivers  of  the  conti¬ 
nent.  Here  is  the  central  place  where  the  agriculture  of  the  richest  regions  of 
North  America  must  begin  its  magnificent  supplies  to  the  whole  world. 

It  was  in  this  speech  that  he  made  the  prediction,  afterward  real¬ 
ized  by  the  Alaska  Treaty: 

Standing  here  and  looking  far  off  into  the  North-west,  I  see  the  Russian  as 
lie  busily  occupies  himself  in  establishing  sea-ports,  and  towns,  and  fortifica¬ 
tions  on  the  verge  of  this  continent  as  the  outposts  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  I 
can  say:  “Go  on,  and  build  up  your  outposts  all  along  the  coast,  up  even  to 
the  Arctic  ocean — they  will  yet  become  the  outposts  of  my  own  country  — 
monuments  of  the  civilization  of  the  United  States  in  the  North-west.” 

The  leading  idea  of  the  speech,  and  that  which  the  argument  illus¬ 
trated  and  enforced,  was  this: 


1-S60.] 


IN  IOWA  AND  MISSOURI. 


405 


The  government  established  here  has  only  one  vital  principle.  All  others  are 
resolved  into  it.  That  one  principle —  what  is  it?  It  is  the  equality  of  every 
man  who  is  a  member  of  the  State  to  be  governed. 

Finally  lie  stated  the  responsibility  resting  upon  his  hearers: 

Therefore  it  is  I  enjoin  upon  you  all  to  regard  yourselves  as  men  who,  al¬ 
though  you  have  achieved  the  victory  and- are  entitled,  even  now,  it  seems,  to 
laurels,  are  nevertheless  enlisted  for  the  war  and  for  your  natural  lives.  You 
are  committed  to  maintain  the  great  policy  until  it  shall  have  been  so  firmly 
established  in  the  hearts  and  wills  and  affections  of  the  American  people  that 
there  shall  never  be  again  a  departure  from  it.  We  look  to  you  of  the  North¬ 
west  to  finally  decide  whether  this  is  to  be  a  land  of  slavery  or  freedom. 

Another  serenade  and  torch-light  procession  came  in  the  evening  — 
this  time  composed  of  Germans.  Early  on  the  following  morning  he 
reembarked  on  the  steamboat,  and  proceeded  down  the  river  to  Du¬ 
buque,  Iowa.  It  was  nearly  midnight  when  he  reached  Dubuque,  but 
there  was  an  eager  throng  at  the  wharf;  the  cannon  were  in  readi¬ 
ness,  and  the  te  Wide-Awakes  ”  had  their  torches  trimmed  and  burn¬ 
ing.  Mr.  Allison  made  the  speech  of  welcome,  and  Seward  duly  re¬ 
sponded.  The  following  day  the  people  again  gathered  in  the  public 
square  to  listen  to  hiln.  In  this  speech  he  closed  with  the  significant 
warning: 

Nature  herself  seems  to  be  forbearing;  she  seems  to  be  passive  and  silent. 
She  lets  nations,  as  she  lets  individuals,  go  on  in  their  course  of  action,  violat¬ 
ing  laws.  But  this  is  for  a  season  only.  The  time  comes  at  last  when  Nature 
unerringly  vindicates  every  right,  and  punishes  every  wrong  in  the  actions  of 
men  or  States.  She  comes  then  in  terror,  in  revolution,  in  anarchy,  in  chaos. 
You  will  let  this  Government  and  this  nation  slide  down  still  further  the 
smooth  declivity  of  national  vice  if  you  choose.  Nature  will  bring  it  back 
again  in  due  time  with  convulsions  which  will  wake  the  sighs  and  groans  of 
the  civilized  world. 

It  had  now  been  decided  to  prolong  the  tour  and  go  into  Kansas, 
from  whence  had  come  so  many  earnest  invitations.  His  party  trav¬ 
eled  rapidly  through  Illinois,  receiving  popular  greetings  at  each  im¬ 
portant  place.  At  Quincy,  after  a  warm  and  cordial  reception,  he 
crossed  the  Mississippi  river,  and  then  for  the  first  time  on  this  trip, 
entered  a  slave  State.  Missouri  was  understood  to  regard  the  Republi¬ 
cans  with  little  favor.  Her  political  contest  was  only  between  Dem¬ 
ocrats  and  “  Americans.”  Nevertheless,  the  travelers  were  cour¬ 
teously  received,  and  hospitably  entertained.  At  Brookfield,  a  colla¬ 
tion  was  in  waiting;  and  from  Chillicothe  came  an  urgent  request  to 
make  a  speech  there,  as  the  people  had  a  curiosity  to  see  him,  although 
as  the  committee  frankly  acknowledged,  they,  as  well  as  the  audience 
30 


466 


RECEPTION  IN  KANSAS. 


[1860. 


assembled,  were  “pro-slavery  men.”  Seward  consented,  and  spoke 
briefly,  in  a  good-humored  strain,  from  the  platform  of  the  car.  In 
the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said: 

I  know  Mr.  Bell,  Mr.  Douglas,  and  Mr.  Breckinridge;  I  have,  however,  not 
a  word  to  say  against  either  of  them.  They  are  good  personal  friends  of  mine, 
of  whom  I  always  speak  well,  and  I  hope  they  always  speak  well  of  me.  But 
I  cannot  make  up  my  choice  in  favor  of  either  of  them.  From  the  variety 
of  banners  and  mottoes  around  me,  I  think  you  yourselves  are  in  the  same 
quandary.  What  then  would  you  say,  if  I  should  propose  to  you  to  agree  on 
my  candidate,  Abraham  Lincoln  ?  ” 

Before  he  had  concluded,  the  whistle  blew,  and  the  train  moved  off, 
amid  “cheers  for  Seward,”  and  then  for  Douglas,  Bell,  and  Breckin¬ 
ridge.  At  St.  Joseph,  however,  on  the  Kansas  border,  Rejniblicanism 
was  found  to  have  a  following' and  a  foothold.  It  was  late  on  Satur¬ 
day  night  when  he  arrived,  but  an  enthusiastic  reception  and  torch¬ 
light  procession  awaited  him.  He  spoke  from  the  balcony  of  the 
hotel.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said: 

The  principle  that  every  man  ought  to  be  the  owner  of  the  soil  that  he 
cultivates,  and  the  owner  of  the  limbs  and  the  head  that  he  applies  to  that 
culture,  has  been  adopted  in  some  of  the  States  earlier  than  in  others ;  and 
where  it  was  adopted  earliest,  it  has  worked  out  the  fruits  of  higher  enter¬ 
prise,  of  greater  prosperity.  Where  it  has  not  been  adopted,  enterprise  and 
industry  have  languished  in  proportion.  But  it  is  going  through;  it  is  bound 
to  go  through.  (A  voice  —  “  It’s  not  going  through  here!”)  Yes!  here!  As 
it  has  already  gone  th rough  eighteen  States  of  the  Union,  so  it  is  bound  to  go 
through  all  of  the  other  fifteen.  It  is  bound  to  go  through  all  of  the  thirty- 
three  States  of  the  Union,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  going  through  the 
world. 

At  various  points  on  the  Missouri  river,  as  the  steamer  passed,  he 
was  saluted  with  cheers,  by  the  people  gathered  at  the  landings.  At 
Leavenworth,  he  stepped,  for  the  first  time,  upon  the  soil  of  Kansas, 
amid  the  firing  of  cannons,  and  the  acclamations  of  the  people.  The 
procession  that  escorted  him  to  the  hotel  had  as  a  notable  feature, 
all  the  mechanics  of  the  city,  bearing  their  various  implements.  A.  C. 
Wilder,  who  made  the  speech  of  welcome,  spoke  of  him  as  “the  Rep¬ 
resentative  of  Kansas,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.” 

In  his  reply,  Seward  remarked  that  at  his  entrance  into  Kansas,  he 
found  two  symbols  of  the  spirit  of  the  people.  The  one  was  “the 
cannon  which  was  booming  on  the  hill  near  by.”  He  had  heard  that 
it  was  captured  by  the  “Free  State”  men,  during  the  struggle  for 
free  institutions.  Another,  was  the  organization  of  the  “  Wide- 
Awakes”  whom  he  saw  around  him,  “not  in  the  customary  costume 
of  that  body,  but  as  an  army  of  free-laboring  men  ”  —  carpenters. 


I860.] 


IN  KANSAS. 


46? 


masons,  and  mechanics  of  all  kinds  —  who  had  come  out  in  their 
working  clothes,  with  their  tools  of  all  kinds,  in  a  body,  to  welcome 

him. 

On  the  road  to  Lawrence,  the  localities  of  different  encounters  were 
passed.  Governor  Robinson  met  the  party,  and  drove  with  them, 
pointing  out  here  and  there  a  log  hut,  or  a  pile  of  stones,  marking  the 
scene  of  a  battle  or  murder.  At  one  place,  he  showed  where  the 
ground  was  covered  with  fragments  of  bricks;  it  was  the  former  site 
of  his  own  house,  burned  at  the  time  of  the  troubles. 

At  one  o’clock,  a  procession  formed,  and  escorted  Seward  into  Law¬ 
rence,  on  his  return  from  Topeka,  Lecompton,  and  the  surrounding 
country.  There  were  no  handsome  carriages,  though  a  number  of 
rough  wagons;  but  the  chief  feature  consisted  of  a  great  number  of 
men  on  horseback.  As  soon  as  the  gathered  crowd  was  hushed  to 
silence,  Major  Deitzler  made  a  warm-hearted  speech  of  welcome. 
Governor  Robinson  followed,  saying: 

The  freemen  of  Kansas,  they  are  here,  in  person,  from  every  county  and 
hamlet,  and  they  bid  me  give  you  words  of  welcome.  In  1854,  on  the  floor 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  you  accepted  the  challenge  of  the  slave 
power,  in  these  memorable  words:  “Come  on,  then,  gentlemen  of  the  slave 
States,  since  there  is  no  escaping  your  challenge,  I  accept  it  in  behalf  of  Free¬ 
dom  !  We  will  engage  in  competition  for  the  virgin  soil  of  Kansas,  and  God 
give  the  victory  to  the  side  that  is  stronger  in  numbers,  as  it  is  in  right!  ” 

Six  years  have  elapsed,  and  to-day  we  present  you  Kansas,  free,  to  grace 
your  triumph,  with  a  Constitution  adopted  by  her  people,  without  a  stain  of 
slavery  to  mar  its  beauty.  In  behalf  of  those  who  battled  for  freedom,  on  the 
soil  of  Kansas,  I  welcome  you,  as  their  champion  and  defender,  their  deliverer 
from  despotic  rule. 

Such  a  reception,  amid  such  surroundings,  touched  and  thrilled 
every  heart.  Seward,  in  response,  said: 

I  have  visited  your  chief  cities,  Leavenworth  and  Lawrence;  I  have  aiso 
looked  upon  that  beautiful  eminence  on  the  banks  of  the  Kansas  river,  where 
Lecompton  sits  a  lonely  widow,  desolate,  and  mourning  her  ambitions. 
When  I  look  at  field  after  field,  and  cabin  after  cabin,  and  church  after  church, 
and  school-house  after  school-house,  where  but  six  years  ago  was  the  unbroken 
range  of  savages,  I  am  prepared  here  to  declare,  and  do  declare,  you  people 
of  Kansas,  the  most  intelligent,  and  the  bravest,  and  the  most  virtuous  people 
of  the  United  States.  That  is  the  most  intelligent,  and  bravest,  and  most 
virtuous  people,  which  can  take  the  banner  of  human  freedom,  when  it  is 
trailed  in  the  dust,  by  the  Government  of  their  choice,  and  can  and  does 
raise  it  aloft,  and  protect  it,  and  bear  it  to  success  and  honor.  Henceforth,  if 
my  confidence  in  the  stability  of  the  American  Union  wavers,  I  shall  come 
here  to  learn  that  the  Union  is  stronger  than  human  ambition,  because  it  is 
founded  on  the  affection  of  the  American  people. 


468 


MEETING  WITH  LINCOLN"  AT  SPRINGFIELD. 


[1860. 


At  Atchison  was  another  reception.  The  streets  filled  with  arches 
and  flowers,  a  dinner,  a  procession,  speeches,  etc.  One  arch,  formed 
of  oak-houghs,  bore  the  inscription,  “  Welcome  to  Seward,  the  De¬ 
fender  of  Kansas  and  of  Freedom!  ”  The  houses  in  the  city  were- 
covered  with  festoons  made  of  oak-leaves.  He  was  received  by  the 
Mayor,  under  a  banner  bearing  the  motto,  “  The  Subduers  are  Them¬ 
selves  Subdued.” 

Returning  by  way  of  St.  Louis,  Seward,  in  reply  to  a  friendly  greet¬ 
ing  of  the  St.  Louis  people,  took  a  friend's  privilege  to  tell  them  their 
faults: 

“Here,”  said  he,  “are  the  people  of  Missouri,  who  ask  me  to  make  a  speech, 
and  at  the  same  time  have  laws  regulating  what  I  shall  say.  The  first  duty 
that  you  owe  to  your  city  and  to  yourselves  is  to  repeal  and  abrogate  every 
law  on  your  statute-book  that  prohibits  a  man  from  saying  what,  his  honest 
judgment,  and  sentiment,  and  heart  tell  him  is  the  truth.  Though  I  have 
said  these  hard  things  about  the  State  of  Missouri,  I  have  no  hard  sentiments 
for  it,  or  St.  Louis,  for  I  have  great  faith  and  hope —  nav  absolute  trust  — in 
Providence  and  the  American  people.  I  have  full  trust  that  it  will  come  all 
right  in  the  end.  Therefore,  I  finish  as  I  began,  by  exhorting,  you  to  secure 
freedom  of  speech.  That  once  gained,  all  other  freedom  shall  be  added 
thereto.” 

His  plain  speaking  was  received  with  good  humor  and  cheers. 
Some  of  his  auditors  indeed  assured  him,  that,  however  it  might  be- 
elsewhere  in  the  State,  m  the  city  “the  laws  against  free  speech  were 
a  dead  letter  —  and  that  St.  Louis  was  already  a  free  city  —  as  free  as 
Boston.” 

Early  on  Monday  morning,  the  homeward  journey  was  resumed 
through  Illinois.  About  noon  the  train  reached  Springfield,  the  home 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Here  in  the  midst  of  the  gathering  of  people, 
were  seen  the  tall  forms  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Judge  Trumbull.  Cordial 
greetings  were  exchanged  between  them  and  Seward,  amid  the  cheer¬ 
ing  of  the  crowd  and  the  firing  of  cannon.  The  three  then  stood  to¬ 
gether  on  the  platform  of  the  car,  while  Seward  made  a  brief  speech 
of  acknowledgment.  He  said: 

If  there  is,  in  any  part  of  the  country,  a  deeper  interest  felt  in  his  election 
than  there  is  in  any  other  part,  it  must,  of  course,  be  here,  where  he  has  lived 
a  life  of  usefulness,  where  he  is  surrounded  by  the  companions  of  his  labors, 
and  of  his  public  services.  We  are  happy  to  report  to  you,  although  we  have 
traveled  over  a  large  part  of  the  country,  we  have  found  no  doubtful  States. 
You  would  naturally  expect  that  I  should  say  something  about  the  State  of 
New  York.  The  State  of  New  York  will  give  a  generous,  and  cheerful,  and 
effective  support  to  your  neighbor,  Abraham  Lincoln.  She  voted  to  establish 
this  a  land  of  freedom  for  you  in  1787.  She  sustained  the  ordinance  of  ’87 


I860.] 


AT  SPRINGFIELD  AND  IN  CHICAGO. 


469 


till  you  were  able  to  take  care  of  yourselves.  Among  the  first  acts  of  her 
government,  she  abolished  shivery  for  herself.  She  will  sustain  your  distin¬ 
guished  neighbor,  because  she  knows  he  is  true  to  this  great  principle,  and 
when  she  has  helped  to  elect  him,  by  giving  him  as  large  a  majority  as  can  be 
given  by  any  half  dozen  other  States,  then  you  will  find  that  she  will  ask  less, 
exact  less  from  him,  and  support  him  more  faithfully  than  any  other  State  can 
do.  That  is  the  way  she  did  with  John  Quincy  Adams;  that  is  the  way  she 
sustained  General  Taylor,  and  that  is  the  way  she  will  sustain  Abraham  Lin¬ 
coln. 

Of  the  twenty  minutes  stay  at  Springfield,  the  greetings,  the  recep¬ 
tion,  the  speech,  the  introduction  and  hand-shaking  engrossed  the 
whole,  except  a  few  moments  devoted  to  a  hasty  private  conference 
in  regard  to  the  political  situation.  The  train  then  bore  Seward  on 
his  way. 

When  he  reached  Chicago,  at  seven  in  the  evening,  a  multitude 
thronged  the  streets,  and  a  procession,  with  music  and  torch-lights, 
attended  him  to  the  hotel,  through  a  feu-de-joie  of  fireworks  and 
cannon.  The  acclamations  were  renewed,  when  he  appeared  on  the 
balcony  of  the  hotel,  with  Mayor  Wentworth,  and  redoubled  when 
the  speeches  of  welcome  and  response  had  been  exchanged.  During 
the  night,  the  railways  and  steamboats  were  hourly  adding  fresh 
comers  to  the  multitude  in  that  city.  They  had  come  to  “see  and 
hear  Seward;  ”  but  for  most  of  them,  while  the  seeing  was  practicable, 
the  hearing  was  impossible;  for  no  human  voice  could  reach  them  all. 
While  he  was  speaking  in  the  open  square,  General  Nye  and  Mr. 
Lovejoy  were  also  addressing  the  other  portions  of  the  dense  throng. 
His  speech  was  long  and  elaborate  —  an  exposition  of  what  he  called 
“the  National  Idea.” 

It  is  a  national  faith,  the  one  life-sustaining,  of  the  American  Republic,  that 
civilization  is  to  be  maintained,  and  carried  on,  upon  this  continent,  by  Fed¬ 
eral  States  based  upon  principles  of  Free  Soil,  Free  Labor,  Free  Speech,  Equal 
Rights,  and  Universal  Suffrage  ! 

An  episode  was  this  reminiscence  of  John  Brown; 

The  first  and  only  time  I  ever  saw  him  was  when  he  called  upon  me  after 
the  abrogation  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  asked  me  what  I  thought  of 
the  future  ?  I  said  I  was  disappointed  and  saddened  —  I  would  persevere ; 
but  it  was  against  hope. 

He  said,  “  Cheer  up,  Governor;  the  people  of  Kansas  will  not  accept  slavery; 
Kansas  wfill  never  be  a  slave  State.” 

I  took  then  a  deliberate  survey  of  the  broad  field.  I  saw  that  the  time  had 
come  when  men,  and  women,  and  children  were  departing  from  their  homes  in 
the  Eastern  States,  and  were  followed,  or  attended  by  men,  women,  and  chil¬ 
dren  from  European  nations  —  all  of  them  crowded  out,  by  the  pressure  in  the 


470 


NEW  YORK  AND  THE  WEST. 


[I860. 


older  parts  of  the  world;  and  all  making  their  way  even  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi.  I  knew  that  these  emigrants  were  planting  a  town  every  day ;  and 
a  State  every  three  years.  Heedless  and  unconcerned  as  they  were,  thinking 
only  of  provision  for  their  immediate  wants,  shelter  and  lands  to  till  in  the 
West  —  I  knew  an  interest,  yet  unknown  to  themselves,  which  they  would 
have,  when  they  should  get  here;  and  that  was  that  they  should  own  the  land 
themselves  —  that  slaves  should  not  come  into  competition  with  them  here. 
So,  as  they  passed  by  me,  steamboat  load  after  steamboat  load,  and  railroad 
train  after  railroad  train,  though  they  were  the  humblest,  and  perhaps  the  least 
educated,  and  least  trained  portion  of  the  communities  from  which  they  had 
come,  I  knew  that  they  had  the  instinct  of  interest,  and  below  and  deeper  than 
that,  the  better  instinct  of  justice.  And  I  said,  I  will  trust  these  men;  I  will 
trust  these  exiles;  my  faith  and  reliance  henceforth  is  on  the  poor,  not  on  the 
rich,  on  the  humble,  not  on  the  great.  I  was  even  painfully  disappointed  at 
first,  in  seeing  that  the  emigrants  to  the  West  had  no  more  consciousness  of 
their  interest  in  this  question,  when  they  had  arrived  here,  than  they  had  in 
their  native  countries.  The  Irishman  who  had  struggled  against  oppression 
in  his  own  country,  failed  me;  the  German  seemed  at  first  —  but  thank  God 
not  long — dull  and  unconscious  of  the  duty  that  had  devolved  upon  him. 
Nevertheless,  I  said  that  the  interest  and  instincts  of  these  people  would  ulti¬ 
mately  bring  them  out;  and  when  the  States  which  they  found  and  rear  and 
fortify  shall  apply  for  admission  into  the  Union,  they  will  come,  not  as  slave 
States,  but  as  free  States.  And  to-day  I  see  the  very  realization  of  it  all. 

The  ovation  did  not  end  until  late  at  night;  and  then,  with  a  ser¬ 
enade,  and  a  huge  procession  of  “  Wide-Awakes.’’  All  the  way  home, 
enthusiastic  greetings  seemed  to  be  awaiting  him.  At  Cleveland,  ho 
paused  long  enough  to  address  the  citizens  in  their  public  park.  At 
Erie,  Pennsylvania,  he  made  another  brief  speech.  When  he  reached 
Buffalo,  where  he  was  to  remain  over  night,  and  the  brilliant  torches 
and  loud  shouts  of  the  “Wide-Awakes”  called  him  out  to  speak,  he 
said: 

Having  seen  many  States,  I  am  back  to  New  York  prouder  of  her,  and 
prouder  that  I  belong  to  her.  I  have  found,  all  along  the  shores  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  along  the  banks  of  the  great  rivers,  and  even  at  the  foot  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  children  of  the  State  of  New  York,  almost  as  numerous  as  at  home. 
Wiscousin,  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Kansas  are  all  daughters  of  New  York. 
So  is  California.  More  States  have  been  formed  under  her  auspices,  than  there 
were  at  the  beginning  of  the  Union.  It  was  a  son  of  New  York  who  first 
applied  steam  to  locomotion;  a  citizen  of  New  York,  and  its  chief  magistrate, 
who  began  and  perfected  the  Erie  canal,  and  over  that  route,  the  stream  of  emi¬ 
gration  has  flowed  which  has  founded  new  States.  New  York  has  built  the 
W  est. 

The  eventful  five  weeks’  tour  ended  on  Saturday  night,  October  6, 
when  he  reached  his  home  at  Auburn.  There  he  related  to  his  towns¬ 
men  the  story  of  his  journey.  He  added: 


I860.] 


THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES. 


471 


These  are  my  travels.  You  will  ask  me,  “  What  have  you  seen?  What  have 
you  learned?"  I  have  seen  a  great  nation,  a  greater  nation  than  I  saw  last 
year,  although  I  traveled  the  Old  World  from  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  —  a  greater  nation  than  has  existed  in  ancient  or  modern  times. 

He  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln: 

Auburn,  October  8,  18G0. 

We  arrived  here  on  Saturday  night,  and  I  find  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this 
State  will  redeem  all  the  promises  we  have  made. 

Hoping  and  trusting  firmly  in  your  success  with  the  cause, 

I  am,  etc.,  etc. 

On  the  following  day,  he  wrote  to  his  son  at  Albany: 

Auburn,  October  9,  1860. 

I  have  accepted  the  Governor’s  invitation  to  dine  with  Lord  Renfrew,  and 
shall  be  at  your  house  to  stay,  arriving  in  the  last  train  on  the  15th. 

The  guest  whom  he  was  to  meet  at  the  Governor’s  was  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  A  year  or  two  before,  when  Lord  Napier  and  Seward,  at 
Washington,  Avere  in  conversation  upon  the  best  methods  of  maintain¬ 
ing  and  increasing  friendly  feeling  between  the  people  of  the  two 
countries,  Seward  remarked  that  nothing  would  do  more  to  promote 
it  than  a  visit  to  America  by  the  Queen  herself.  But  this,  of  course, 
Avould  be  impracticable.,  Young  princes,  however,  as  a  part  of  their 
education,  are  frequently  traveling,  and  he  expressed  a  belief  that  a 
visit  from  the  Prince  of  Wales,  or  any  of  his  brothers  would  be  fraught 
with  good  results.  It  was  a  question  about  which  experienced  diplo¬ 
matists  might  Avell  hesitate,  for  no  member  of  the  Royal  Family  had 
yet  tried  the  experiment  of  a  visit  to  the  States  that  were  former 
British  colonies.  Whether  such  a  visit  might  not  be  misconstrued  — 
might  not  even  re-waken  old  Revolutionary  animosities  against  “the 
Crown,”  and  ancient  hatred  of  “John  Bull  ” — AA^ere  points  to  be  con¬ 
sidered.  Seward,  hoAvever,  was  confident  that  such  a  friendly  over¬ 
ture  would  be  not  only  understood,  but  appreciated.  When  in  1860, 
the  visit  was  determined  upon,  it  Avas  deemed  proper  to  a\'oid  any 
offense  to  Republican  prejudices,  as  well  as  all  troublesome  etiquette, 
by  announcing  that  the  Prince  Avould  travel  incog.  — as  “  Lord  Ren¬ 
frew.”  But  the  Americans,  while  Avilling  to  call  him  by  such  title  as 
he  might  prefer,  were  ready  to  receive  him  and  welcome  him  as  what  he 
was,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  so  the  representative  of  the  British  na¬ 
tion.  During  his  Avhole  tour,  they  met  and  treated  him,  if  not  with 
courtly  ceremony,  at  least  Avitli  hearty  good-Avill  and  enthusiasm.  It 
was  a  pleasing  episode  in  the  midst  of  the  gathering  political  storm, 
which  was  alienating  men  and  parties  from  each  other,  to  find  one 


472 


THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES. 


[lSt>0. 


gleam  of  sunshine,  that  all  shared  in  common  —  in  their  memories  of 
the  Mother  Country,  and  their  hospitality  toward  its  youthful  heir- 
apparent. 

The  Prince  was  accompanied  by  the  newly-appointed  British  Minis¬ 
ter,  Lord  Lyons,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  the  Earl  of  St.  Germains, 
Major-General  Robert  Bruce  (whose  brother  was  afterward  Minister 
to  the  LTnited  States),  Dr.  Acland,  Major  Teesdale,  Captain  Gray, 
Lord  Hinchingbrooke,  Hon.  Charles  Elliot,  Mr.  Engleheart,  Mr.  Bro- 
die,  Mr.  Warre,  and  Mr.  Archibald,  H.  B.  M.’s  Consul  in  New  York. 
Coming  down  from  the  North,  their  latest  scene  of  travel,  they 
stopped  over  night  at  Albany.  Governor  Morgan's  dinner  com¬ 
prised  the  members  of  the  Royal  Party,  the  Mayor  of  Albany,  the 
Governor’s  family,  his  Secretaries  and  Staff.  The  dinner  was  followed 
by  an  informal  reception  of  some  of  the  more  prominent  people  of  the 
city. 

Seward  hastened  back  to  Auburn,  for  there  was  little  time  to  spare 
from  the  active  work  of  the  campaign.  Invitations  and  urgent  en¬ 
treaties  to  speak  at  political  meetings  came  by  every  mail.  Hardly  a 
week  was  allowed  him  for  rest,  after  his  fatiguing  Western  trip,  before 
he  was  again  “on  the  stump”  in  his  own  State.  He  spoke  at  Lyons, 
Binghamton,  Fredonia,  Seneca  Falls,  and  other  places.  At  Seneca 
Falls,  he  startled  his  hearers  by  this  opening: 

This  Republic  of  ours  is  in  a  crisis,  and  I,  for  one,  confess,  as  I  believe  it  to 
be  true,  that  if  this  Republic  passes  safely  through  this  crisis,  it  takes  assurance 
of  long  endurance  —  practically  of  immortality;  and  if  it  fails  to  pass  safely 
through  this  crisis,  it  will  languish  and  die. 

In  fact,  as  the  canvass  progressed,  the  greatness  of  the  crisis  had 
grown  more  manifest.  All  the  political  parties  were  vigorously  and 
energetically  at  work.  The  leading  men  of  each  organization  were 
speaking  to  excited  audiences.  Douglas  himself  was  traveling  from 
point  to  point,  earnestly  advocating  his  own  principles  and  candidates. 
Breckinridge  had  the  leading  political  orators  of  the  South  almost 
unitedly  in  his  behalf.  Chase,  Hale,  Sumner,  Adams,  Giddings, 
Wade,  Stevens,  Sherman,  Wilson,  Banks,  were  addressing  Republican 
gatherings  with  spirit  and  effect.  It  was  beginning  to  be  already  evi¬ 
dent  that  Breckinridge  would  receive  the  bulk  of  the  Southern  vote 
—  that  Bell  and  Douglas  might  get  some  of  the  “Border  States,” 
and  that  New  England  and  the  North-west  would  be  carried  by  the 
Republicans.  The  October  elections  in  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana 
showed  that  they  might  also  join  the  Republican  column.  So  the 
turning  point  of  the  contest  would  be  New  York.  Redoubled  effort 
was,  therefore,  made,  on  both  sides,  to  carry  “the  Empire  State.” 


I860.] 


IN  NEW  YORK. 


473 


The  supporters  of  Douglas,  Bell  and  Breckinridge  coalesced,  and 
made  a  “  Fusion  ”  electoral  ticket;  doubtless  with  the  understanding 
that  if  chosen,  the  electors  would  vote  for  whichever  of  the  three  they 
could  elect.  It  was  a  formidable  combination  of  elements,  which  the 
Republicans  hitherto  had  defeated  separately,  but  had  never  encoun¬ 
tered  as  a  united  whole.  l(  Disunion  ”  was  again  a  subject  of  alarm. 
Southern  menaces  were  supplemented  by  the  fears  of  merchants  and 
business  men  in  the  great  commercial  center.  Financial  panic  spread 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  thence  to  other  cities,  paralyzing  and 
arresting  trade.  Naturally,  these  alarms  encouraged  the  hopes  and 
strengthened  the  ranks  of  the  “  Fusionists.”  Seward^s  incessant 
labors  had,  by  this  time,  brought  on  a  fever,  which  threatened  to 
assume  a  typhoid  form.  But  he  still  kept  up.  Replying  to  an 
earnest  request  to  come  to  the  city  to  speak,  he  wrote  to  Weed : 

Auburn,  Oct.  19. 

My  engagements  come  so  that  I  could  only  be  in  New  York  on  November  2, 
no  other  day.  I  have  new  and  urgent  invitations  from  there.  But  I  have 
written  Draper  that  you  will  decide,  whether  I  go  on  that  day.  I  write  thus, 
supposing  that  you  may  be  at  Albany,  so  that  you  may  telegraph  to  him  if 
necessary. 

When  he  reached  New  York,  he  found  that  arrangements  had  been 
made  for  him  to  speak  at  the  Palace  Garden.  There,  on  the  evening 
of  the  2d,  a  great  audience  was  awaiting  him.  He  opened  his  speech 
by  reverting  to  the  early  history  of  the  city,  aqd  its  political  struggles. 
He  showed  how  its  commercial  supremacy  was  developed  and  main¬ 
tained  through  wise  statesmanship,  and  the  adoption  of  just  principles 
in  regard  to  human  rights.  As  New  York  would  not  have  achieved 
greatness  in  its  past,  so  neither  could  its  greatness  be  maintained  in 
the  future,  except  by  adherence-  to  these  principles.  “  Slavery  does 
not  build  up  great  States  and  great  cities  —  freedom  does.” 

In  early  life  I  made  a  pilgrimage  to  see  whether  it  was  not  true  that 
New  Orleans  was  to  supersede  and  supplant  New  York,  as  the  seat  of  com¬ 
merce  on  this  continent.  I  found  that  New  York  was  increasing  in  a  ratio  of 
such  magnitude,  that  when  New  Orleans  would  have  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
New  York  would  have  a  million  and  a  half.  Shall  I  tell  you  the  reason?  I 
found  it  in  the  fact  that,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  I  saw  the  cobbler’s  light 
twinkling  in  his  window,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  or  late  at  night.  I  saw 
everything  made ,  as  well  as  sold ,  in  New  York;  but  when  I  came  to  the  city  of 
New  Orleans,  I  found  there  that  everything  was  sold,  and  nothing  was  made. 
After  trying  in  vain  to  find  any  article  of  human  raiment  that  wa3  made  in 
New  Orleans,  I  did  see  upon  a  sign  opposite  the  St.  Charles  Hotel,  this  in¬ 
scription:  “Wagons,  Carts  and  Wheelbarrows,  Made  and  Sold  Here.”  *1 
said,  I  have  found  one  thing  that  is  made  in  New  Orleans! — coarse  wagons, 


474 


THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  CANVASS. 


f 1800. 


carts,  and  rough,  rude,  wheelbarrows!  But,  on  crossing  to  inspect  the  mat¬ 
ter,  a  little  more  minutely,  before  entering  it  in  my  notes,  I  found  that  I  had 
overlooked  some  words  in  smaller  letters,  “at  New  Haven,”  and  that  the  sign 
was  rightly  to  be  read:  “Wagons,  Carts,  and  Wheelbarrows  made  at  New 
Haven,  and  sold  Here.”  Fellow-citizens,  this  is  not  a  reproach.  It  is  not 
spoken  reproachfully,  it  would  ill  become  me  to  so  speak  it.  But  it  is  their 
system.  They  employ  slaves,  and  in  New  York  —  I  was  going  to  say  that  wTe 
employ,  but  I  think  I  will  reverse  it,  and  say  that  freemen  employ  their  masters, 
the  manufacturers.  This  is  but  an  illustration.  The  principle  is  the  same  in 
every  department  of  industry.  *  *  *  That  would  seem  to  be  the  end  of 

the  argument,  but  they  then  resort  to  terror  and  to  menace.  They  tell  us 
they  will  withdraw  their  trade  from  the  city  of  New  York,  unless  she  will 
vote  —  unless  her  citizens  will  vote,  as  they  require  them  to  yote  —  as  their 
supposed  interest  dictates.  Is  it  best  to  yield  to  that?  Why,  New  York  is 
not  a  province  of  Virginia  or  of  Carolina,  any  more  than  it  is  a  province  of 
New  Jersey  or  Connecticut.  New  York  is  the  metropolis  of  the  country. 
New  York  must  be  the  metropolis  of  the  continent.  Her  commerce,  like  her 
principles,  must  be  elevated,  just,  and  impartial. 

Showing  then  that  the  pro-slavery  policy  already  entered  upon  at 
Washington  would  “  change  all  this  thing,  to  put  slavery  into  the  free 
States  again,  and  to  send  slavery  into,  and  freedom  out  of,  the  Territo¬ 
ries/’  he  said: 

They  tell  us  that  we  are  to  encounter  opposition.  Why,  bless  my  soul! 
did  anybody  ever  expect  to  reach  a  fortune,  or  fame,  or  happiness  on  earth,  or 
a  crown  in  Heaven,  without  encountering  resistance  and  opposition?  What  are 
we  made  men  for,  but  to  encounter  and  overcome  opposition  arrayed  against 
us  in  the  line  of  our  duty? 

As  for  the  menaces  to  the  Union,  he  said: 

For  my  part,  I  have  faith  in  the  Constitution,  faith  in  the  Union,  faith  in 
the  people  of  the  States,  faith  in  the  people  of  the  Union,  faith  in  freedom, 
faith  in  justice,  and  faith  in  virtue,  faith  in  humanity. 

This  was  on  Friday  night.  The  election  was  to  be  held  on  the  fol¬ 
lowing  Tuesday.  He  hastened  home,  in  order  to  once  more  address  his 
fellow-townsmen,  as  was  his  custom,  on  the  night  before  the  election. 
Party  excitement  was  now  at  fever-heat,  in  the  State.  The  Republi¬ 
cans  were  stigmatized  as  “  Black  Republicans,”  Negro  Worshipers,” 
“Fanatics,”  “Incendiaries,”  and  were  reproached  as  being  “madly 
bent  on  destroying  the  Union,”  by  those  who  saw  no  way  to  save  it, 
except  by  yielding  to  the  demands  of  the  South.  The  “  Fusionists,” 
following  the  example  of  the  “Wide-Awakes,”  had  their  torch-light 
processions,  also;  the  supporters  of  Douglas  takiug  the  name  of 
“  Little  Giants,”  and  the  “  Bell  ”  men  punning  on  the  name  of  their 


I860.] 


THE  ELECTION. 


475 


candidate,  by  carrying  and  clanging  huge  bells.  Seward  closed  the 
eventful  canvass  with  his  Auburn  speech,  which  ended  thus: 

And  this  “  Fusion  ”  party,  what  is  the  motive  to  which  it  appeals?  You 
may  go  into  the  streets  to-night,  and  follow  the  “Little  Giants,”  who  go  with 
their  torch-lights,  and  their  flaunting  banners  of  “  Popular  Sovereignty,”  or 
you  may  go  with  the  smaller  and  more  select  and  modest  band  who  go  for 
Breckinridge  and  slavery,  or  you  may  follow  the  music  of  the  clanging  bells, 
and  strange  to  say,  they  will  all  bring  you  into  one  common  chamber!  When 
you  get  there,  you  will  hear  only  this  emotion  of  the  human  heart  appealed  to, 
fear  —  fear,  that  if  you  elect  a  President  of  the  United  States,  according  to 
the  Constitution  and  laws  to-morrow,  you  will  wake  up  the  next  day  and 
find  that  you  have  no  country  for  him  to  preside  over.  Is  that  not  a  strange 
motive  for  an  American  patriot  to  appeal  to?  And  in  that  same  hall,  amid  the 
jargon  of  three  discordant  members  of  the  “Fusion”  party,  you  will  hear  one 
argument,  and  that  argument  is,  that  so  sure  as  you  are  so  perverse  as  to  cast 
your  vote  singly,  lawfully,  honestly,  as  you  ought  to  do,  for  one  candidate  for 
the  Presidency  instead  of  scattering  it  among  three  candidates  so  that  no  Pres¬ 
ident  may  be  elected,  this  Union  shall  come  down  over  your  heads,  involving 
you  and  us  in  a  common  ruin. 

Fellow-citizens,  it  is  time,  high  time,  that  we  know  whether  this  is  a  con¬ 
stitutional  government  under  which  we  live.  It  is  high  time  that  we  know, 
since  the  Union  is  threatened,  who  are  its  friends  and  who  are  its  enemies. 
The  party  who  propose  in  the  old  appointed  constitutional  way  to  choose  a 
President  are  every  man  of  them  loyal  to  the  Union.  I  know  that  our  good 
and  esteemed  neighbors  do  not  mean  to  support,  or  think  they  are  supporting, 
disunionists.  But  I  tell  them  that  he  who  proposes  to  lay  hold  of  the  pillars 
of  the  Union  and  bring  it  down  into  ruin  is  a  disunionist;  that  every  man 
who  quotes  and  uses  threats  and  menaces  as  an  argument  against  our  exercise 
of  our  duty  is  an  abettor,  unconscious  though  he  maybe,  of  disunion;  and 
that  when  to-morrow’s  sun  shall  have  set,  and  the  next  morning’s  sun  shall 
have  risen  upon  the  American  people,  rejoicing  in  the  election  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  those  men  who  to-day  sympathize  with,  and  excuse 
the  disunionists, will  have  to  make  a  sudden  choice,  and  choose  whether,  in  the 
language  of  the  Senator  from  Georgia,  they  will  “  go  for  treason,  and  so  make 
it  respectable,”  or  whether  .they  will  go  with  us  for  freedom,  for  the  Constitu¬ 
tion,  and  for  eternal  Union. 

Election  day  passed  off  quietly  and  peaceably.  Its  results  were 
awaited  with  intense  interest.  But,  as  early  as  midnight,  they  were 
foreshadowed  by  the  scattering  returns  —  and  in  less  than  twenty-four 
hours,  it  became  manifest  that  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  were  elected. 
Every  free  State  gave  them  its  electoral  votes,  except  New  Jersey, 
where  they  were  divided  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas.  New  York 
gave  fifty  thousand  Republican  majority.  The  North-western  States 
were  as  solid  as  New  England.  All  along  the  line  of  Middle  States 
that  had  been  deemed  doubtful,  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 


476 


THE  REPUBLICAN  -VICTORY. 


[I860. 


nois,  and  Iowa,  the  majorities  exceeded  expectation.  The  “  Border 
States  ”  of  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  voted  for  Bell,  and 
Missouri  for  Douglas,  and  all  the  others  gave  their  votes  for  Breckin¬ 
ridge.  A  few  days  later  came  the  news  that  California  and  Oregon 
had  joined  the 'Republican  column. 

Seward  had  especial  reason  to  be  gratified  with  the  result  in  his  own 
neighborhood.  Auburn  gave  Lincoln  four  hundred  and  fifty  majority. 
Cayuga  county  gave  him  four  thousand,  a  greater  one  than  at  any 
previous  election  —  and  in  the  State  at  large,  the  increase  of  the  Re¬ 
publican  vote  over  that  at  the  preceding  national  election  was  a  hun¬ 
dred  thousand. 

The  jubilant  “Wide-Awakes”  made  the  echoes  ring  with  salutes, 
and  marched  and  countermarched  with  their  music  and  fireworks. 
When  they  gathered  in  the  grounds  in  front  of  Seward’s  house,  and 
loudly  called  for  a  speech,  he  came,  not  with  words  of  exultation,  but 
of  grave  and  impressive  counsel.  He  told  them  they  had  a  right  to 
rejoice  in  the  success  of  the  principle,  “the  Republican  principle  and 
the  true  Democratic  principle  of  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men.” 
He  congratulated  them  that  the  erroneous  national  policy  of  forty 
years  had  been  “  retraced,  reconsidered,  reversed,  and  renounced.” 
He  counseled  them  as  to  their  present  duty.  “  Let  the  passions  and 
prejudices  be  buried  with  the  errors  of  the  past.”  He  urged  magna¬ 
nimity,  saying  that  those  who  had  practiced  patience  under  political 
defeat  must  now  “  show  the  greater  virtue  of  moderation  in  triumph.” 
Pointing  out  that  for  those  defeated  in  an  election,  “an  appeal  lies 
from  the  people  this  year,  to  the  people  themselves  next  year,”  and 
“  so  on  forever,”  he  said  that  While  this  might  seem  a  long  way,  “it 
is  our  way,”  and  that  there  could  be  no  better  one;  that  if  there  were 
those  “  who  think  that  marshaling  armies,  or  pulling  down  the  pil¬ 
lars  of  the  Republic  is  a  better,  because  a  shorter  way,”  he  did  not 
doubt  that  they  too  would  find  that  “  our  way,  the  old  way,  their  old 
way,  as  well  as  our  old  way,  is  not  only  the  shortest,  but  the  best.” 


I860.] 


SECESSION  MOVEMENTS. 


477 


CHAPTER  LI. 

1860. 

After  Election.  South  Carolina  Withdrawing  from  the  Union.  Georgia  Arming.  Se¬ 
cession  Spreading.  Northern  Incredulity.  Alarm  at  Washington.  Proposed  Con¬ 
vention  of  the  People.  Opening  of  Congress*  The  Message.  The  Debates.  Proffer 
of  the  Secretaryship  of  State.  The  New  England  Dinner  Speech.  Correspondence 
with  the  President-elect.  The  Committee  of  Thirteen.  The  Outlook  Described. 
The  Southern  View.  President  Buchanan’s  Cabinet.  Major  Anderson.  “Treason 
Arouud  and  Amongst  Us." 


With  the  closing  of  the  polls,  there  came  at  Auburn  a  brief  season 
of  rest  and  quiet.  Seward  sat  in  his  study,  putting  in  order  his 
neglected  personal  affairs,  but  carefully  watching  the  drift  of  public 
events.  For  a  few  mornings  after  the  election,  the  columns  of  the 
newspapers  were  filled  with  figures  and  comments  upon  local  and  gen¬ 
eral  results.  But  these  soon  began  to  give  place  to  more  startling* 
news.  Every  day  the  telegraph  brought  indications  that  those  who 
had  long  threatened  “  disunion”  were  now  intending  to  accomplish 
it.  South  Carolinians  were  leading  the  way.  First  came  the  an¬ 
nouncement  that  the  South  Carolina  Legislature,  called  to  meet  on 
the  5th  to  choose  presidential  electors,  would  take  steps  looking  to  the 
withdrawal  of  the  State  from  the  Union.  Then  the  Governor’s  mes¬ 
sage,  and  the  speeches  of  Senators  and  Congressmen,  counseling  “se¬ 
cession,”  “revolution,”  and  “unfurling  the  Palmetto  flag.”  Then 
reports  of  ostentatious  rejoicing  in  Charleston  by  Secessionists,  over 
Lincoln’s  election,  because  it  would  give  them  their  desired  oppor¬ 
tunity.  Before  the  week  was  out,  came  news  that  a  bill  providing 
for  a  convention  had  passed  one  House;  and  would  pass  the  other 
without  opposition;  that  the  United  States  District  Court  was  closet], 
and  the  judge  had  resigned;  quickly  followed  by  the  announcement 
of  similar  resignations  of  their  places  by  other  Federal  officers,  and 
by  the  Senators  in  Congress. 

Another  week  brought  the  formal  call  of  the  convention  by  South 
Carolina;  the  action  of  the  Georgia  Legislature,  in  appropriating  a 
million  dollars  to  arm  the  State;  the  unavailing  speech  of  Stephens, 
in  which  he  said:  “To  withdraw  because  a  man  has  been  constitu¬ 
tionally  elected  puts  us  in  the  wrong.”  Then  followed  disunion 
meetings  and  movements  in  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and 
Florida,  in  order,  as  their  promoters  said,  to  “fire  the  Southern 
heart,”  throughout  the  cotton  States. 

The  Northern  people,  for  the  most  part,  seemed  incredulous.  They 
had  heard  threats  of  “  disunion  ”  for  many  years,  echoing  from  the 


478 


APPREHENSION  OF  DISSOLUTION. 


j"136o. 


“  stump,”  and  the  halls  of  Congress  —  and  had  seen  them  regularly 
die  away,  as  soon  as  the  slave-holders  had  achieved  some  desired  politi¬ 
cal  result.  That  any  considerable  number  of  sensible  men,  in  America, 
could  really  want  to  sever  their  connection  with  a  Union  that  had 
been  so  fruitful  of  blessings  to  all,  was  hardly  believed  possible.  Even 
the  presses  which  chronicled  the  movement  deemed  its  proportions 
exaggerated. 

Seward  wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,  November  18. 

Three,  or  even  two  months  ago,  I  thought  that  I  might  remain  here  until 
the  end  of  the  holidays.  But  now,  especially  since  the  Southern  demonstra¬ 
tions,  I  have  supposed  that  my  absence,  even  a  day,  from  Washington  after 
the  beginning  of  the  session  would,  if  not  even  wrong  per  se,  be  a  cause  of 
dissatisfaction  somewhere.  So  I  am  calculating  to  reach  the  capital  on  Sat¬ 
urday  night,  before  the  session  begins.  I  have  no  pressure  to  be  in  Albany  or 
elsewhere.  If  for  any  reason  you  want  to  see  me,  however,  you  need  only  to 
telegraph.  I  am  without  schemes,  or  plans,  hopes,  desires,  or  fears  for  the 
future,  that  need  trouble  anybody,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned ;  receiving  con¬ 
tinually  the  kindest  counsels  from  a  great  many  friends,  various,  however,  as 
the  numbers  and  characters  of  the  counselors. 

He  accordingly  left  Auburn  on  tlie  28th.  Arrived  at  Washington, 
he  wrote  home: 

I  reached  the  Astor  House  at  eleven  last  night.  Supper,  and  a  conversation 
with  Weed  kept  me  up  until  one.  Was  up  at  five,  and  off  at  seven  yesterday 
morning,  and  here  at  six  p.  m.  Washington  seems  dull  —  and  apprehension 
of  dissolution  is  predominant  everywhere. 

Republicans  are  far  more  numerous  here  than  ever  before,  and  personal  re¬ 
spect  and  courtesy  toward  myself,  very  marked. 

December  1. 

Nothing  new  to-day.  Congress  will  meet  on  Monday.  The  ultra-Southern 
men  mean  to  break  up  the  Union,  not  really  for  the  grievances  of  which  they 
complainy  but  from  cherished  disloyalty  and  ambition.  The  President,  and 
all  Union  men  here,  are  alarmed  and  despondent.  The  Republicans  who 
come  here  are  ignorant  of  the  real  design  or  danger.  I  begin  to  see  my  way 
through,  without  sacrifice  of  principle.  But  I  talk  very  little,  and  nothing 
in  detail. 

December  2. 

I  had  visits  yesterday  from  General  Cass,  Lord  L}rons,  the  Bremen  Minister, 
Speaker  Pennington.  All  is  apprehension  about  the  Southern  demonstra¬ 
tions.  No  one  has  any  system,  few  any  courage,  or  confidence  in  the  Union, 
in  this  emergency.  It  is  not  unnatural  —  perhaps  not  unfortunate.  Inde¬ 
cision,  under  the  circumstances,  shows  only  that  the  Union  sentiment  is  so 
strong  as  to  leave  the  people  unprepared.  Time  will  bring  its  trials  of  con¬ 
stancy.  Montgomery  Blair  was  among  my  visitors,  and  Henry  Wilson,  yes- 


1&60.] 


PROJECT  OF  A  CONVENTION. 


479 


terday.  I  am  engaged  busily  in  studying  and  gathering  my  tliouglits  for 
the  Union.  You  will  see  that  Mr.  Weed  lets  me  out  of  responsibility  for  his 
well-intentioned,  but  rather  impulsive  movements.  He  promised  me  to  do  so. 

I  would  not  have  believed  it,  but  my  pretty  cat  remembered  me,  and  was 
wild  with  joy  at  my  return.  She  attends  me  constantly,  sitting  on  my  shoulder 
when  I  write,  and  following  me  when  I  move. 

On  the  30 tli  of  November,  Mr.  Weed  had  published  an  elaborate 
article,  in  the  Evening  Journal ,  on  the  political  situation,  suggesting 
a  “  Convention  of  the  people,  consisting  of  delegates  appointed  by 
the  States.”  He  said  North  and  South  “  might  thus  bring  their  re¬ 
spective  griefs,  claims,  and  reforms  to  a  comjnon  arbitrament,  to 
meet,  discuss,  and  determine  upon  a  future.  It  will  be  said  that  we 
have  done  nothing  wrong,  and  have  nothing  to  offer.  This  is  pre¬ 
cisely  the  reason  why  we  should  both  propose  and  offer  whatever 
may,  by  possibility,  avert  the  evils  of  civil  war,  and  prevent  the  de¬ 
struction  of  our  hitherto  unexampled  blessings  of  Union. ” 

When  told  by  his  friends,  that  such  a  Convention  would  only  end 
in  disagreement,  he  answered  that,  at  all  events,  it  would  gain  time, 
and  insure  discussion  —  agencies  that  could  not  but  consolidate  Union 
sentiment  in  the  North,  and  develop  it  in  the  South.  But  in  a 
period  of  high  political  excitement,  propositions  are  seldom  canvassed 
on  their  merits.  Some  journals  objected  to  it,  because  they  feared  it 
covered  a  “  compromise,”  others,  because  they  saw  it  did  not.  Praise¬ 
worthy  as  was  the  motive,  it  received  no  general  acceptance.  Seward 
wrote  to  him: 

December  2 . 

South  Carolina  is  committed.  Nothing  holds  her  from  declaring  and  practic¬ 
ing  secession;  but  her  course  as  to  forts  and  customs  yet  undetermined. 

Georgia  will  debate.  Time  will  operate  favorably,  but  she  probably  follows 
South  Carolina.  Florida  will  participate.  Mississippi  and  Alabama  likely 
to  follow.  But  by  that  time,  passion  begins  to  give  place  to  perplexity  about 
whether  it  is  best  to  conciliate  Union  or  fight  it. 

Buchanan  will  recommend  General  Convention.  Congress  can  resolve. 
But  three-fourths  of  State  Legislatures  must  call  on  Congress.  Congress  can¬ 
not  initiate  Conventions. 

No  amendment  that  can  be  proposed,  and  would  be  satisfactory,  can  get 
two-thirds  of  both  Houses;  although  just  such  amendments  might  pass  three- 
fourths  of  the  States  in  Convention. 

Look  closely  into  fifth  article  of  the  Constitution.  You  will  see  that  Con¬ 
gress,  initiating,  could  only  propose  definite  amendments  to  States,  while  it 
cannot  call  a  General  Convention,  until  required  by  the  State  Legislatures. 

Members  are  coming  in,  all  in  confusion.  Nothing  can  be  agreed  on  in 
advance,  but  silence  for  the  present,  which  I  have  insisted  must  not  be 
•sullen,  as  last  year,  but  respectful  and  fraternal. 


480 


SECESSION-  MOVEMENTS. 


[I860. 


I  think  the  Southern  members  will  be,  for  once,  cautious  and  forbearing. 
If  we  can  keep  peace  and  quiet  until  the  decree  of  South  Carolina  is  pro¬ 
nounced,  the  temper  will  then  be  favorable,  on  both  sides,  to  consideration. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  lie  wrote: 

December  3. 

I  heard  a  fine,  practical  Christian  sermon  from  Dr.  Pyne,  yesterday,  which  en¬ 
forced  the  axiom,  “Love  doeth  no  injury  to  any  man.”  I  studied  a  few  hours, 
and  then  came  to  the  customary  Sunday  in  Washington,  calls,  visits,  loungers, 
debates  until  midnight.  All  that  has  been  done  since  we  adjourned,  all  that 
is  to  be  done  during  the  session  of  Congress  and  during  the  Administration, 
was  gone  through  with.  Sumner,  Washburn,  King  and  other  Republican 
visitors. 

December  4. 

Mr.  Weed’s  articles  have  brought  perplexities  about  me  which  he,  with  all 
his  astuteness,  did  not  foresee.  Rut  you  need  not  expect,  or  rather  fear,  that 
I  will  act  unwisely  or  wrong. 

December  5. 

I  finished  my  brief  yesterday,  and  began,  at  a  very  distant  point,  to  study 
the  great  political  crisis,  having  at  last  thrown  all  the  dogs  off  my  track. 

The  Message  has  come.  It  shows  conclusively  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
President  to  execute  the  laws  —  unless  somebody  opposes  him — and  that  no. 
State  has  a  right  to  go  out  of  the  Union  —  unless  it  wants  to. 

Yesterday’s  debate  will  do  no  good. 

December  6. 

I  have  been  at  the  market,  breakfasted,  given  fifty  dollars  to  Kansas  suffer¬ 
ers,  talked  with  Thayer,  reporter  for  the  Evening  Post,  and  now  the  old  cat 
and  I  have  sat  down  to  dispose,  as  far  as  possible,  of  the  correspondence  of 
the  day. 

I  dined  yesterday  with  the  Adamses;  to-morrow,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Washburn 
of  Maine,  take  Anna’s  room,  to  remain  during  the  month. 

December  7. 

A  bright  and  invigorating  morning,  but  it  hardly  brings  any  renewal  to 
me.  The  mad-caps  of  the  South  want  to  be  inflamed,  so  as  to  make  their  se¬ 
cession  irretrievable.  Good  men  there  want  moderation,  on  the  part  of  the 
Government,  so  that  they  may  in  time  produce  a  counter-movement.  Our 
Senators  agree  with  me  to  practice  reticence  and  kindness.  But  others  fear 
that  I  will  figure,  and  so  interfere  and  derange  all.  Providence,  however, 
will  bring  all  things  right.  I  am  very  busy,  but  do  not  forget  you  and  Fanny, 
and  all  at  home. 

December  8. 

1  am  very  sorry  that  the  mischievous  reports  of  the  letter-writers  have  dis¬ 
turbed  you  so  deeply/  But  I  am  disposed  to  be  satisfied,  after  all,  since  the 
circumstance  has  drawn  out  from  you  such  a  beautiful,  noble,  and  touching 
letter.  You  need  have  no  fears.  I  am,  thus  far,  silent,  not  because  I  am 
thinking  of  proposing  compromises,  but  because  I  wish  to  avoid,  myself,  and 
restrain  other  Republicans,  from  intermeddling,  just  now  —  when  concession, 


i860.] 


THREATS  AND  ALARMS. 


481 


or  solicitation,  or  solicitude,  would  encourage,  and  demonstrations  of  firmness 
of  purpose  would  exasperate.  I  have  faith  that  my  good  angel  wont  desert 
me,  as  long  as  you  and  I  keep  together. 

December  9. 

Yesterday  was  rainy,  and  I  was  left  considerably  alone.  I  kept  my  chair, 
wrote  my  letters,  revised  my  brief,  and  made  some  notes  in  other  studies.  It 
lias  been  a  comfortless  week.  The  disunion  panic  has  increased,  and  it  be¬ 
gins  to  bewilder  and  demoralize.  But,  as  yet,  there  seems  only  consternation, 
and  the  tendency  of  things  is,  that  the  timid  will  rush  into  the  Democratic 
party.  Jealousies  of  me  are  sufficient  for  many,  who  now  begin  to  wonder  at 
my  nonchalance,  in  the  midst  of  public  troubles  so  great. 

December  10. 

I  have  argued  my  cause  in  the  Supreme  Court,  to  a  court  that  listened  with 
Indications  of  respect  and  interest.  So  that  duty  is  done.  Now  then  comes 
up  the  more  difficult  task,  of  trying  to  reconcile  the  factious  men  who  are  bent 
on  disunion,  reckless  of  civil  war,  to  the  ascendency  of  an  Administration  based 
on  the  principles  of  justice  and  humanity. 

The  debates  in  the  Senate  are  hasty,  feeble,  inconclusive  and  unsatisfactory; 
presumptuous  on  the  part  of  the  ill-tempered  South;  feeble  and  frivolous  on 
the  part  of  the  North. 

December  11. 

Another  day  in  the  Senate.  Vaporing  by  Southern  Senators.  Setting 
forth  the  grievances  of  their  section  and  requiring  Northern  Senators  to  an¬ 
swer,  excuse,  and  offer  terms,  which  they  are  told,  in  the  same  breath,  will  not  be 
accepted.  And  that,  is  all.  They  say  we  ought  not  to  have  elected  Lincoln. 
Ill  nature,  ill  temper,  ill  manners.  If  all  their  flourish  can  win  success  and 
power  in  this  country  we  shall  see  it.  I  don’t  believe  it. 

Two  days  later  he  wrote  to  Weed: 

December  13. 

I  have  now  the  occasion  for  consulting  you  that  you  have  expected.  I  shall 
be  in  New  York  on  Friday  evening.  Not  finding  you  there,  I  shall  look  for 
you  at  Albany  on  Saturday.  The  matter  is,  and  must  be  kept  confidential. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  written  him  a  kindly  note  inviting  him  to  beqpme 
Secretary  of  State  in  the  new  Administration  to  be  organized  in  March. 
The  proffer  wras  not  unexpected.  Its  probability  had  long  been  predicted 
and  gossiped  about  in  the  press.  But  a  Cabinet  place  had  never  been 
one  of  Seward's  ambitions.  As  long  before  as  1849,  he  said,  in  one 
of  his  letters,  “The  post  of  a  Minister,  and  even  of  a  premier,  has  no 
temptations  for  me."  The  gathering  clouds  of  a  great  crisis  seemed 
now,  however,  to  give  warning  that,  if  a  man  wanted  to  serve  his 
country  at  all,  he  must  serve  it,  not  where  he  preferred,  but  where  he 
was  needed.  There  were  but  two  persons  whom  Seward  desired  to 
consult  before  making  his  decision.  One  was  ids  wife,  the  other  was 
Weed.  The  Senate  stood  adjourned  to  the  following  Monday.  This 
81 


482 


SOUTH  CAROLINA  SECEDES. 


[I860. 


gave  him  an  opportunity  to  go  North  for  that  purpose.  Arrived  at. 
Albany,  and  on  his  way  to  Auburn,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln: 

Albany,  December  1C. 

Mr.  Weed,  finding  it  not  inconvenient  to  go  West,  I  have  had  some  conver¬ 
sation  with  him,  concerning  the  condition  and  the  prospect  of  public  affairs; 
and  he  will  be  able  to  inform  you  of  my  present  unsettled  view  of  the  subject 
upon  which  you  so  kindly  wrote  me  a  few  days  ago.  I  shall  remain  at  home  until 
his  return,  and  shall  then,  in  further  conference  with  him,  have  the  advantage 
of  a  knowledge  of  the  effect  of  public  events,  certain  to  occur  this  week. 

With  great  respect  and  esteem, 

Faithfully  yours, 


His  friend  and  colleague,  Preston  King,  had  promised  to  keep  him 
advised  of  the  progress  of  legislative  business  in  the  Senate  —  so  that 
he  might  return  at  once  in  case  any  important  question  should  come 
up  to  be  voted  on.  Hardly  three  days  had  been  passed  at  home,  before 
a  letter  came  from  King,  saying  that  a  motion  would  probably  be 
made  for  another  delay  of  the  Kansas  Bill.  Furthermore,  the  Vice- 
President  had  now  announced  the  Committee  of  Thirteen  on  the  state 
of  the  country,  and  had  designated  Seward  as  one  of  its  members  — 
the  others  being  Powell,  Hunter,  Crittenden,  Toombs,  Douglas,  Col- 
lamer,  Davis,  Wade,  Bigler,  Rice,  Doolittle,  and  Grimes.  Seward,  ac¬ 
cordingly,  at  once  hastened  back  to  the  scene  of  senatorial  duty.  He 
wrote  to  Weed: 

Auburn,. December  22. 

I  am  fairly  driven  out  of  my  retreat  and  can  hold  it  no  longer.  The  Kansas 
Bill  is  set  for  Monday,  and  it  would  be  evidence  of  high  treason  in  the  exist¬ 
ing  circumstances,  to  be  absent  or  ask  postponement.  You  will,  of  course, 
write  me  or  let  me  know  how  and  when  I  can  meet  you. 

A  period  of  gloom  and  uncertainty  had  hung  over  business  circles 
in  New  York.  They  had  been  alternating  between  hopes  and  fears 
since  election  day.  They  had  awaited  in  suspense  the  dire  and  un¬ 
known  effects  of  the  threatened  secession  of  a  State  from  the  Union. 
But  when,  on  the  20th,  news  came  that  South  Carolina  had  act¬ 
ually  adopted  the  ordinance,  and  it  was  seen  that  no  popular 
tumult  followed,  and  that  government  in  Washington  and  commerce 
in  New  York  continued  to  move  tranquilly  along  in  their  accustomed 
channels,  there  was  a  reaction  of  feeling.  The  tension  of  excitement 
relaxed,  and  there  was  a  popular  sense  of  relief.  As  often  happens, 
the  shock  itself  proved  not  to  be  so  bad  as  the  expectation  of  it. 

When  Seward  reached  the  Astor  House,  at  eleven  oVlock  on  Saturday 
night,  he  found  that  the  New  England  Society  was  in  possession  of  the 


I860.] 


SPEECH  AT  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  DINNER. 


483 


great  dining-room.  It  was  Fore-Fathers*  Day,”  and  they  were  hold¬ 
ing  their  annual  festival.  As  soon  as  his  arrival  at  the  hotel  became 
known,  a  committee  was  sent  out  to  invite  him  to  the  room.  As 
many  of  the  members  were  his  personal  or  political  friends,  he  was 
greeted  with  enthusiastic  warmth.  Replying  to  the  numerous  queries 
and  compliments  of  those  around  at  the  table,  Seward  spoke  briefly 
in  regard  to  the  political  situation.  He  closed  his  remarks  with  these 
words: 

*1  know  that  the  necessities  which  created  this  Union  are  stronger  to-day 
than  they  were  when  the  Union  was  cemented;  and  that  these  necessities  are 
as  enduring  as  the  passions  of  men  are  short-lived  and  effervescent.  I  believe 
that  the  cause  of  secession  was  as  strong,  on  the  night  of  November  6,  when 
the  President  and  Vice-President  were  elected  —  and  who  were  unacceptable 
to  the  slave  States — as  it  has  been  at  any  time.  Some  fifty  days  have  now 
passed  ;  and  I  believe  that  every  day  the  sun  has  set  since  that  time,  it  has 
set  upon  mollified  passions  and  prejudices;  and  if  you  will  only  await  the 
time,  sixty  more  suns  will  shed  a  light  and  illuminate  ar  more  cheerful  atmos¬ 
phere. 

At  the  time  this  speech  was  made,  those  around  him  readily  under¬ 
stood  that  the  “ fifty  days”  were  the  days  which  had  elapsed  since 
the  Presidential  election;  and  that  the  “  sixty  suns”  were  the  days 
yet  to  intervene  before  the  coming  in  of  a  new  Administration  would 
give  assurance  of  the  continuance  of  the  Government.  Afterward, 
when  political  opponents  were  seeking  a  ground  of  attack,  they  charged 
Seward  with  predicting  that  the  “war  will  be  over  in  sixty  days,”  a 
phrase  that  would  have  been  nonsense,  if  he  had  uttered  it,  as  there 
was  no  war  in  progress.  This  curious  perversion  of  his  words,  how¬ 
ever,  was  believed,  and  repeated,  for  years. 

Arriving  at  Washington,  on  Monday  morning,  he  wrote  home: 

Washington,  December  24. 

I  am  here  at  last.  I  fell  among  the  New  England  men  on  Saturday  night 
at  the  Astor  House.  Stocks  were  up,  and  commercial  skies  were  brightening. 
The  apprehensions  of  disunion  had,  for  that  reason,  visibly  abated.  I  dined 
yesterday  with  Mr.  Grinnell,  Blatchford  and  others;  and  left  in  the  six  o’clock 
sleeping-train.  I  got  three  hours’  sleep  after  my  arrival ;  and  then  got  to  the 
Capitol  in  time  to  meet  the  Union  Saving  Committee  of  Thirteen.  We  came 
to  no  compromise;  and  we  shall  not.  We  shall,  therefore,  see  the  fuller  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  secession  movement. 

I  find  near  two  hundred  letters  awaiting  my  arrival,  of  which  not  one  has 
yet  been  opened. 

*  From  repor  xn  New  York  Times,  Dec.  24,  1860,  of  N.  E.  Society  Anniversary.  Satur¬ 
day,  Dec.  22. 


484 


LETTER  TO  MR.  LINCOLN. 


[1860. 


Christmas ,  1860. 

Neither  the  Senate  nor  yet  the  Committee  of  Thirteen  sit  to-day.  I  have 
just  finished  the  reading  of  the  letters  which  I  found  here  on  my  return. 
What  a  heap!  Washington  is  full  of  uneasiness.  The  Southern  States,  all 
of  them,  are  hesitating  whether  to  yield  to  a  common  madness,  ruinous  at 
least  to  themselves;  or  whether  to  consider  and  acquiesce  in  a  condition  of 
things  now  fixed. 

On  tlie  following  day  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln: 

December  26,  1860. 

Having  been  hurried  away  from  home  by  information  that  my  attendance 
here  on  Monday  would  be  necessary,  I  had  only  the  opportunity  for  conferring 
with  Mr.  Weed,  which  was  afforded  by  our  journeying  together  on  the  rail¬ 
road  from  Syracuse  to  Albany. 

He  gave  me,  verbally,  the  substance  of  the  suggestion  you  prepared  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Republican  members;  but  not  the  written  proposition. 
This  morning,  I  received  the  latter  from  him;  and  also  information,  for  the 
first  time,  of  your  expectation  that  I  would  write  to  you  concerning  the  temper 
of  parties  and  the  public  here.  I  met,  on  Monday,  my  Republican  associates 
of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  and  afterward,  the  whole  committee.  With 
the  unanimous  consent  of  our  section,  I  offered  three  propositions  which 
seemed  to  me  to  cover  the  ground  of  the  suggestion  made  by  you,  through  Mr. 
Weed,  as  I  understand  it.  First.  That  the  Constitution  should  never  be 
altered,  so  as  to  authorize  Congress  to  abolish,  or  interfere  with  slavery  in  the 
States.  This  was  accepted.  Second.  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  should  be 
amended,  by  granting  a  jury  trial  to  the  fugitive.  This,  in  opposition  to  our 
votes,  was  amended,  so  as  to  give  the  jury  in  the  State  from  which  the  fugi¬ 
tive  fled;  and  so  amended,  was  voted  down  by  our  own  votes. 

The  committee  had  already  agreed  to  Mr.  Crittenden’s  amendment  concern¬ 
ing  the  fees  of  the  commissioner;  making  them  the  same,  when  the  fugitive 
is  returned  to  slavery,  as  when  he  is  discharged.  Our  third  resolution  was, 
that  Congress  recommend  to  all  the  States,  to  revise  their  legislation,  concern¬ 
ing  persons  recently  resident  in  other  States,  and  to  repeal  all  such  laws 
which  contravene  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  any  law  of  Con¬ 
gress  in  pursuance  thereof.  This  was  rejected  by  the  pro-slavery  vote  of  the 
committee. 

To-day  we  have  had  another  meeting.  I  offered,  with  the  concurrence  of  my 
political  associates,  a  fourth  proposition,  viz. :  That  Congress  should  pass  a  law 
to  punish  invasions  of  our  States,  and  conspirators  to  effect  such  invasions;  but 
the  latter  only  in  the  State  and  district  where  the  acts  of  such  complicity 
were  committed.  This,  by  the  votes  of  our  opponents,  was  amended,  so  as 
practically  to  carry  out  Mr.  Douglas’  suggestion  of  last  winter,  for  the  revival 
of  the  old  Sedition  Law  of  John  Adams’  time,  and  then  was  rejected  by  our 
own  votes. 

This  evening,  the  Republican  members  of  the  committee,  with  Judge  Trum¬ 
bull  and  Mr.  Fessenden,  met  at  my  house,  to  consider  your  written  sugges¬ 
tion,  and  determine  whether  it  shall  be  offered.  While  we  think  the  ground 


I860.] 


LETTERS  TO  MR.  LINCOLN-. 


485 


has  been  already  covered,  we  find  that,  in  the  form  you  give  it,  it  would  di¬ 
vide  our  friends,  not  only  in  the  committee,  but  in  Congress,  a  portion  being 
unwilling  to  give  up  their  old  opinion,  that  the  duty  of  executing  the  con¬ 
stitutional  provisions,  concerning  fugitives  from  service,  belongs  to  the  States, 
and  not  at  all  to  Congress.  But  we  shall  confer,  and  act  as  wisely  as  we  can. 

Thus  far  I  have  reported  only  our  action  on  the  subject  of  your  sugges¬ 
tion.  I  proceed  now  to  tell  you  what  I  think  of  the  temper  of  the  parties  and 
of  the  public  here. 

South  Carolina  has  already  taken  the  attitude  of  defiance. 

Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  ami  Louisiana  have  pushed  on  toward  the 
same  attitude.  I  think  that  they  could  not  be  arrested,  even  if  we  should 
offer  all  you  suggest,  and  with  it  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
line.  But  persons  acting  for  those  States,  intimate  that  they  might  be  so 
arrested,  because  they  think  that  the  Republicans  are  not  going  to  concede  the 
restoration  of  that  line. 

The  action  of  the  border  States  is  uncertain.  Sympathy  there  is  strong  with 
the  cotton  States,  while  prudence  and  patriotism  dictate  adhesion  to  the 
Union.  Nothing  could  certainly  restrain  them,  but  the  adoption  ' of  Mr. 
Crittenden’s  compromise;  and  I  do  not  see  the  slightest  indications  of  its 
adoption,  on  the  Republican  side  of  Congress. 

The  members  stand  nearly,  or  quite  as  firm  against  it,  as  the  country  is. 

Under  these  circumstances,  time  and  accident,  it  seems  to  me,  must  deter¬ 
mine  the  course  of  the  border  States. 

Probablv,  all  the  debates  and  conferences  which  we  have  hitherto  had  will 
sink  out  of  the  public  mind,  within  a  week  or  two,  when  the  Republican  mem¬ 
bers  shall  have  refused  to  surrender,  at  discretion,  to  the  State  of  South 
Carolina. 

New  and  exciting  subjects  will  enter  into  the  agitation,  and  control  the  re¬ 
sults. 

Thus,  I  have  said  all  that  I  am  able  to  say,  of  the  temper  of  parties,  and  of 
the  public. 

I  add,  very  respectfully,  my  own  opinions  on  the  probable  future. 

The  United  States  of  America,  their  Constitution,  their  Capital,  their  organ¬ 
ization,  in  all  its  departments,  and  with  all  its  military  and  naval  forces,  will 
stand,  and  pass  without  resistance  into  your  hands.  There  will  be  several, 
perhaps  all,  of  the  slave  States,  standing  in  a  contumacious  attitude  on  the 
4th  of  March ;  sedition  will  be  growing  weaker,  and  loyalty  stronger,  every 
day,  from  the  acts  of  secession,  as  they  occur.  I  do  not  speculate,  either 
more  minutely,  or  farther,  than  as  I  have  already  written. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  these  facts  and  opinions  are  for  your  use  only. 

My  power  to  do  any  thing  would  be  seriously  impaired,  if  what  I  write 
were  made  known. 

To  Mrs.  Seward,  he  wrote: 

December  26. 

I  have  been,  for  four  hours,  in  the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  and  have  since 
written  a  long  report  of  affairs  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  So  the  day  has  passed. 


48G 


HOW  TOOMBS  SAW  IT. 


[I860. 


The  South  will  force  on  the  country  the  issue,  namely,  that  the  free  States 
shall  admit  the  slaves  are  property,  and  treat  them  as  such,  or  else  there  will 
be  a  secession.  So  I  think  the  South  will  be  indulged  in  its  choice  of  seces¬ 
sion. 


How  these  proceedings  were  regarded  by  those  on  the  other  side, 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following  newspaper  report  of  an  interview 
with  Mr.  Toombs,  in  1880: 

After  Lincoln’s  election,  I  saw  that  trouble  was  brewung,  but  I  was  still 
unwilling  to  commit  myself  to  secession?  and  then,  too,  I  was  not  certain 
that  Georgia  would  be  carried  on  that  issue.  Stephens  and  Hill  were  both 
for  Union.  I  telegraphed  Breckinridge,  asking  him  to  appoint  a  representa¬ 
tive  committee,  that  would  offer  some  compromise  to  meet  the  pressing 
exigency.  He  appointed  on  this  committee,  among  others,  Crittenden,  to 
represent  Bell  and  Everett,  or  rather  the  men  who  had  supported  them,  Jeff 
Davis,  and  myself,  for  his  friends,  Seward  for  Lincoln,  and  Douglas  for 
himself.  The  Crittenden  compromise  was  offered.  I  supported  it,  heartily 
and  sincerely;  although  the  sullen  obstinacy  of  Seward  had  made  it  almost 
impossible  to  do  any  thing.  For  supporting  this  compromise,  I  was  de¬ 
nounced,  in  Georgia,  by  Ben  Hill,  as  having  betrayed  my  section  and  my 
people.  I  didn’t  mind  this  at  all,  as  Ben  is  always  denouncing  somebody  or 
something.  At  length,  I  saw  that  the  compromise  measures  must  fail.  With 
a  persistent  obstinacy  that  I  have  never  yet  seen  surpassed,  Seward  and  his 
backers  refused  every  overture.  I  then  telegraphed  to  Atlanta:  “All  is  at  an 
end.  North  determined.  Seward  will  not  budge  an  inch.  Am  in  favor  of 
secession.”  When  the  fight  was  fairly  opened,  I  still  felt  doubtful  about 
carrying  the  State.  The  people  were  determined  against  submission  to  the 
unjust  encroachments  of  the  North,  but  there  were  many  who  favoied  the 
appointment  of  a  peace  commission;  others  who  wanted  to  wait  for  co-ope¬ 
ration,  and  still  others  who  feared  to  take  so  desperate  a  step ;  and  let  me 
say  right  here,  that  I  never  doubted  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  The  state¬ 
ment  that  I  said  that  I  would  drink  all  the  blood  that  was  spilled  is  one  of  the 
stereotyped  lies  they  have  circulated  about  me.  When  I  left  the  Senate,  I 
knew  it  meant  war,  and  I  said  in  my  farewell  speech,  that  the  next  time  I 
looked  upon  Washington,  I  thought  it  would  be  at  the  head  of  Southern 
troops. 


Two  days  later  Seward  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln: 


{Private.) 

December  28. 

There  is  a  feverish  excitement  here  which  awakens  all  kinds  of  apprehen¬ 
sions  of  popular  disturbance  and  disorders,  connected  with  your  assumption  of 
the  government. 

I  do  not  entertain  these  apprehensions  myself.  But  it  is  worth  consideration 
in  our  peculiar  circumstances,  that  accidents  themselves  may  aggravate  opinion 
here.  Habit  has  accustomed  the  public  to  anticipate  the  arrival  of  the  Presi¬ 
dent-elect  in  this  city  about  the  middle  of  February;  and  evil-minded  persons 


I860.] 


PLOTS  AND  DANGERS. 


487 


■would  expect  to  organize  the  demonstrations  for  that  time.  I  beg  leave  to 
suggest  whether  it  would  not  be  well  for  you,  keeping  your  own  counsel,  to  be 
prepared  to  drop  into  the  city  a  week  or  ten  days  earlier.  The  effect  would 
probably  be  reassuring  and  soothing. 

P.  S.  —  If  nothing  should  occur  to  seem  to  render  it  advisable  to  come  so 
early,  your  preparation  only  would  be  hastened  not  lost. 

And  on  the  same  day,  lie  wrote  in  regard  to  the  proffered  Cabinet 

December  28,  1860. 

Sir: — I  have, .after  due  reflection  and  with  much  self-distrust,  concluded  that 
if  I  should  be  nominated  to  the  Senate  for  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  and 
the  nomination  should  be  confirmed,  it  would  be  my  duty  to  accept  the  ap¬ 
pointment. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

With  great  respect 

Your  humble  servant 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

The  Honorable  Abraham  Lincoln,  etc. 

He  had  written  to  Mr.  Lincoln  suggesting  the  names  of  Randall 
Hunt,  John  A.  Gilmer,  and  Kenneth  Raynor,  as  among  those  to  be 
considered  incase  a  Southern  member  of  the  Cabinet  should  be  deemed 
advisable.  He  now  added: 


{Private.) 

December  28. 

Since  writing  you  on  the  26th  instant,  I  have  had  my  thoughts  directed  to 
the  Hon.  Robert  E.  Scott  of  Virginia,  as  a  gentleman  whose  appointment  to  a 
place  in  your  Cabinet  might  be  exceedingly  wise  at  the  present  juncture.  It 
strikes  me  now  so  favorably,  that  I  beg  to  ask  you  to  take  it  into  considera¬ 
tion. 

I  shall  write  you  again,  after  getting  some  further  information. 

To  Mrs.  Seward  he  wrote: 


I  have  advised  Mr.  L.  that  I  will  not  decline.  It  is  inevitable.  I  will  try 
to  save  freedom  and  my  country. 

On  the  following  day  he  wrote  to  Weed: 


{Private.) 


December  29. 


The  Cabinet  is  again  in  danger  of  explosion.  The  South  Carolina  inter¬ 
est  demands  the  withdrawal  of  Anderson,  and  abandonment  of  the  forts,  also 
abandonment  of  the  sending  of  armaments  for  other  Southern  ports.  The 
President  inclines  to  yield.  But  there  will  be  an  explosion  if  he  does. 

The  plot  is  forming  to  seize  the  capital  and  usurp  the  Government,  and  it 
has  abettors  near  the  President.  I  am  writing  you  not  from  rumors,  but 
knowledge. 


488 


“TREASON  AROUND  AND  AMONGST  US. 


[I860.. 


tt 


I  have  written  to - ,  first,  that  he  ought  to  anticipate  and  come  here  by 

surprise;  second,  that  I  ought  to  know  his  agents  with  whom  I  am  to  act;,, 
and  they  ought  to  be  here  to  make  preparations. 

The  border  States,  or  at  least  their  representatives,  are  getting  anxious  and 
more  practicable.  A  suggestion  by  and  by  for  a  Convention  two  years  hence, 
when  the  storm  has  subsided,  would,  I  think,  be  well  received  by  them,  ancfr 
settle  them.  But  our  friends  are  not  yet  prepared  for  it. 

In  his  letter  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  said: 


At  length  I  have  gotten  a  position  in  which  I  can  see  what  is  going  on  in 
the  councils  of  the  President.  It  pains  me  to  learn  that  things  there  are  even 
worse  than  is  understood.  The  President  is  debating  day  and  night  on  the 
question  whether  he  shall  not  recall  Major  Anderson  and  surrender  I  ort  Sum¬ 
ter,  and  go  on  arming  the  South.  A  plot  is  forming  to  seize  the  capital  on  or 
before  the  4th  of  March,  and  this,  too,  has  its  accomplices  in  the  public  coun¬ 
cils.  I  could  tell  you  more  particularly  than  I  dare  write,  but  you  must  not 
imagine  that  I  am  giving  you  suspicions  and  rumors.  Believe  me  I  know 
what  I  write.  In  point  of  fact,  the  responsibilities  of  your  Administration 
must  begin  before  the  time  arrives. 

He  also  suggested  that  it  would  be  well  for  Mr.  Lincoln  to  select  bis 
Secretary  of  \Yar  and  of  the  Navy,  so  that  they  might  cooperate  as 
early  as  possible,  in  measures  for  the  public  safety. 

To  his  daughter,  he  wrote: 

December  29. 

You  must  write  me  often,  remembering  that  I  have  no  leisure  to  reply. 
Treason  is  at  work  in  the  States,  and  even  in  the  Cabinet  and  Senate,  to  over¬ 
throw  the  country.  My  time  is  spent  in  conference  and  labor. 

To  Mrs.  Seward,  he  said: 


(Private.') 


December  29. 


Treason  is  all  around  and  amongst  us;  and  plots  to  seize  the  capital,  and 
usurp  the  Government.  I  am  busy,  very  busy,  and  can  write  only  briefly. 


After  another  dav,  he  added: 


( Private .) 

December  30. 

This  Democratic  Administration  has  run  as  far  as  its  Northern  members 
dare  to  go,  in  the  way  of  treason,  until  it  has  to  choose,  between  absolute 
surrender,  from  now  until  the  4th  of  March,  to  the  seceders,  who  mean  ar 
usurpation,  or  else  a  break.  The  President  yesterday  decided  to  stand  on  his 
loyalty.  Floyd  resigned,  and  the  other  seceder  members  will.  But  we  are- 
trembling,  to-day,  lest  he  may  be  overborne  by  seceding  influences,  and  recall 
all.  The  White  House  is  abandoned  to  the  seceders.  They  eat,  drink,  and 
sleep  with  him. 


1860— *61 .] 


PROBABLE  CTVIL  WAR. 


4ST 


(( 


On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  his  son  at  Albany: 

{Private.) 


December  30. 


The  portents  of  the  time  took  away  all  my  rights  of  independent  action.  I 
have  signified  my  assent. 

It  is  not  now  doubtful  that  treason  is  intrenched  in  the  Government;  and 
that  to-day  it  will  either  be  partially  dislodged,  or  will  expel  what  of  loyalty 
remains.  Meantime,  my  future  responsibilities  have  already  begun.  I  have 
more  things  to  do  than  I  can  well  write.  But  it  is  enough  to  say  that  I  have 
need  of  you;  and  yet  I  do  not  know  how  you  can  leave  Albany.  Pray  confer 
with  Mr.  Weed  about  it.  I  need  a  confidential  friend  and  scribe. 


On  the  last  night  of  that  eventful  year,  he  wrote  home: 

December  31. 

This  is  New  Year’s  eve.  I  hope  it  may  find  you  and  all  my  loved  ones  well 
and  happy.  I  have  just  received  your  letter.  I  cannot  think  of  myself,  in 
this  emergency  of  probable  Civil  War  and  Dissolution  of  the  Union.  I  could 
not  be  well  or  happy  at  home,  refusing  to  do  what  I  can,  when  called  to  the 
councils  of  my  country.  There  is  no  fear  of  any  compromise  of  principle  or 
advantage  of  freedom.  If  there  is  such  an  one,  which  I  do  not  expect,  I  shall 
be  no  party  to  it. 


CHAPTER  LII. 

1860-1861. 

Progress  of  Secession  Major  Anderson’s  Movement  to  Sumter.  “Revolutionary  Times.” 
“  Showing  Union  Colors,”  Cabinet  Changes.  Seward  and  Stanton.  Correspondence 
with  the  President-Elect.  Speech  on  “The  State  of  the  Union.”  The  New  Issue. 
Whittier.  Letters  On  the  Situation.  Uniting  the  Union  Men  of  all  Parties.  The 
Admission  of  Kansas.  Petitions  from  New  York.  “  Fighting  for  the  Union.”  More 
Steps  Toward  Disunion.  Slemmer  at  Pickens.  Holt  and  Dix.  Gulf  and  Border 
States.  “The  Government  Can  be  Saved.” 

Every  morning  now,  tlie  papers  were  teeming  with  news  and  dis¬ 
cussions  of  the  progress  of  Secession.  South  Carolina  was  assuming 
the  attitude  of  “  an  independent  power.”  She  had  taken  possession 
of  custom-house,  post-office,  arsenal,  and  forts;  seized  the  United 
States  revenue  cutter,  enrolled  and  mustered  troops,  and  dispatched 
commissioners  to  Washington,  to  open  negotiations  “  between  the  two* 
countries.”  The  “ Stars  and  Stripes”  had  disappeared.  The  “  Pal¬ 
metto  Flag”  was  waving  over  her  Capitol,  and  in  all  public  places. 
Her  local  journals  chronicled  all  events  in  the  North,  under  the  head 
of  “Foreign  News.”  Other  States  were  preparing  to  follow  her  lead. 


490 


ANDERSON  MOVES  TO  SUMTER. 


[I860-’ 61. 


Georgia  was  arming  and  organizing.  Alabama  was  electing  delegates. 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Florida,  and  Arkansas  had  called  conventions. 
Even  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  movements  in  the  same  direction 
were  talked  of.  Southern  Governors  were  conferring  about  “  joint 
action,”  and  a  convention  of  the  Southern  States.  Apparently,  the 
Secession  feeling  was  spreading  throughout  the  whole  South.  Its  pro¬ 
moters  were  active,  and  its  organs  were  loud.  Those  who  gave  it  their 
countenance  were  lauded  as  “patriots;”  those  ivho  opposed  it  were 
stigmatized  as  “  traitors.”  Even  the  cautious,  who  remained  quiet, 
were  suspected.  Andrew  Johnson,  whose  outspoken  “Unionism” 
was  in  marked  contrast  to  the  course  of  his  fellow-Senators  from  the 
South,  was  denounced  with  bitterness,  and  burned  in  effigy. 

While  the  Secession  tide  was  thus  rapidly  rolling  over  the  South,  no 
opposing  sentiment  seemed  yet  to  develop  in  the  North.  In  the  free 
States,  public  events  were  watched  with  curiosity  and  interest,  but 
without  concert  of  opinion  or  action.  Presses  and  politicians  dis¬ 
cussed  public  questions  from  their  party  stand-points,  as  they  had  be¬ 
fore  the  election.  Kepublicans  inveighed  against  “the  madness  of 
pro-slavery  leaders.”  Democrats  adduced  points  in  their  justification 
or  excuse.  Conservative  Union  men  blamed  “both  the  great  parties  ” 
for  “agitation.”  Disunion  sentiments  were  avowed  in  Northern 
streets,  and  echoed  in  Northern  journals.  Arms  were  openly  pur¬ 
chased  in  Northern  manufactories,  and  shipped  to  the  South.  The 
Northern  habit  of  belief  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  was  so 
strong,  that  it  was  hard  to  realize  that  the  national  existence  could  be 
in  danger,  or  that  this  “political  flurry  ”  would  not  sooner  or  later 
pass  away,  as  all  others  had. 

Yet  the  outlook  at  Washington  was  any  thing  but  reassuring. 
The  Secessionists  were  exulting  in  their  successive  triumphs,  and  in¬ 
creasing  strength.  The  Federal  Government  seemed  powerless,  or  un¬ 
willing  to  resist  them.  Christmas  week,  however,  had  brought  one 
gleam  of  cheering  intelligence  —  the  announcement,  on  the  morning  of 
the  27th,  that  Major  Anderson  had,  with  quiet  celerity  and  success, 
transferred  his  command,  in  the  night,  from  their  exposed  position  at 
Fort  Moultrie,  to  the  stronger  one  in  Fort  Sumter.  The  flag  was 
still  waving  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  its  little  band  of  defenders  were, 
for  the  present  at  least,  not  likely  to  be  molested.  Seward  wrote 
home: 

Washington,  January  3,  1861. 

New  Year’s  Day  brought  me  shoals  of  visitors,  but  I  received  them  unosten¬ 
tatiously. 

The  revolution  gathers  apace.  It  has  its  abettors  in  the  White  House,  the 


I860-’ 61.] 


CHANGES  IN  BUCHANAN’S  CABINET. 


491 


Treasury,  the  Interior,  and  we  are  powerless  to  rally  the  President  to  defend 
the  United  States,  or  even  himself. 

I  have  assumed  a  sort  of  dictatorship  for  defense;  and  am  laboring  night 
and  day,  with  the  cities  and  States.  My  hope,  rather  my  confidence,  is  un¬ 
abated.  My  letters  must  be  short,  and  I  fear  less  frequent.  But  I  shall  not 
forget  you  all. 

To  his  son  lie  wrote: 

January  4. 

Come  when  you  can.  It  is  revolutionary  times  here. 

One  clay  during  the  holiday  season,  while  walking  through  the 
streets  of  Washington,  a  significant  fact  arrested  his  attention.  There 
was  not  an  American  flag  to  be  seen.  Even  hotels  and  places  of 
amusement  “showed  no  colors/’  Those  who  cherished  sympathies 
with  Secession  had  already  come  to  regard  the  national  flag  with  dis¬ 
like.  Their  Union  neighbors  deemed  it  prudent  to  avoid  giving- 
offense.  Seward  told  the  latter  that  every  flag  would  be  a  help,  in 
strengthening  wavering  minds,  and  in  developing  Union  talk  and 
sentiment.  Under  his  advice,  flags  began  to  appear  on  places  of 
business  and  private  residences,  in  Washington.  He  also  sent  men 
on  to  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  other  Northern  cities, 
to  urge  those  who  had  flags,  to  hoist  them.  It  was  one  of  the  first 
steps  that  Republicans  and  loyal  Democrats  found  they  could  take 
together. 

It  was  supposed  that  the  policy  of  the  Administration  had  been 
foreshadowed  in  the  President’s  message;  and  the  public  had  little 
expectation  of  any  decisive  action  in  that  quarter.  But  soon  came 
rumors  of  Cabinet  differences,  followed  by  significant  changes  in  the 
personnel  of  the  Cabinet  itself.  Cobb  had  resigned  the  Treasury;  and 
had  been  succeeded  by  Thomas.  General  Cass,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
had  resigned;  and  it  was  announced  that  the  reason  for  his  retirement 
was  that  he  would  not  concur  in  the  refusal  to  reinforce  Major 
Anderson.  Judge  Black,  the  Attorney-General,  was  transferred  to 
the  Department  of  State;  and  Edwin  M.  Stanton  was  appointed  At¬ 
torney-General  in  his  stead.  A  fortnight  later  the  columns  of  the 
newspapers  were  full  of  startling  intelligence  about  “  Floyd’s  accept¬ 
ances,”  and  “  Thompson’s  defalcations,  and  disloyalty.”  When  the 
former  resigned,  Postmaster-General  Holt  was  transferred  to  the 
charge  of  the  War  Department.  Though  Cabinet  discussions  are  pri¬ 
vate,  and  rumors  of  Cabinet  action  are  often  distorted,  yet  the  public 
had  no  difficulty,  this  time,  in  reaching  the  right  conclusion.  It  was 
evident  that  the  Secessionists  were  withdrawing  from  the  Cabinet, 
because  they  could  not  control  it;  and  that  the  changes  were  in  the 


492 


SEWARD  AND  STANTON. 


[I860-’ 61. 


direction  of  greater  loyalty  and  greatei4  vigor.  This  conviction  was 
strengthened,  when,  at  a  later  date,  John  A.  Dix  was  called  to  the 
Treasury;  and  Horatio  King  made  Postmaster-General. 

In  the  course  of  his  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court,  Seward  had 
met  Mr.  Stanton,  who  was  engaged  in  similar  duties.  Though  op¬ 
posed  in  politics,  a  pleasant  personal  acquaintance  had  ensued.  Mr. 
Stanton  had  now  become  the  Attorney-General.  Desirable  as  it  was,, 
for  the  public  welfare,  that  there  should  be  occasional  conference  be¬ 
tween  the  Democratic  Cabinet  officers,  and  the  Republican  Senatorial 
leader  —  no  such  intercourse  could  well  be  held,  without  exciting 
jealous  scrutiny  and  suspicions,  which  would  defeat  its  usefulness. 
However,  a  legal  phrase,  accidentally  hit  upon,  proved  so  good  a  cover, 
that  it  was  used  during  the  winter.  “Has  anyone  called  while  I  was 
at  the  Senate  ?  ”  Seward  would  ask  on  coming  home.  “  Yes,5’  would 
be  the  reply,  “Mr.  Watson  was  here  to  talk  about  the  patent  ease.” 
Late  one  evening  a  visitor  found  Seward  in  his  basement  office  with 
Mr.  Stanton  —  and  retired,  on  finding  they  were  engaged  in  close  con¬ 
sultation  over  the  “patent  case.” 

When  the  nomination  of  General  Dix,  for  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
was  sent  in  to  the  Senate,  Mr.  Stanton  went  up  to  the  Capitol,  to 
urge  prompt  action  upon  it.  While  many  of  the  Northern  Democrats 
were  ready  to  listen  to  him,  the  Secessionists  were  adverse.  Meeting 
Seward,  and  informing  him  of  the  reasons  for  the  nomination,  the 
latter  gave  it  his  hearty  support,  and  urged  his  Kepublican  colleagues 
to  join  in  confirming  it. 

His  correspondence  with  the  President-elect  continued,  thus: 

{Private. ) 

Springfield,  III.,  January  3,  1861. 

Yours  without  signature,  was  received  last  night.  I  have  been  considering 
your  suggestions  as  to  my  reaching  Washington  somewhat  earlier  than  is 
usual.  It  seems  to  me  the  inauguration  is  not  the  most  dangerous  point  for 
us.  Our  adversaries  have  us  now  clearly  at  disadvantage,  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  February,  when  the  votes  should  be  officially  counted.  If  the 
two  Houses  refuse  to  meet  at  all,  or  meet  without  a  quorum  of  each,  where 
shall  we  be?  I  do  not  think  that  this  counting  is  constitutionally  essential  to 
the  election,  but  how  are  we  to  proceed  in  the  absence  of  it?  In  view  of  this, 
I  think  it  is  best  for  me  not  to  attempt  appearing  in  Washington,  till  the  re¬ 
sult  of  that  ceremony  is  known. 

It  certainly  would  be  of  some  advantage,  if  you  could  know  who  are  to  be 
at  the  heads  of  the  War  and  Navy  departments,  but  until  I  can  ascertain  defi¬ 
nitely  whether  I  can  get  any  suitable  men  from  the  South,  and  who,  and  how 
many,  I  cannot  well  decide.  As  yet,  I  have  no  word  from  Mr.  Gilmer  in  an- 


1860— *  61 .  ] 


LINCOLN’S  CABINET  APPOINTMENTS. 


493 


swer  to  my  request  for  an  interview  with  him  —  I  look  for  something  on  the 
subject,  through  you,  before  long. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Washington,  January  8,  18G1. 

Mr.  Gilmer  has  written  home,  confidentially,  and  will  give  me  an  answer  in 
&  few  days.  He  is  inquiring  about  Randall  Hunt.  What  do  you  know  of 
Meredith  P.  Gentry  of  Tennessee?  He  is  very  able,  and  very  loyal. 

For  the  present,  the  alarms  about  the  capital  have  passed  over.  But  our 
friends  think,  as  I  still  do,  that  it  may  be  well  for  you  to  be  here  earlier  than 
usual.  I  will  hope  that  you  will  hold  yourself  in  readiness,  and  from  time  to  * 
time  write  you  on  that  point. 

With  great  respect,  your  friend, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

{Private.) 

Springfield,  III.,  January  12,  1861. 

Yours  of  the  8th  received.  I  still  hope  Mr.  Gilmer  will,  on  a  fair  under¬ 
standing  with  us,  consent  to  take  a  place  in  the  Cabinet.  The  preference  for 
him  over  Mr.  Hunt  or  Mr.  Gentry  is,  that,  up  to  date,  he  has  a  living  position 
in  the  South,  while  they  have  not.  He  is  only  better  than  Winter  Davis,  in 
that  he  is  farther  South.  I  fear,  if  we  could  get,  we  could  not  safely  take 
more  than  one  such  man  —  that  is,  not  more  than  one  who  opposed  us  in  the 
election  —  the  danger  being  to  lose  the  confidence  of  our  own  friends.  Your 
selection  for  the  State  Department  having  become  public,  I  am  happy  to  find 
scarcely  any  objection  to  it.  I  shall  have  trouble  with  every  other  Northern 
Cabinet  appointment  —  so  much  so,  that  I  shall  have  to  defer  them  as  long  as 
possible,  to  avoid  being  teased  into  insanity,  to  make  changes. 

Your  obt.  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

As  these  letters  imply,  Seward  was  now  in  frequent  conference 
with  loyal  men  of  both  sections,  and  of  all  parties,  whom  the  threat¬ 
ened  danger  to  the  country  drew  together.  With  the  Union  members 
of  the  Cabinet,  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Secessionists,  his  acquaint¬ 
ance  ripened  into  intimacy.  Three  of  them,  Messrs.  Stanton,  Holt, 
and  Dix,  were  already  manifesting  that  energetic  loyalty  which  made 
them  afterward  so  effective  in  the  war. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  Seward  rose  in  his  place  in  the  Senate  to 
speak  “on  the  state  of  the  Union.”  A  listener,  describing  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  the  chamber,  wrote: 

The  scene  before,  and  during  the  delivery  of  the  speech,  was  almost  unpar¬ 
alleled  in  the  Senate.  By  ten  o’clock  every  seat  in  the  gallery  was  filled,  and 
by  eleven  the  cloak-rooms  and  all  the  passages  were  choked  up,  and  a  thou¬ 
sand  men  and  women  stood  outside  the  doors,  waiting  to  catch  the  words  of 


494 


A  PLEA  FOR  THE  UNIOFT. 


[1860- '61* 


the  speaker  when  he  should  commence.  He  did  not  take  the  floor  till  nearly 
one  o’clock.  Several  hundred  came  on  from  Baltimore  to  hear  it,  and  the  curi¬ 
osity  among  the  Southern  men  here  to  listen  to  it  was  intense.  The  Senators- 
and  Representatives  paid  the  utmost  attention,  and  the  galleries  were  as  quiet 
as  their  suffocating  condition  would  warrant.  It  was  the  fullest  house  of  the 
session,  and  by  far  the  most  respectful  one. 

During  the  delivery  of  portions  of  the  speech,  Senators  were  in  tears.  When 
the  sad  picture  of  the  country,  divided  into  confederacies,  was  given,  Mr. 
Crittenden,  who  sat  immediately  before  the  orator,  was  completely  overcome 
by  his  emotions,  and  bowed  his  white  head  to  weep. 

In  this  speech,  he  said,  that  “Union  is  not  more  the  body  than 
liberty  is  the  soul  of  the  nation.  The  American  citizen  has  been  ac¬ 
customed  to  believe  the  republic  immortal.  He  shrinks  from  the 
sight  of  convulsions  indicative  of  its  sudden  death.”  Adding  that 
certainly  now  it  was  time  for  every  Senator  to  declare  himself,  ho 
said : 

I,  therefore,  following  the  example  of  the  noble  Senator  from  Tennessee  (Mr. 
Johnson),  avow  my  adherence  to  the  Union  in  its  integrity  and  with  all  its 
parts,  with  my  friends,  with  my  party,  with  my  state,  with  my  country,  or 
without  either,  as  they  may  determine ;  in  every  event,  whether  of  peace  or 
of  war,  with  every  consequence  of  honor  or  dishonor,  of  life  or  death. 

Adverting  then  to  the  question  of  saving  the  Union,  he  remarked 
that  at  least  “it  was  easy  to  pronounce  what  would  not  save  it.”  It 
could  not  be  saved  by  “mutual  criminations  and  recriminations,”  nor 
by  “  a  continuance  of  the  debate  over  slavery  in  the  Territories,”  nor 
by  “  proving  that  secession  is  illegal,”  nor  by  discussing  the  right  of 
the  Federal  Government  “to  coerce  seceding  States,”  nor  by  “Con¬ 
gressional  compromises,”  nor  by  “some  cunning  and  insincere  com¬ 
pact  of  pacification.” 

He  discussed  at  some  length  the  fallacies  upon  which  the  Secession¬ 
ists  were  building  their  plans,  and  described  the  consequences  and 
effects  of  disunion.  “Dissolution,”  said  he,  “  is  for  the  people  of  this 
country,  perpetual  civil  war.”  Showing  that  the  proposed  disunion 
had  no  grounds,  or  even  excuse,  except  that  a  President  of  the  United 
States,  unacceptable  to  a  portion  of  the  people,  had  been  dulyand  con¬ 
stitutionally  elected,  he  said: 

I  know  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  alarms  and  somewhat  exposed  to  acci¬ 
dents.  We  already  have  disorder,  and  violence  has  begun.  I  know  not  to 
what  extent  it  may  go.  Still  my  faith  in  the  Constitution  and  in  the  Union 
abides.  Whatever  dangers  there  shall  be,  there  will  be  the  determination  to 
meet  them.  Whatever  sacrifices,  private  or  public,  shall  be  needful  for  the 
Union,  they  will  be  made.  I  feel  sure  that  the  hour  has  not  come  for  this- 
great  nation  to  fall. 


1 SCO- ’61.] 


FEDERAL  AND  STATE  SOVEREIGNTY. 


495 


The  speecli  was  listened  to  with  deep  attention.  Seward  had  ob¬ 
served  carefully,  and  thought  deeply  in  regard  to  the  critical  state  of 
the  country.  He  had  become  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the 
struggle  over  the  extension  of  slavery  had  been  ended  by  the  success 
of  the  Republicans  in  the  election;  that  it  was  now  necessary  to  rouse 
the  public  mind  to  the  inevitable  change  of  issue.  It  would  now  be, 
not  “  for  and  against  slavery  extension/’  but  “for  and  against  the 
Union.”  “Freedom  would  be  saved  with  the  Union,  and  could  not 
be  saved  without  it.”  But  while  these  convictions  were  clear  enough 
to  his  mind,  others  were  slower  in  reaching  them.  The  mass  of  the 
Northern  people  were  still  thinking  that  their  line  of  political  duty 
was  in  the  direction  of  sustaining  one  or  the  other  of  the  great  parties. 
Simple  and  straight-forward  as  was  Seward’s  logic  in  behalf  of  the 
Union,  it  was  a  puzzle  and  an  enigma  to  many  at  the  time,  who  thought 
the  speech  must  have  some  hidden  purpose,  other  than  its  declared 
one.  Three  months  later,  however,  they  found  themselves  thinking 
just  as  he  did. 

Now  arose  an  animated  discussion,  in  the  press,  as  to  the  powers  of 
the  General  Government.  “  State  Sovereignty”  had  so  long  been  a 
cardinal  doctrine  of  political  belief,  and  the  limits  and  restrictions  of 
the  Federal  power  had  been  so  generally  conceded,  that  a  maze  of  con¬ 
flicting  theories  were  in  vogue,  as  to  how  far  the  Federal  Government 
could  “coerce  a  State,”  if,  indeed,  it  could  coerce  one  at  all.  It  is 
difficult,  now,  to  realize  the  importance  given  to  these  questions  in 
1861.  The  lapse  of  twenty-five  years,  and  the  experiences  of  civil 
war,  if  they  have  not  simplified  the  relations  of  the  Federal  and  State 
Governments,  have  at  least  simplified  men’s  ideas  about  them  —  and 
school  boys,  to-day,  would  promptly  solve  questions  that  puzzled 
statesmen  then.  Thousands  of  earnest,  sincere,  and  patriotic  men, 
who,  a  few  months  later,  were  ready  to  peril  their  lives  in  defense  of 
the  Government,  were,  during  this  winter  and  spring,  in  a  fog  of 
doubt,  as  to  whether  any  thing  in  the  shape  of  physical  force  could 
lawfully  be  employed  against  the  seceders. 

And  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  problem  was  a  far  simpler 
one  for  the  Republican  than  it  was  for  the  loyal  Democrat.  The  one, 
in  supporting  the  Government,  would  be  supporting  an  Administra¬ 
tion  for  which  he  had  voted.  The  other  would  be  lending  his  aid  to 
those  whom  he  had  honestly  opposed  at  the  polls.  To  rise  from  par¬ 
tisanship  to  patriotism  requires  more  virtue  than  merely  to  combine 
the  two  enthusiasms  into  one. 

After  the  delivery  of  the  speech,  Seward  wrote  home: 


.496 


Whittier's  “i  thank  thee.” 


[I860-’ 61. 


January  13. 

It  has  been  many  days  since  I  wrote  you.  I  have  done  much  hard  work, 
and  passed  through,  or  rather  entered  into,  a  new  ordeal.  The  people  of  the 
South,  all  of  the  Southern  States,  are  in  the  lead  of  reckless  politicians.  The 
Government  is  yet  in  their  hands.  They  are  bent  on  coercing  the  free  States 
into  a  recognition  of  slavery,  and  failing  that,  into  a  civil  war  and  disunion. 

The  North  is  divided.  Two-thirds  of  the  Republican  Senators  are  as  reck¬ 
less  in  action  as  the  South.  They  imagine  that  the  Government  can  go  on,  and 
conquer  the  South,  while  they,  themselves,  sit  still  and  see  the  work  done. 
Without  compromising  any  principle,  I  have  shown  the  disposition  I  feel,  to 
put  aside  this  evil.  I  could  not  compromise  a  principle,  if  I  would,  for  there 
is  nobody  to  go  with  me. 

Distraction  rules  the  hour.  I  hope  what  I  have  done  will  bring  some  good 
fruits,  and,  in  any  case,  clear  my  own  conscience  of  responsibility,  if,  indeed, 

I  am  to  engage  in  conducting  a  war  against  a  portion  of  the  American  people. 

January  14. 

The  city  is  bewildered  by  the  speech.  But  things  look  better. 

Whittier's  beautiful  lines  were  in  response  to  this  speech: 

TO  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

“  Statesman,  I  thank  thee!  — and  if  yet  dissent 
Mingles,  reluctant,  with  my  large  content, 

I  cannot  censure  what  was  nobly  meant. 

( 

But  while  constrained  to  hold  even  Union  less 
Than  Liberty,  and  Truth,  and  Righteousness, 

I  thank  thee,  in  the  sweet  and  holy  name 
Of  Peace,  for  wise,  calm  words,  that  put  to  shame 
Passion  and  party.  Courage  may  be  shown 
Not  in  defiance  of  the  wrong  alone; 

He  may  be  bravest,  who,  unweaponed,  bears 
The  olive  branch,  and  strong  in  justice  spares 
The  rash  wrong-doer,  giving  widest  scope 
To  Christian  charity,  and  generous  hope. 

If  -without  damage  to  the  sacred  cause 
Of  Freedom,  and  the  safeguard  of  its  laws  — 

If,  without  yielding  that  for  which  alone 
We  prize  the  Union,  thou  canst  save  it  now, 

From  a  baptism  of  blood,  upon  thy  brow 
A  wreath  whose  flowers  no  earthly  soil  has  known 
Woven  of  the  beatitudes,  shall  rest; 

And  the  peace-maker  be  forever  blest !  ” 

In  a  letter  ,to  Mrs.  Seward,  he  said : 

January  18. 

I  am  not  surprised  that  you  do  not  like  the  “concessions’’  in  my  speech. 

You  will  soon  enough  come  to  see  that  they  are  not  compromises,  but  explana- 


I860-’  61.  J 


497 


“  UNION  OR  DISUNION.” 

tions,  to  disarm  the  enemies  of  Truth,  Freedom,  and  Union,  of  their  most 
effective  weapons. 

I  am  trying  to  get  home;  but  as  yet  I  see  no  chance.  It  seems  to  me  that  if 
I  am  absent  only  three  days,  this  Administration,  the  Congress,  and  the  Dis¬ 
trict  would  fall  into  consternation  and  despair.  I  am  the  only  hopeful,  calm , 
conciliatory  person  here.  All  are  wanting  to  be  saved;  but  every  one  insists 
that  he  will  bathe  in  Abana,  or  Pharphar  only,  and  perish,  rather  than  seek 
health  in  the  turbid  waters  of  Jordan.  One  friend  came  in  this  morning  to 
tell  me  that  there  are  two  thousand  armed  conspirators  in  the  city,  and  the 
Mayor  is  secretly  with  them.  He  will  go  out  to  reassure  the  people.  It  was 
just  so  last  night,  in  a  Republican  caucus  of  Senators.  There  is  no  courage, 
or  courtesy,  and  not  one  word  is  said  to  disarm  prejudice  and  passion,  and  en¬ 
courage  loyalty.  They  invoke  arms ;  but  arms  ought  to  be  the  last  resort ;  and 
even  they  will  not  come  at  the  call  of  impracticable  statesmen. 

Writing  to  Weed,  lie  said: 

January  21. 

The  plots  against  the  city  are  at  an  end.  South  Carolina  defers  war  until 
after  the  4th  of  March.  It  will  do  no  harm  to  have  Georgia  explode.  Every¬ 
thing  now  depends  on  Lincoln’s  Inaugural.  I  shall  write  to  him  about  that. 

Before  I  spoke,  not  one  utterance  made  for  the  Union  elicited  a  response  in 
either  House,  while  every  assault  brought  down  full  galleries.  Since  I  spoke, 
there  have  not  been  four  hundred  persons  in  the  galleries  any  day,  and  every 
word  for  the  Union  brings  forth  a  cheering  response.  Cheerfulness  and  hope 
are  now  the  needful  watch-words.  The  factions  here  are  so  exacting  about 
the  Cabinet,  that  I  am  thinking  of  slipping  off  to  Auburn  for  a  few  days. 
But  I  don’t  quite  determine  to  do  so,  wTanting  confirmation  of  my  hopes  of 
tranquillity. 

Two  days  later,  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward : 

January  23. 

Mad  men  North,  and  mad  men  South,  are  working  together  to  produce  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  by  civil  war.  The  present  Administration  and  the 
incoming  one  unite  in  devolving  on  me  the  responsibility  of  averting  those 
disasters.  My  own  party  trusts  me,  but  not  without  reservation.  All  the 
other  parties,  North  and  South,  cast  themselves  upon  me.  What  I  say  and  do 
is  said  and  done,  not  in  view  of  personal  objects,  but  of  such  fearful  respon¬ 
sibilities,  and  I,  in  this  case,  above  all  others,  am  looking,  or  rather  leaving,  to 
posterity  to  decide  upon  my  action  and  conduct. 

Once  for  all,  I  must  gain  time  for  the  new  Administration  to  organize  and 
for  the  frenzy  of  passion  to  subside.  I  am  doing  this  without  making  any 
compromise  whatever,  by  forbearance,  conciliation,  magnanimity. 

A  letter  to  his  daughter  said: 

I  am  having  a  very  busy  time.  My  letters  number  seventy  or  eighty  a 
day.  Many  of  them  scold  me  for  surrendering  my  principles,  and  those  of  my 
party,  to  avert  civil  war  and  dissolution  of  the  Union,  which  the  letter-writ- 
32 


498 


KANSAS  ADMITTED. 


[I860-’ 61. 


ers  think  are  very  nice  pleasures  for  statesmen  and  rulers  to  entertain  the  coun¬ 
try  with.  About  as  many  denounce  me  because  I  will  give  up  nothing  at  all, 
not  even  prejudices  or  caprices,  to  save  peace  and  the  Union  —  the  most  es¬ 
timable  of  all  blessings.  The  new  Administration  is  yet  forty  days  off,  but  the 
labors  for  its  incoming  embarrass  me. 

On  the  21st,  he  moved  in  the  Senate  to  take  up  the  bill  for  the  ad¬ 
mission  of  Kansas.  A  debate  arose  upon  the  question  of  amending 
it.  He  remarked: 

If  there  is  any  community  in  this  country  which  is  entitled  to  any  right,  at 
the  hands  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  it  is  the  people  of  Kansas,  to 
be  admitted  into  this  Union  now. 

A  vote  was  reached,  and  when  the  yeas  and  nays  were  called  the  bill 
passed  by  3G  to  16.  The  Northern  Democrats  joined  with  the  Re¬ 
publicans,  this  time,  and  voted  for  admission  —  as  did  two  Southern 
Senators,  John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky,  and  Andrew  Johnson 
of  Tennessee.  The  latter  was  the  only  Southern  Democrat  who  voted 
for  it;  all  the  others  combined  solidly  against  it. 

So  ended  the  long  struggle.  President  Buchanan  signed  the  bill 
on  the  29th,  and  Kansas  came  into  the  Union  a  free  State,  under  the 
Constitution  which  had  been  framed  at  Wyandotte  in  1859. 

In  New  York  and  other  cities  public  opinion  was  profoundly 
stirred  by  the  threatened  disruption  of  the  Union.  Meetings  were 
held,  and  the  outcome  of  one  of  them  was  a  mammoth  petition  for¬ 
warded  to  Seward,  to  be  laid  before  the  Senate,  praying  for  “  the  ex¬ 
ercise  of  the  best  wisdom  of  Congress,  in  finding  some  plan  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  troubles  which  endanger  the  safety  of  the  nation/’ 
When  he  rose  on  the  30th  of  January,  to  comply  with  their  request, 
he  said: 

Excepting  the  House  of  Representatives,  this  Senate  Chamber  is  the  largest 
hall  that  is,  or  ever  has  been,  occupied  by  a  legislative  assembly.  The  memo¬ 
rial  which  I  am  charged  to  present  is  of  such  a  length,  that  if  extended,  it 
would  cross  the  Senate  Chamber,  in  its  extremest  length,  eighteen  times.  I 
have  already  presented  memorials  from  the  city  of  New  York  signed  by 
twenty-five  thousand  citizens.  This  memorial  bears  the  signatures  of  thirty- 
eight  thousand  more,  making  in  the  whole  sixty -three  thousand  of  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  that  city,  who  thus  appeal  to  the  Senate. 

I  have  asked  them,  also,  that  at  home  they  will  act  in  the  same  spirit,  and 
manifest  their  devotion  to  the  Union,  above  all  other  interests,  by  speaking 
for  the  Union;  by  voting  for  the  Union;  by  lending  and  giving  their  money 
for  the  Union;  and,  in  the  last  resort,  fighting  for  the  Union;  —  taking  care, 
always,  that  speaking  goes  before  voting,  voting  goes  before  giving  money, 
and  all  go  before  a  battle.  This  is  the  spirit  in  which  I  have  determined  for 
myself  to  come  up  to  this  great  question,  and  to  pass  through  it. 


1860-’61.J 


VIEWS  OF  SOUTHERN  LEADERS. 


499 


Alluding  to  the  threats  which  had  been  freely  made  of  dissolution 
of  the  Union  before  the  4th  of  March,  he  said: 

I  have  not  beeu  so  rash  as  to  expect  that  in  sixty  days,  which  have  been  al¬ 
lowed  to  us  since  the  meeting  of  Congress — and  I  will  be  frank  in  saying  that 
I  have  not  expected  that  in  the  ninety  days,  which  are  the  allotted  term  of  Con¬ 
gress —  this  great  controversy  would  certainly  be  adjusted,  peace  restored,  and 
the  Union  firmly  reestablished.  I  knew  that  sixty  days  or  ninety  days  was 
the  term  that  was  fixed  with  definite  objects  and  purposes,  by  that  portion  of 
my  fellow-citizens  who  thought  that  it  would  advance  the  interests  of  the 
States  to  which  they  belonged,  to  dissever  the  Union.  I  have  felt  sure  that 
there  would  be  time,  even  after  the  expiration  of  ninety  days,  for  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  all  that  had  been  lost,  and  for  the  reestablishment  of  all  that  was 
in  danger. 

Adverting  then  to  the  discussions  still  going  on  between  Southern 
and  Northern  men  on  the  slavery  question,  he  said: 

There  has  been  a  real,  a  vital  question  in  this  country  for  twelve  years  at 
least  —  a  question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
strongest  in  its  development  in  1850.  It  has  been  an  earnest  and  an  angry 
controversy,  but  the  admission  of  Kansas  into  the  Union  yesterday  settled  at 
least  all  that  was  vital  or  important  in  the  question,  leaving  behind  nothing 
but  the  passions  which  the  contest  had  engendered.  Kansas  is  in  the  Union; 
California  and  Oregon  are  in  the  Union.  This  then  has  ceased  to  be  a  practi¬ 
cal  question.  In  lieu  of  it  comes  up  a  great,  vital,  and  fearful  question  —  the 
question  of  Union  or  dissolution  of  the  Union  —  the  question  of  country,  or  of 
no  country. 

These  remarks  led  to  a  colloquy  in  which  he  was  charged  with 
recommending  “  battle  and  bloodshed  to  restore  the  Union. ”  He 
replied,  ‘‘not  to  restore  —  to  preserve.” 

The  colloquy  was  instructive  in  showing  what  really  was  the 
<e  method  ”  in  the  Secession  “  madness.”  Apparently  the  more  saga¬ 
cious  of  the  Southern  leaders  believed,  at  this  time,  that  their  States 
could  withdraw  from  the  Union,  arm  themselves,  and  wait  quietly 
until  they  were  attacked.  Then,  if  attacked,  they  would  be  “  fighting 
for  their  independence  and  their  homes.”  And  when  were  so  many 
millions  of  people,  so  united  in  sentiment,  and  occupying  so  vast  a 
territory,  ever  subjugated?  This  theory  was  a  plausible  one,  though  it 
overlooked  the  important  fact  that  many  and  varied  links  still  con¬ 
nected  the  seceding  States  with  the  Federal  Government.  When  at  a 
later  date  they  forgot  their  theory,  and  strove  to  snap  those  links  by 
force,  they  abandoned  this  ground,  becoming  themselves  the  attacking 
party,  and  driving  Union  men  to  rally  in  defense  of  the  capital. 

And  now  the  drama  of  Secession  was  rapidly  unfolding  its  success¬ 
ive  scenes.  Every  morning  the  newspapers  brought  intelligence  of 


500 


SECESSION  SPREADING. 


[I860-’ 61. 


some  new  step  toward  disintegration  of  the  Union.  Georgia  had 
adopted  an  Ordinance  of  Secession,  and  seized  the  United  States  forts 
that  guarded  her  harbors.  North  Carolina,  though  she  had  not 
yet  seceded,  took  military  possession  of  the  forts  at  Beaufort  and 
Wilmington.  Alabama  seized  Fort  Morgan  and  the  Arsenal  at  Mobile, 
and  a  week  later  adopted  a  Secession  Ordinance.  Mississippi  adopted 
a  like  Ordinance  within  two  days  after  the  assembling  of  her  Conven¬ 
tion.  Louisiana  seceded  and  seized  the  forts  at  New  Orleans  and  the 
Arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge.  Texas  followed  her  neighbor's  example  and 
took  similar  action.  Florida  adopted  an  Ordinance  of  Secession  in 
due  form,  and  then  proceeded  to  seize  Fort  Barrancas  and  the  Pensa¬ 
cola  Navy  Yard,  but  was  baffled  in  attempting  to  seize  Fort  Pickens, 
by  Lieutenant  Slemmer's  moving  his  small  force  of  United  States 
troops  into  that  work  and  refusing  to  surrender.  Such  readiness  had 
been  shown  in  surrendering  troops,  buildings,  and  vessels,  hauling 
down  flags,  and  turning  over  Government  property  in  most  of  the  Gulf 
States,  that  it  was  evident  that  many  officers  were  in  sympathy  with 
the  rebels.  The  two  notable  examples  of  a  different  spirit  manifested 
by  Anderson  at  Sumter,  and  Slemmer  at  Pickens,  therefore  attracted 
universal  attention  and  excited  deep  interest  throughout  the  North. 
The  unsuccessful  attempt  to  reinforce  and  provision  Major  Anderson, 
and  the  firing  upon  the  Star  of  the  West  intensified  this  feeling. 
The  coming  of  Commissioners  from  South  Carolina,  as  on  behalf  of 
an  independent  State,  to  open  negotiations  with  the  Government  at 
Washington,  was  the  theme  of  a  thousand  wild  rumors,  only  silenced, 
when,  at  last,  it  was  formally  announced  that  the  President  had  de¬ 
clined  to  receive  them.  Then  followed  the  resolutions  of  the  South 
Carolina  Legislature,  that  “  any  attempt  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter 
will  be  regarded  as  a  declaration  of  war,”  and  the  formal  demand 
of  the  Governor  for  its  surrender,  refused  by  Secretary  Holt,  in  a  let¬ 
ter  full  of  vigorous  patriotism.  This  was  hailed  with  satisfaction 
throughout  the  free  States,  as  was  the  emphatic  telegram  of  Secretary 
Dix,  in  regard  to  the  revenue  cutters:  “  If  any  person  attempts  to 
haul  down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the  spot!” 

So  far,  the  incipient  rebellion  appeared  to  be  confined  to  the  Gulf 
States,  which,  if  not  already  united,  were  rapidly  becoming  so.  The 
border  States,  however,  were  not  yet  prepared  to  go  with  them.  While 
there  was  an  active  body  of  Secessionists  in  each,  the  majority  of  the 
people  seemed  disposed  to  adhere  to  the  Union.  Delaware,  when  in¬ 
vited  to  join  in  the  disunion  movement,  formally  expressed  her  “  un¬ 
qualified  disapproval.”  Virginia  called  a  Convention,  but  also  pro¬ 
posed  a  Peace  Conference.  Tennessee,  at  her  election,  decided  against 


1861.] 


GAINING  TIME  FOR  THE  UNION. 


501 


a  Secession  Convention.  In  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  North 
Carolina,  and  Arkansas,  the  disunionists  had,  thus  far,  failed  of  suc¬ 
cess.  Yet  none  of  these  States  had  any  especial  sympathy  for  the  in¬ 
coming  Republican  Administration.  The  political  situation  was  re¬ 
plete  with  perplexity.  Gloomy  apprehensions  and  distrust  were  wide¬ 
spread.  The  alarming  depreciation  of  United  States  securities,  in 
Wall  street,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  funds  to  carry  on  the  ordi¬ 
nary  operations  of  the  Government,  showed  to  how  low  an  ebb  the 
national  credit  had  fallen  at  home,  while  abroad,  the  speedy  dissolu¬ 
tion  of  the  American  Republic  was  generally  looked  upon  as  a  fore¬ 
gone  conclusion.  Seward’s  faith  was  unshaken.  In  all  his  letters  and 
conversation,  he  adhered  to  his  opinion,  and  reiterated  his  belief : 
“  The  Government  can  be  saved,  if  not  betrayed  before  the  Fourth 
of  March.” 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

1861. 

The  Coming  Storm.  Activity  of  Secessionists.  Alarm  in  Washington.  The  Virginia 
Electioo.  Tennessee  for  the  Union.  The  Peace  Conference.  A  Lull.  Plans  for 
Compromise.  Lincoln’s  Letters.  The  Electoral  Count.  Seward’s  Successor.  The 
Last  Month  in  the  Senate.  Change  of  Congressional  Feeling.  Parting  with  Associ¬ 
ates.  Preparations  for  Inauguration  Day. 

Throughout  the  South  the  advocates  of  secession  were  busy  — 
haranguing  public  bodies,  and  endeavoring  to  bring  about  a  combi¬ 
nation  of  all  the  slave-holding  States.  The  Stars  and  Stripes  disap¬ 
peared  from  view  in  Southern  cities,  or  were  only  shown,  to  be  treated 
with  jeers  and  insults.  It  was  announced  that  Louisiana  had  appointed 
a  “  Committee  of  Public  Safety,”  and  had  completed  her  severance  of 
relations,  by  seizing  the  Mint  and  Custom-Hpuse,  at  New  Orleans. 
News  came  that  General  Twiggs,  of  the  Army,  had  turned  over  his 
whole  command  to  the  rebels.  Swiftly  followed  intelligence  of  a  con¬ 
vention  of  the  seceded  States,  held  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  where 
steps  were  taken  to  establish  a  Confederate  Government,  with  Davis 
and  Stephens  for  President  and  Vice-President.  Rumors  were  soon 
afloat  about  plots  to  seize  Washington.  Volunteer  companies  were 
mustering  and  drilling  in  Southern  towns.  Alarm  spread  abroad. 
Trade  was  arrested. 

A  letter  from  Washington  (F.  W.  S.)  described  some  of  the  inci¬ 
dents  transpiring  there: 


502 


THE  VIRGINIA  ELECTION. 


[1861. 


The  Union  is  the  engrossing  topic  with  everybody.  There  is  a  succession  of 
committees,  delegations,  and  individual  visitors,  from  all  over  the  North,  each 
with  their  special  panacea.  Letters  of  the  same  purport  overflow  the  basket, 
and  the  mails  —  a  great  many  of  them  from  the  South.  The  people  of  the 
District  are  looking  anxiously  for  the  result  of  the  Virginia  election.  They 
fear  that  if  Virginia  resolves  on  secession,  Marjdand  will  follow;  and  then 
Washington  will  be  seized.  Meantime  the  anxiety  of  the  citizens  is  almost 
ludicrously  intense.  The  other  morning  a  street  was  thrown  into  consterna¬ 
tion,  at  daybreak,  by  the  beating  of  drums;  and  people  rushed  out  all  armed, 
and  half  dressed,  when  it  proved  to  be  only  one  of  the  companies  of  Flying 
Artillery,  which  had  arrived  over  night,  and  was  beating  the  usual  morning 
reveille. 

Another  panic  came  at  noon,  on  Saturday.  It  had  been  understood  that 
three  guns  would  be  the  signal  of  the  approach  of  Governor  Wise’s  Secession 
Troops.  Three  guns  were  heard  from  the  direction  of  the  Potomac,  followed 
by  a  cannonade  in  rapid  succession.  But  it  turned  out  to  be  only  a  peaceful 
salute,  fired  in  honor  of  the  admission  of  Kansas.  Notwithstanding  the  false 
alarms  they  create,  however,  the  Flying  Artillery  are  highly  popular;  the 
people  are  delighted  to  see  them  passing  through  the  streets. 

Soon  after,  Seward  wrote  home: 

February  3. 

Either  the  revolution  grows  more  moderate,  or  we  become  more  accustomed 
to  it,  and  society  begins  to  resume  its  tone. 

The  election  in  Virginia  to-morrow  probably  determines  whether  all  the 
slave  States  will  take  the  attitude  of  disunion.  Everybody  around  me  thinks 
that  that  will  make  the  separation  irretrievable,  and  involve  us,  at  least  on, 
or  immediately  after,  the  4th  of  March,  in  flagrant  civil  war.  Practically  every¬ 
body  will  despair;  I  despond  no  more  now,  than  ever.  Interrupted  again — - 
so  good-night. 

Virginia  was  holding  her  election  for  delegates  to  a  Convention. 
When,  a  day  or  two  later,  the  returns  began  to  come  in,  showing  that 
the  people  had  voted  for  Union;  and  that  a  decided  majority  of  the 
delegates  elected  would  be  against  secession  —  the  news  came  upon 
Washington  like  a  gleam  of  sunshine  in  a  storm.  Those  who  had 
been  depressed  were  now  elated.  They  declared  the  disunion  move¬ 
ment  was  checked,  perhaps  would  be  checkmated.  Yet  some  mistrust 
was  mingled  with  the  rejoicing.  Seward  received  the  result  with  his 
usual  equanimity.  “At  least, ” he  remarked,  “the  danger  of  conflict, 
here  or  elsewhere,  before  the  4th  of  March,  has  been  averted.  Time 
has  been  gained.” 

A  few  days  later  he  wrote,  “  Tennessee  comes  out  against  secession. 
I  think  now  that  we  shall  go  quietly  into  power  on  the  4th  of  March.” 

A  temporary  lull  in  the  popular  excitement  followed.  As  it  was 
understood  that  South  Carolina  would  not  precipitate  matters,  while 


1861.] 


“THE  peace  conference. 


503 


the  attitude  of  the  “  Border  States  ”  remained  uncertain,  the  hopes 
of  those  who  believed  in  “  compromise  "  as  a  cure  for  national  troubles 
began  to  rise  again.  The  Peace  Conference,  convened  at  \  irgima  s 
suo-crestion,  now  became  the  point  toward  which  attention  was  turned. 

It  assembled  on  the  4th  of  February  at  Willard's  Hall,  adjoining  the 
hotel,  in  Washington.  Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware,  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri  were  represented  by  Commis¬ 
sioners.  The  seceded  States  sent  none.  From  the  North  came  Com¬ 
missioners  in  behalf  of  New  England  and  Middle  States;  and  from 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Iowa.  There  were  none  from  the  other 
North-western  States,  nor  from  the  Pacific  coast.  Ex-President  Tyler 
was  the  presiding  officer;  and  among  the  members  were,  Lot  M 
Morrill  of  Maine,  Roger  S.  Baldwin  of  Connecticut,  Charles  Allen  of 
Massachusetts,  Francis  Granger,  William  Curtis  Noyes,  and  Davn 
Dudley  Field  of  New  York,  Frederick  Frelinghuysen  of  New  Jersey, 
Messrs.  Rives,  Sedden,  and  Summers  of  Virginia,  Stephen  F.  Logan 
of  Illinois,  James  Harlan  of  Iowa,  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Maryland, 
Thomas  Ewing  and  Salmon  P.  Chase  of  Ohio,  James  Guthrie  and  C, 

\  Wickliffe  of  Kentuckv,  and  many  others  of  prominence,  from  the 
different  political  parties.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  a 
plan  of  “adjustment  of  existing  difficulties  between  States.  Debates 
and  deliberation  began  and  continued  many  days.  They  showed  that 
the  hopes  of  the  movers  in  this  plan  rested  upon  the  same  basis  as 
those  which  pervaded  Philadelphia  and  New  York  meetings,  the 
Tweddle  Hall  Convention  at  Albany,  and  the  movers  of  compromise 
resolutions  in  the  Senate  and  House,  to-wit:  that  new  concessions 
must  be  made  to  the  South,  on  the  subject  of  slavery  Seward  s 
opinion  on  that  point  had  already  been  expressed.  Y  bile  adheiing 
to  his  views,  he  saw  that  many  engaged  in  the  delusive  pursuit  of 
“some  acceptable  compromise,”  were  actuated  by  patriotic  and  praise¬ 
worthy  desire  to  avert  disunion ;  and  he  deemed  that  all  their  efforts 
had  at  least  one  great  merit -that  of  delaying  the  progress  of  the 
secession  movement  in  the  border  States;  and  so,  of  insuring  the 
safety  of  the  Government  and  the  capital,  until  the  new  Administra¬ 
tion  could  be  installed  in  power.  Therefore,  instead  of  having  ie 
Peace  Conference  end,  he  would  gladly  have  had  it  continue  i  s  ses¬ 
sion  for  weeks  longer.  It  had  to  conclude  its  labors,  however,  m 
order  that  its  plan  of  adjustment  might  be  perfected  and  submitted 
to  Congress  before  the  final  adjournment.  Toward  the  close  of  the 
month  the  plan,  which  embodied  various  concessions,  was  laid  before 
the  Senate.  It  was  immediately  referred  to  a  select  committee,  con¬ 
sisting  of  Crittenden,  Bigler,  Thomson,  Seward  and  Trumbull. 


504 


THE  PEACE  CONFERENCE. 


[1861. 


the  following  day,  Crittenden  reported  it  favorably;  and,  on  behalf  of 
the  majority  of  the  committee,  recommended  its  adoption.  Seward,  on 
behalf  of  the  minority,  offered  a  substitute  in  the  shape  of  a  joint  reso¬ 
lution,  inviting  the  Legislatures  to  take  into  consideration  the  subject 
of  calling  a  National  Convention,  “and  to  express  their  will  on  that 
„  subject  to  Congress,  in  pursuance  of  the  fifth  article  of  the  Consti¬ 
tution/’  In  the  debate  which  followed,  the  especially  noticeable  point 
was  the  Union  speech  of  Andrew  Johnson,  denouncing  those  who  had 
seized  the  arsenals  and  custom-houses,  as  “traitors.” 

In  one  of  his  private  letters  to  Seward,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  that 
a  Western  member  of  Congress  had  visited  Springfield,  “seeking  to 
ascertain  to  what  extent  1  would  be  consenting  for  our  friends  to  go, 
in  the  way  of  compromise,  in  the  now  vexed  question”  —  1  “told  him 
I  would  write  to  you,  requesting  you  to  let  him  see  my  letter.”  He 
then  proceeded  with  characteristic  emphasis  to  say: 

On  the  territorial  question —  that  is,  the  question  of  extending  slavery  under 
the  national  auspices  —  I  am  inflexible;  I  am  for  no  compromise  which 
asserts  or  permits  the  extension  of  the  institution  on  soil  owned  by  the  nation. 
And  any  trick,  by  which  the  nation  is  to  acquire  territory,  and  then  allow 
some  local  authority  to  spread  slavery  over  it,  is  as  noxious  as  any  other.  I 
take  it  that  to  effect  some  such  result  as  this,  and  to  put  us  again  on  the  high 
road  to  a  slave  empire,  is  the  object  of  all  those  proposed  compromises.  I  am 
against  it.  As  to  fugitive  slaves,  District  of  Columbia,  slave  trade  among  the 
slave  States,  and  whatever  springs,  of  necessity,  from  the  fact  that  the  insti¬ 
tution  is  amongst  us,  I  care  but  little;  so  that  what  is  done  be  comely,  and 
not  altogether  outrageous.  Nor  do  I  care  much  about  New7  Mexico,  if  further 
extension  were  hedged  against. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

While  the  sessions  of  the  Peace  Conference  were  still  in  progress, 
came  the  “second  Wednesday  in  February”  —  the  critical  day  on 
which  the  Electoral  votes  were  to  be  formally  counted,  in  the  presence 
of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  and  the  result  officially  declared. 
Under  the  outward  calm  which  prevailed  in  the  city,  there  was  a  flut¬ 
ter  of  deep  anxiety;  and  many  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief,  when  they 
heard  the  measured,  sonorous  tones  of  the  Vice-President  Breckin¬ 
ridge  announcing,  that  “Abraham  Lincoln  has  been  duly  elected 
President  of  the  United  States.”  A  letter  of  the  following  dav  said: 

The  votes  have  been  counted,  and  the  capital  is  not  attacked.  General 
Scott  had  his  troops  all  under  arms,  out  of  sight,  but  ready,  with  guns  loaded 
and  horses  harnessed;  so  that  they  could  take  the  field  at  a  few  moments’ 
notice.  But  there  was  no  enemy.  The  capital  was  full,  but  quiet,  and  the 
ceremony  was  quiet,  but  tedious. 


1861.] 


CLOSE  OF  SENATORIAL  SERVICE. 


505 


Seward  wrote  two  days  later: 

We  have  passed  the  13th  safely;  and  although  there  is  still  feverish  anxiety, 
and  unrest,  enough  to  bewilder  the  public  mind,  it  is  satisfactory  to  me  that 
each  day  brings  the  people  apparently  nearer  to  the  tone  and  temper,  and  even 
to  the  policy  I  have  indicated.  We  have  still  a  fearful  responsibility.  Sixty 
days  have  not  yet  elapsed,  since  I  promised,  in  New  York,  that  public  appre¬ 
hension  would  be  relieved,  and  that  condition  of  things  has  already  come. 

I  am,  at  last,  out  of  direct  responsibility.  I  have  brought  the  ship  off  the 
sands,  and  am  ready  to  resign  the  helm  into  the  hands  of  the  Captain  whom 
the  people  have  chosen. 

Meanwhile,  a  warm  contest  had  been  going  on  in  the  Legislature  at 
Albany.  As  Seward’s  senatorial  term  was  to  expire  on  the  4th  of 
March,  the  time  had  arrived  to  elect  his  successor.  It  had  been  his 
expectation  and  hope  that  Mr.  Evarts  would  be  chosen,  and  the  press 
of  the  State,  during  the  summer  and  fall,  had  been  discussing  this 
as  a  probable  event.  When,  however,  winter  came,  and  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  assembled  at  Albany,  it  was  found  that  there  would  be  a  struggle. 
Under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Weed,  those  who  had  been  distinctively  known 
as  “Weed  and  Seward  men”  supported  Mr.  Evarts.  Their  oppo¬ 
nents  concentrated  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Greeley.  There  was  also  a  third 
element,  small  at  the  outset,  but  developing  increasing  strength,  who 
favored  the  election  of  Judge  Ira  Harris.  An  active  canvass  preceded 
the  caucus.  The  balloting  began.  After  a  time,  the  supporters  of 
Mr.  Evarts,  finding  themselves  unable  to  elect  their  candidate,  con¬ 
cluded  to  join  with  the  adherents  of  Judge  Harris,  who,  by  this  united 
vote,  was  thereupon  elected  Senator. 

This  was  Seward’s  last  month  in  the  Senate.  Though  little  could 
be  hoped  for  in  the  way  of  legislation,  he  continued  assiduously  at 
work,  at  what  he  used  to  call  his  “  bridge  building  ”  —  or  bringing 
the  Government  safely  over  the  perilous  interval  before  the  4th  of 
March.  During  the  last  days  of  the  session,  he  spoke  frequently, 
but  his  words  were  brief  and  guarded,  and  always  chosen  with  a  view 
to  that  leading  purpose.  He  presented  the  various  Union  memorials 
that  came  to  him,  and  asked  their  respectful  consideration.  He  took 
part  in  the  discussions  of  the  Tariff  and  Appropriation  Bills,  inviting 
consideration  of  the  various  items,  with  a  calmness  that  seemed  to  ig¬ 
nore  that  a  revolution  was  in  progress.  When  the  Treasury  Note 
Bill  came  up,  he  advocated  it  warmly,  and  urged  that  the  notes  be 
for  small  as  well  as  large  amounts;  so  as  to  obtain  money  for  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  on  the  most  favorable  terms,  as  well  as  to  give  it  the  char¬ 
acter  of  a  popular  loan.  He  supported  and  explained  the  suggestion 
of  Secretary  Dix,  for  a  guaranty  of  U.  S.  bonds  by  the  loyal  States, 


506 


LAST  DAYS  IN  THE  SENATE. 


[1861 


and  told  the  story  of  the  U.  S.  Deposit  Fund,  which  the  Government 
was  entitled  to  have  hack  again  in  its  hour  of  need. 

That  is,  a  fund  of  $26,000,000,  which  belongs  to  the  Federal  Government, 
and  which  it  has  a  right  to  reclaim  to-day.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
seeing  that,  now,  the  States  are  strong,  and  the  Federal  Government  is  passing 
through  a  crisis,  with  disaffection  at  home,  and  suspicion  abroad,  suggests 
that  we  may  recall  that  money  from  its  depositories  in  the  State  Treasuries,  or, 
if  unwilling  to  do  that,  out  of  tenderness  to  the  States,  that  we  may  ask  them 
to  indorse  our  bonds  for  twenty  years,  and  leave  with  them  our  own  money, 
which  is  on  deposit. 

A  change  had  gradually  come  over  the  temper  of  the  Senate.  The 
proceedings  of  the  latter  days  were  quiet  and  decorous,  in  strong, con¬ 
trast  to  the  outburst  of  fiery  philippics  which  marked  the  beginning  of 
the  session.  As  one  Gulf  State  after  another  had  seceded,  their  respect¬ 
ive  Senators  had  withdrawn  from  the  Chamber;  some  silently,  others 
with  oratorical  display.  But  their  departure,  instead  of  hindering  the 
public  business,  facilitated  it;  for  now,  it  went  on  methodically,  in  the 
regular  channels.  The  same  thing  had  occurred  in  the  House  of  Repre¬ 
sentatives;  and  the  Republicans,  who  had  begun  the  winter  as  a  mi¬ 
nority,  saw  with  satisfaction  that  they  were  daily  gaining  in  relative 
strength,  and  by  spring  would  have  an  unexpected  majority  in  both 
Houses.  The  close  of  Congress,  too,  always  brings  some  soothing  influ¬ 
ences.  The  nearness  of  the  end  reawakens  kindly  feeling  among  the 
members  who  are  so  soon  to  separate..  Seward  felt  that  his  parting  with 
the  Senate  Chamber  would  be  a  final  one.  The  acrimony  and  bitter¬ 
ness  that  greeted  his  entrance  there,  twelve  years  before,  had  all  passed 
away;  and  only  cordial  and  friendly  relations  existed  between  him 
and  his  fellow-Senators,  of  all  parties.  They  had  learned  to  know  and 
like  him.  His  genial  temperament,  kindly  and  hospitable  tastes,  and 
practical  sense,  made  him,  not  only  a  friend,  but  an  ally,  whose  help 
was  sought  in  legislative  matters,  even  by  those  who  combated  him 
most  vigorously  in  political  debate.  Seward  had  been  in  the  minority, 
and  in  opposition  to  the  successive  Administrations.  But  he  never 
inclined  to  the  cheap  demagogism  of  inveighing  against  the  Govern¬ 
ment  on  all  occasions,  and  voting  against  all  its  measures,  as  of  course 
wrong.  He  regarded  it  as  part  of  his  senatorial  duty,  to  uphold  and 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Government,  when  it  was  right,  just  as 
much  as  to  denounce  it  when  it  was  wrong.  Measures  of  real  public 
utility  and  importance  he  was  ready  to  aid,  whether  they  originated 
on  his  own  side  of  the  Chamber,  or  the  other.  This  trait  had  more 
than  once  brought  him  into  collision  with  some  of  his  own  party;  but 
it  made  his  record  one  that  he  could  look  back  upon  with  pleasure; 


1661.] 


THE  SAFETY  OF  THE  CAPITAL. 


50? 


and  made  his  parting  with  his  associates  an  occasion  of  mutual  and 
real  regret.  On  the  26th  of  February,  he  presented  the  credentials, 
of  his  successor.  Judge  Harris. 

.Rev.  Dr.  Thompson,  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Independent ,  vig¬ 
orously  answered,  in  his  paper,  those  who  were  now  denouncing  Sew¬ 
ard  for  “making  a  Union  speech,”  instead  of  an  anti-slavery  one.  A 
letter  to  him  remarked: 

February  23. 

The  American  people,  in  our  day,  have  two  great  interests.  One ,  the  ascen¬ 
dancy  of  freedom  over  slavery;  the  other,  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  The 
slavery  interest  has  derived  its  whole  political  power  from  bringing  the  latter 
object  into  antagonism  with  the  former. 

Twelve  years  ago,  freedom  was  in  danger,  and  the  Union  was  not.  I  spake 
then  so  singly  for  freedom,  that  short-sighted  men  inferred  that  I  was  disloyal 
to  the  Union.  I  endured  the  reproach  without  complaining;  and  now  I  have 
my  vindication.  To-day,  practically  freedom  is  not  in  danger,  and  Union  is. 
With  the  loss  of  Union,  all  would  be  lost.  With  the  attempt  to  maintain 
Union,  by  civil  war,  wantonly  brought  on,  there  would  be  danger  of  reaction 
against  the  xAdministration  charged  with  the  preservation  of  both  freedom 
and  Union.  Now,  therefore,  I  speak  singly  for  Union,  striving,  if  possible, 
to  save  it  peaceably;  if  not  possible,  then  to  cast  the  responsibility  upon  the 
party  of  slavery.  For  this  singleness  of  speech  I  am  now  suspected  of  infidelity 
to  freedom.  In  this  case,  as  in  the  other,  I  refer  myself  not  to  the  men  of  my 
time,  but  to  the  judgment  of  history.  I  thank  you,  my  dear  sir,  for  having 
anticipated  what  I  t  hink  history  will  pronounce.  But  do  not  publish,  or  show 
this  letter.  Leave  me  to  be  misunderstood.  I  am  not  impatient.  I  write  to 
you,  only  because  I  would  not  be,  nor  seem  to  be,  ungrateful. 


CHAPTER  LIY. 

1861. 

General  Scott.  Military  Precautions  for  the  Safety  of  Washington.  Journey  of  the 
President-elect.  Warning  of  a  Plot  for  His  Assassination .  A  Night  Trip.  Arrival 
in  Washington.  Meeting  with  Friends.  Lincoln  and  Seward.  Notes  and  Confer¬ 
ences.  End  of  the  Peace  Conference.  “The  Day  of  Compromise  is  Past.”  The 
Last  Day  of  Congress  and  the  Administration. 


During  this  period,  Seward  was  in  frequent  conference  with  Gen¬ 
eral  Scott.  The  General  had  been  called  from  his  New  York  head-quar¬ 
ters  to  Washington,  in  December,  by  President  Buchanan,  and  in 
view  of  the  alarming  situation  of  affairs  at  the  capital,  was  endeavor- 


508 


MILITARY  PRECAUTION'S. 


[1861. 


ing  to  take  such  steps  as  were  practicable,  for  its  protection.  It  was 
a  task  at  once  difficult  and  delicate.  The  little  army  of  the  United 
States  was  widely  scattered.  Many  of  its  officers  had  joined  the  dis- 
unionists,  and  the  fidelity  of  others  was  doubtful.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Washington  were  not  only  in  sympathy, 
but  in  active  communication  with  the  secessionists.  Every  precau¬ 
tion  for  the  safety  of  government  buildings  and  property  was  scruti¬ 
nized  with  lynx-eyed  vigilance.  Every  movement  of  troops  was  de¬ 
nounced  as  “  tyranny/5  or  “attempted  coercion.”  So  little  was  the 
true  state  of  affairs  appreciated,  even  by  Union-loving  men  at  the 
North,  that  some  of  them  condemned  the  General  for  “fanning  the 
embers  of  sectional  ill-will,”  by  his  “useless  parade,”  and  “ill-timed 
folly,”  whenever  he  moved  a  man  or  a  gun.  Nevertheless,  he  kept 
steadily  on  at  his  work  —  with  that  sturdy  loyalty  and  careful  pre¬ 
cision  which  characterized  him.  By  the  end  of  February  he  had 
gathered,  from  different  posts,  a  force  of  a  few  hundred  men,  includ¬ 
ing  batteries  of  artillery  from  Atlantic  forts,  and  sappers  and  miners 
from  West  Point,  marines  from  the  Washington  barracks,  and  ord¬ 
nance  men  from  the  arsenals.  One  of  the  most  judicious  and  effective 
measures  of  the  time  was  the  reorganization  and  arming  of  the  Dis¬ 
trict  of  Columbia  militia,  which  was  accomplished  under  the  General’s 
direction,  by  Colonel  Charles  P.  Stone,  who  (as  he  has  related)  “  was 
mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  on  the  second  day  of 
January,  on  the  special  requisition  of  the  General-in-Chief,  and  thus 
became  the  first  one  of  the  citizens  called  into  the  military  service  of 
the  Government,  to  defend  it  against  overthrow.” 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  now  on  his  way  to  the  capital.  Leaving  Spring- 
field  on  the  11th,  he  was,  with  his  friends,  making  a  journey, 
necessarily  protracted  by  the  receptions  and  ovations  which  the 
people  of  the  various  States  were  eager  to  tender  to  the  President¬ 
elect.  The  newspapers  devoted  much  of  their  space  to  chronicling 
the  incidents  of  his  trip,  his  public  greetings  at  Indianapolis,  Colum¬ 
bus,  and  Pittsburg,  and  the  preparations  for  his  welcome  at  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore. 

On  the  morning  of  the  21st  of  February,  a  note  from  General  Scott, 
and  Colonel  Stone,  communicated  to  Seward  information  that  seemed 
of  grave  import,  and  requiring  immediate  attention.  As  to  the  events 
which  followed  during  the  next  two  days,  my  own  account,  written 
afterward,  but  hitherto  unpublished,  may  properly  be  given  here: 

I  was  in  the  gallery  of  the  Senate  Chamber  shortly  after  noon  on  Thursday, 
when  one  of  the  pages  touched  my  elbow,  and  told  me  that  Senator  Seward 
wished  to  see  me  immediately.  Going  down,  I  met  him  in  the  lobby.  He 


1861.] 


WARNING  LINCOLN  OF  THE  PLOT. 


509 


handed  me  a  letter  lie  had  just  written  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  inclosing  a  note  from 
General  Scott.  He  said  : 

“Whether  this  story  is  well  founded  or  not,  Mr.  Lincoln  ought  to  know  of 
it  at  once.  But  I  know  of  no  reason  to  doubt  it.  General  Scott  is  impressed 
with  the  belief  that  the  danger  is  real.  Colonel  Stone  has  facilities  for  know¬ 
ing,  and  is  not  apt  to  exaggerate.  I  want  you  to  go  by  the  first  train.  Find 
Mr.  Lincoln,  wherever  he  is.  Let  no  one  else  know  your  errand.  I  have 
written  him  that  I  think  he  should  change  his  arrangements,  and  pass  through 
Baltimore  at  a  different  hour.  I  know  it  may  occasion  some  embarrassment, 
and,  perhaps,  some  ill-natured  talk.  Nevertheless,  I  would  strongly  advise 
him  to  do  it.” 

The  train,  a  tedious  one,  brought  me  into  Philadelphia  about  ten  o’clock  at 
night.  I  had  learned  from  the  newspapers,  and  the  conversation  of  my  fellow- 
passengers,  that  the  party  of  the  President-elect  would  spend  the  night  at  the 
Continental  Hotel,  where  he  would  be  serenaded. 

Arriving  at  the  hotel,  I  found  Chestnut  street  crowded  with  people,  gay  with 
lights,  and  echoing  with  music  and  hurrahs.  Within,  the  halls  and  stairways 
were  packed,  and  the  brilliantly-lighted  parlors  were  filled  with  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  who  had  come  to  “pay  their  respects.”  A  buzz  of  animated  conver¬ 
sation  pervaded  the  throng,  and,  in  its  center,  presentations  to  the  President¬ 
elect  appeared  to  be  going  on.  Clearly,  this  was  no  time  for  the  delivery  of  a. 
confidential  message.  I  turned  into  a  room  near  the  head  of  the  stairway, 
which  had  been  pointed  out  as  that  of  Mr.  Robert  Lincoln.  He  was  surrounded 
by  a  group  of  young  friends.  On  my  introducing  myself,  he  met  and  greeted 
me  with  courteous  warmth,  and  then  called  to  Colonel  Ward  H.  Lamon,  who 
was  passing,  and  introduced  us  to  each  other.  Colonel  Lamon,  taking  me  by 
the  arm,  proposed  at  once  to  go  back  into  the  parlor  to  present  me  to  Mr. 
Lincoln.  On  my  telling  him  that  I  wanted  my  interview  to  be  as  private  and 
to  attract  as  little  attention  as  possible,  the  Colonel  laughed  and  said: 

“Then,  I  think  I  had  better  take  you  to  his  bedroom.  If  you  don’t  mind 
waiting  there,  you’ll  be  sure  to  meet  him,  for  he  has  got  to  go  there  some 
time  to-night;  and  it  is  the  only  place  I  know  of  where  he  will  be  likely  to  be 
alone.” 

This  was  the  very  opportunity  I  desired.  Thanking  the  Colonel,  I  sat 
and  waited  for  an  hour  or  more  in  the  quiet  room  that  was  in  such  contrast  to 
the  bustle  outside.  Presently  Colonel  Lamon  called  me,  and  we  met  Mr.  Lin¬ 
coln,  who  was  coming  down  the  hall.  I  had  never  before  seen  him;  but  the 
campaign  portraits  had  made  his  face  quite  familiar.  I  could  not  but  notice 
how  accurately  they  had  copied  his  features,  and  how  totally  they  h$,d  omitted 
his  care-worn  look,  and  his  pleasant,  kindly  smile.  After  a  few  words  of 
friendly  greeting,  with  inquiries  about  my  father  and  matters  in  Washington, 
he  sat  down  by  the  table  under  the  gas-light  to  peruse  the  letter  I  had  brought. 
Although  its  contents  were  of  a  somewhat  startling  nature,  he  made  no  excla¬ 
mation,  and  I  saw  no  sign  of  surprise  in  his  face.  After  reading  it  carefully 
through,  he  again  held  it  to  the  light  and  deliberately  read  it  through  a  second 
time.  Then,  after  musing  a  moment,  he  looked  up  and  asked : 


1 


510  THE  WARNING  TO  MR.  LINCOLN.  L1861- 

“  Did  you  hear  any  thing  about  the  way  this  information  was  obtained  ?  Do 
you  know  any  thing  about  how  they  got  it?  ” 

No,  I  had  known  nothing  in  regard  to  it  till  that  morning,  when  called 
down  by  my  father  from  the  Senate  gallery.” 

“Your  father  and  General  Scott  do  not  say  who  they  think  are  concerned 
in  it.  Do  you  think  they  know? 

On  that  point,  too,  I  could  give  no  additional  information,  further  than  my 
impression  that  my  father’s  knowledge  of  it  was  limited  to  what  had  been 
communicated  to  him  by  Colonel  Stone,  in  whose  statements  he  had  implicit 
confidence. 

“Did  you  hear  any  names  mentioned?  Did  you,  for  instance,  ever  hear  any 
thing  said  about  such  a  name  as  Pinkerton?  ” 

No,  I  had  heard  no  such  name  in  connection  with  the  matter  —  no  name 
at  all,  in  fact,  except  those  of  General  Scott  and  Colonel  Stone. 

He  thought  a  moment  and  then  said : 

“  I  may  as  well  tell  you  wdiy  I  ask.  There  were  stories  or  rumors  some  time 
ago,  before  I  left  home,  about  people  who  were  intending  to  do  me  a  mischief. 
I  never  attached  much  importance  to  them  —  never  wanted  to  believe  any 
such  thing.  So  I  never  wTould  do  any  thing  about  them,  in  the  way  of  taking 
precautions  and  the  like.  Some  of  my  friends,  though,  thought  differently  — 
Judd  and  others  —  and,  without  my  knowledge,  they  employed  a  detective  to 
look  into  the  matter.  It  seems  he  has  occasionally  reported  what  he  found  ; 
and  only  to-day,  since  we  arrived  at  this  house,  he  brought  this  story,  or  some¬ 
thing  similar  to  it,  about  an  attempt  on  my  life  in  the  confusion  and  hurly- 
burly  of  the  reception  at  Baltimore.” 

“Surely,  Mr.  Lincoln,”  said  I,  “that  is  a  strong  corroboration  of  the  news 
I  bring  you.” 

He  smiled  and  shook  his  head. 

“  That  is  exactly  why  I  was  asking  you  about  names.  If  different  persons, 
not  knowing  of  each  other’s  work,  have  been  pursuing  separate  clews  that  led 
to  the  same  result,  wdiy  then  it  shows  there  may  be  something  in  it.  But  if 
this  is  only  the  same  story,  filtered  through  two  channels,  and  reaching  me  in 
twTo  ways,  then  that  don’t  make  it  any  stronger.  Don’t  you  see?” 

The  logic  was  unanswerable.  But  I  asserted  my  strong  belief  that  the  two 
investigations  had  been  conducted  independently  of  each  other,  and  urged  that 
there  was  enough  of  probability  to  make  it  prudent  to  adopt  the  suggestion, 
and  make  the  slight  change,  in  hour  and  train,  which  would  avoid  all  risk. 

After  a  little  further  discussion  of  the  subject,  Mr.  Lincoln  rose  and  said : 

“Well,  we  haven’t  got  to  decide  it  to-night,  any  way,  and  I  see  it  is  getting 
late.” 

Then  noticing  that  I  looked  disappointed  at  his  reluctance  to  regard  the 
warning,  he  said  kindly: 

“You  need  not  think  I  will  not  consider  it  well.  I  shall  think  it  over  care¬ 
fully,  and  try  to  decide  it  right;  and  I  will  let  you  knowr  in  the  morning.” 

At  the  breakfast  table,  the  next  day,  the  papers  had  the  report  of  Mr.  Lin¬ 
coln’s  remarks  on  raising  the  flag  at  Independence  Hall  early  that  morning. 


1361.] 


ARRIVAL  OF  THE  PRESIDENT-ELECT. 


511 


One  sentence  in  them  had  a  deeper  meaning  than  his  auditors  guessed.  Ad¬ 
verting  to  the  principle  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  said: 
“If  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about 
to  say,  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender  it.” 

Shortly  after  breakfast  Colonel  Lamon  met  me  in  the  hall,  and  taking  me 
aside,  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  concluded  to  do  as  he  had  been  advised.  lie 
would  change  his  plan  so  as  to  pass  through  Baltimore  at  a  different  hour  from 
that  announced.  I  hastened  to  the  telegraph  office  and  sent  to  my  father  a 
word,  previously  agreed  upon;  on  receiving  which  he  would  understand  that 
his  advice  had  been  taken.  Accordingly  he  was  at  the  railroad  station  in 
Washington  on  Saturday  morning  with  E.  B.  Washburne  of  Illinois,  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Colonel  Lamon,  very  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  by-standers,  got 
out'of  the  night  train  from  Philadelphia. 

Writing  home  that  day,  Seward  said: 

February  23. 

I  was  advised  on  Thursday  morning  of  a  plot  in  Baltimore  to  assassinate  the 
President-elect  on  his  expected  arrival  there  to-day.  I  sent  Fred  to  apprise 
him  of  it.  After  Fred  had  done  this,  and  induced  a  change  in  Mr.  Lincoln’s 
program,  he  went  to  New  York  to  meet  Anna,  and  bring  her  here  this  even¬ 
ing. 

The  President-elect  arrived  incog,  at  six  this  morning.  I  met  him  at  the 
depot;  and  after  breakfast,  introduced  him  to  the  President  and  Cabinet;  and 
then  proceeded  with  him  to  call  on  General  Scott.  After  that  we  rode  an 
hour.  I  met  him  again  at  half-past  one.  He  is  very  cordial  and  kind  toward 
me  —  simple,  natural,  and  agreeable. 

Rooms  ha,d  been  taken  for  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Willard’s  Hotel,  and  most 
of  the  afternoon  was  passed  in  receiving  visits  from  his  friends,  the 
members  of  Congress,  and  of  the  Peace  Conference.  Mingled  with 
expressions  of  gratification  at  meeting  him,  and  of  congratulation  upon 
his  safe  arrival,  was  an  undertone  of  regret  that  it  should  have  been 
deemed  necessary  or  wise  to  make  the  hasty  night  trip  through  Balti¬ 
more.  This  was  natural  enough.  The  time  had  not  yet  come  when 
Americans  in  general  could  realize  that  a  crime  at  once  so  nefarious, 
and  so  foolish,  as  the  assassination  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  was  possible. 

At  six  o’clock  Mr.  Lincoln  returned  to  take  a  quiet  family  dinner 
with  Seward,  who  had  invited  Mr.  Hamlin,  the  Vice-President-elect, 
to  meet  him.  The  evening,  and,  indeed,  most  of  the  next  day,  was 
devoted  to  talking  over  the  policy  and  prospects  of  the  coming  Ad¬ 
ministration.  “  One  part  of  the  business,  Governor  Seward,”  said  Mr. 
Lincoln,  “  I  think  I  shall  leave  almost  entirely  in  your  hands;  that  is, 
the  dealing  with  those  foreign  nations  and  their  governments.” 

When  on  the  next  day  he  accompanied  Seward  to  the  old  St.  John’s 
Church,  on  Lafayette  square,  the  sexton  hastened  to  place  before  him 
the  massive  prayer-book,  bearing  the  inscription  of  “The  President 


512 


THE  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 


[1861.. 


of  the  United  States/’  which  had  been  in  use  there  during  so  many 
successive  administrations. 

The  draft  of  his  Inaugural  Address  was  handed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
Seward,  with  the  request  that  he  would  note  down,  and  return  with 
it,  any  suggestions  of  modifications  that  might  occur  to  him.  It  was 
accordingly  so  returned  with  this  letter:  * 

Sunday  Evening ,  February  24. 

My  Bear  Sir  —  I  have  suggested  many  changes,  of  little  importance,  severally, 
but,  in  their  general  effect,  tending  to  soothe  the  public  mind. 

Of  course  the  concessions  are,  as  they  ought  to  be,  if  they  are  to  be  of  avail, 
at  the  cost  of  the  winning,  the  triumphant  party.  I  do  not  fear  their  displeasure. 
They  will  be  loyal,  whatever  is  said.  Not  so  the  defeated,  irritated,  angered, 
frenzied  party.  I,  my  dear  sir,  have  devoted  myself  singly  to  the  study  of  the 
case  —  here,  with  advantages  of  access  and  free  communication  with  all 
parties  of  all  sections.  I  have  a  common  responsibility  and  interest  with  you, 
and  I  shall  adhere  to  you  faithfully  in  every  case.  You  must,  therefore,  allow 
me  to  speak  frankly  and  candidly.  In  this  spirit  I  declare  to  you  that  my 
convictions  that  the  second  and  third  paragraphs,  even  if  modified  as  I  propose 
in  my  amendments,  will  give  such  advantage  to  the  Disunionists,  that  Virginia 
and  Maryland  will  secede:  and  we  shall  within  ninety,  perhaps  within  sixty 
days,  be  obliged  to  fight  the  South  for  this  capital,  with  a  divided  North  for 
our  reliance;  and  we  shall  not  have  one  loyal  magistrate  or  ministerial  officer 
south  of  the  Potomac. 

In  that  case  the  dismemberment  of  the  Republic  would  date  from  the  in¬ 
auguration  of  a  Republican  Administration.  I,  therefore,  most  respectfully 
counsel  the  omission  of  those  paragraphs.  I  know  the  tenacity  of  party  friends; 
and  I  honor  and  respect  it.  But  I  know  also  that  they  know  nothing  of  the 
real  peril  of  the  crisis.  It  has  not  been  their  duty  to  study  it,  as  it  has  been 
mine.  Only  the  soothing  words  which  I  have  spoken  have  saved  us  and 
carried  us  along  thus  far.  Every  loyal  man,  and,  indeed,  every  disloyal  man  in 
the  South,  will  tell  you  thus. 

Your  case  is  quite  like  that  of  Jefferson.  He  brought  the  first  Republican 
party  into  power  against  and  over  a  party  ready  to  resist  and  dismember  the 
Government.  Partisan  as  he  was,  he  sank  the  partisan  in  the  patriot,  in  his 
inaugural  address;  and  propitiated  his  adversaries  by  declaring,  “  We  are  all 
Federalists;  all  Republicans.”  I  could  wish  that  you  would  think  it  wise  to 
follow  this  example,  in  this  crisis.  Be  sure  that  while  all  your  administrative 
conduct  will  be  in  harmony  with  Republican  principles  and  policy,  you  cannot 
lose  the  Republican  party  by  practicing,  in  your  advent  to  office,  the  magna¬ 
nimity  of  a  victor. 

Very  faithfully  your  friend, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


General  Remarks. 

The  argument  is  strong  and  conclusive,  and  ought  not  to  be  in  any  way 
abridged  or  modified. 


1861.] 


PRECAUTIONS  AT  WASHINGTON. 


513 


But  something  besides,  or  iu  addition  to  argument,  is  needful,  to  meet  and 
remove  prejudice  and  passion  in  the  South ,  and  despondency  and  fear  in  the  East. 
Some  words  of  affection.  Some  of  calm  and  cheerful  confidence. 

One  week  only  intervened  before  the  change  of  Administration. 
The  President-elect  was  beleaguered  in  his  hotel  by  visitors,  who  filled 
its  halls  and  corridors.  Appointments  for  themselves  or  their  friends; 
changes  in  what  they  thought  might  be  his  policy;  changes  in  what 
they  supposed  would  be  his  Cabinet  —  these  were  the  staple  of  their 
unceasing  tide  of  talk. 

The  out-going  President  had  a  more  quiet  season  at  the  White 
House,  where  he  was  closing  his  business  and  making  his  prepara¬ 
tions  for  departure.  One  of  his  latest  and  most  creditable  acts  was 
his  Message,  on  the  2d  of  March,  in  reply  to  a  congressional  resolution 
of  inquiry  about  the  troops  at  the  capital.  After  saying  that  six  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty-three  men,  exclusive  of  marines,  had  been  ordered  to 
Washington,  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  “it  would  not  have  been 
right  for  him  to  4  wait  for  proof  ’  before  taking  those  precautionary 
measures.”  “  The  safety,”  he  said,  “  of  the  immense  amount  of  public 
property  in  this  city,  and  that  of  the  archives  of  the  Government,  in 
which  all  the  States,  and  especially  the  new  States,  in  which  the  public 
lands  are  situated,  have  a  deep  interest;  the  peace  and  order  of  the 
city  itself,  and  the  security  of  the  inauguration  of  the  President-elect, 
were  objects  of  such  vast  importance  to  the  whole  country,  that  I  could 
not  hesitate  to  adopt  precautionary  defensive  measures.” 

There  had  been  much  debate  in  the  House,  and  some  sharp  censure 
of  General  Scott,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  the  President  for  adopt¬ 
ing  any  precautions  at  all.  Ultra-Southern  men  esj)ecially  condemned 
them  as  unnecessary,  impolitic,  and  offensive;  but  the  very  warmth  of 
their  condemnation  was  suspicious.  Secretary  Holt,  in  one  of  his 
reports,  remarked: 

At  what  time  armed  occupation  of  Washingten  city  became  a  part  of  the 
revolutionary  program  is  not  certainly  known.  More  than  six  weeks  ago, 
the  impression  had  already  extensively  obtained  that  a  conspiracy  for  the  ac¬ 
complishment  of  this  guilty  purpose  was  in  process  of  formation,  if  not  fully 
matured.  The  earnest  endeavors,  made  by  men  known  to  be  devoted  to  the 
revolution,  to  hurry  Virginia  and  Maryland  out  of  the  Union,  were  regarded 
as  preparatory  steps  for  the  subjugation  of  Washington.  This  plan  was  in 
entire  harmony  with  the  aim  and  spirit  of  those  seeking  the  subversion  of  the 
Government;  since  no  more  fatal  blow  at  its  existence  could  be  struck  than 
the  permanent  and  hostile  possession  of  the  seat  of  its  power.  *  *  * 

Superadded  to  these  proofs  were  the  oft-repeated  declarations  of  men,  in 
high  political  positions  here,  and  who  were  known  to  have  intimate  affiliations 
with  the  revolution  — if,  indeed,  they  did  not  hold  the  reins  in  their  hands  — 
33 


514 


THE  CHANGE  OE  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1861. 


to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not,  or  should  not,  be  inaugurated  at 
Washington.  Such  declarations,  from  such  men,  could  not  be  treated  as 
empty  bluster. 

In  the  Seriate  the  communication  from  the  Peace  Conference  pro¬ 
posing  amendments  to  the  Constitution  was  the  subject  of  earnest  de¬ 
bate.  When,  at  last,  the  question  came  to  be  voted  upon,  the  result 
showed  that  Seward’s  forecast  of  it  was  correct.  Congress  would  have 
neither  the  compromise  of  the  Peace  Conference,  nor  the  compromise 
of  Mr.  Crittenden;  neither  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen, 
nor  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Thirty-three.  It  would  adopt  no 
compromise,  individual  or  collective,  that  had  been  offered.  “The 
day  of  compromise  was  past.” 

Congress  ended  its  session  with  results  like  those  of  a  drawn  game. 
It  had  lent  no  aid  and  countenance  to  secession;  but  neither  had  it 
done  any  thing  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Executive  in  resisting 
it.  It  had  done  nothing  for  the  protection  of  the  capital;  but  it  re¬ 
fused  to  censure  those  who  had.  Parties  were  so  balanced,  and  opin¬ 
ions  were  so  divided,  that  no  line  of  policy  in  regard  to  the  national 
crisis  could  be  adopted.  Time,  at  last,  brought  the  solution  of  all  its 
dilemmas.  The  4th  of  March  came,  and  with  it  adjournment  sine  die . 

And  now  the  change  of  Administration  was  at  hand.  The  week  had 
been  a  busy  one  in  Washington.  The  usual  preparations  for  inaugu¬ 
ration  were  in  progress,  attended  by  the  usual  bustle;  but  also  by  un¬ 
usual  anxiety  and  depression.  A  committee  of  patriotic  citizens,  who 
were  getting  up  an  Inauguration  Ball,  had  Seward’s  hearty  help;  for 
he  hoped  that  such  a  festivity  would  help  to  restore  the  proper  tone  of 
public  feeling.  At  his  suggestion,  they  modified  its  title  and  called  it 
the  “Union  Ball,  in  honor  of  the  Inauguration  of  Abraham  Lincoln.” 

There  has  been  handed  down  from  the  early  days  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment,  a  graceful  and  dignified  custom,  that  the  outgoing  and  incom¬ 
ing  Presidents  shall  go  up  together  to  the  Capitol,  and  returning  after 
the  ceremonies,  part  with  each  other  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  which 
one  enters  and  the  other  relinquishes.  Mr.  Buchanan  and  Mr.  Lin¬ 
coln  had  arranged  to  comply  with  this  usage. 

As  there  were  still  some  apprehensions  of  attempts  at  disorder  and 
riot  on  Inauguration  Day,  an  earnest  conference  was  held  at  General 
Scott’s  head-quarters  on  Sunday  afternoon,  at  which  the  respective 
positions  and  functions  of  the  military  bodies  were  settled  upon. 
Colonel  Stone,  in  describing  this  conference  in  his  “'Washington  on 
the  Eve  of  the  War,”  remarks: 

To  illustrate  the  state  of  uncertainty  in  which  we  were  at  that  time  concern¬ 
ing  men,  I  may  here  state  that  the  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Military  Secretary  of 


1861.] 


INAUGURATION"  DAY. 


515 


the  General-in-Chief,  who  that  afternoon  recorded  the  conclusions  of  the 
General  in  conference,  and  who  afterward  wrote  out  for  me  the  instructions 
regarding  the  disposition  of  troops,  resigned  his  commission  that  very  night, 
and  departed  for  the  South. 


CHAPTER  LY. 

1861. 

Inauguration  of  President  Lincoln.  Speech  to  New  York  Friends.  The  Inaugural  Ad¬ 
dress.  The  Ball.  The  Cabinet.  The  Department  of  State.  Mr.  Hunter.  Appoint¬ 
ments  and  Tenure  of  Office.  The  Diplomatic  Corps.  The  Beginning  of  a  Diary. 
Circular  to  Ministers.  Office-seekers  and  Office-holders.  The  Foreign  Appointments. 
Holt,  Dix,  and  Stanton. 


Inauguration"  Day  dawned  bright,  cool,  and  tranquil.  The  streets 
were  quiet.  The  parks  and  public  squares  were  beginning  to  show 
signs  of  spring.  Flags  were  floating  on  the  line  of  march  between  the 
White  House  and  the  Capitol,  and  all  was  in  readiness  for  the  com¬ 
ing  ceremony. 

By  ten  o’clock  Seward  had  disposed  of  his  morning  newspapers  and 
letters,  and  was  preparing  to  go  up  to  the  Capitol,  when  F  street  in 
front  of  his  house  began  gradually  to  fill  with  an  assemblage  of  several 
hundred  people.  Presently  a  committee  from  them  called  at  his  door, 
to  inform  him  that  they  were  all  New  Yorkers,  who,  having  come  to 
attend  the  Inauguration,  deemed  they  could  not  more  appropriately 
begin  the  day  than  by  calling  upon  their  Senator,  tendering  their 
salutations  and  good  wishes,  on  the  occasion  of  his  leaving  the  Senate 
to  enter  upon  new  duties.  He  came  out  on  the  door-step,  where 
James  Kelly,  in  behalf  of  the  visitors,  addressed  him. 

In  his  reply,  Seward  remarked,  that  this  day  closed  “that  ser¬ 
vice  of  twelve  years,”  a  period  which,  in  retrospect,  seemed  but  short, 
and  yet  one  that  had  been  one-sixth  part  of  the  whole  duration  of  the 
Union.  He  said  that  his  public  acts  “throughout  that  long  and  try¬ 
ing  period  were  all  upon  record,”  and  that  “looking  back  upon  them 
here,  and  now,  there  is  not  one  word  of  that  record  which  I  desire 
should  be  obliterated.”  He  added,  that  while  “a  representative  of 
one  State  only,”  he  had  been  “  all  the  while  conscious  ”  that  he  was 
“also  a  .legislator  for  all  the  States  —  for  the  whole  Republic.”  He 
said  that  though  he  had  accomplished  less  of  good  than  he  had  wished, 
the  people  of  New  York  had  generously  sustained  him;  and  that  he 


516 


INAUGURATION  DAT. 


[1861. 


should  rely  on  their  intelligence  and  patriotism  in  preserving  the  na¬ 
tional  inheritance.  Alluding  to  “  the  Administration,  which  you 
have  come  here  to  inaugurate,”  he  said: 

It  comes  into  power  under  circumstances  of  embarrassment  and  peril;  but 
I  believe  I  know  the  character  and  purposes  of  the  Chief  Magistrate.  I  be¬ 
lieve  that  while  he  will  be  firm,  he  will  be  just  to  every  State,  and  every  sec¬ 
tion,  and  every  citizen ;  that  he  will  defend  and  protect  their  rights  and  in¬ 
terests,  their  peace  and  prosperity,  while  he  will  practice  the  moderation  that 
springs  from  virtue,  and  the  affection  that  arises  from  patriotism.  Under 
his  guidance,  and  with  the  blessing  of  God,  I  trust,  and  confidently  expect, 
that  an  Administration  that  is  inaugurated  amid  some  distrust,  and  painful 
apprehensions,  will  close  upon  a  reunited,  restored,  prosperous,  free,  and  happy 
Republic. 

Then  followed  the  Inauguration  pageant.  It  was  in  all  respects 
orderly  and  impressive.  Thousands  of  visitors  thronged  the  streets, 
and  witnessed  the  procession  in  silence,  except  when  they  greeted  the 
new  President  with  cheers.  Mr.  Buchanan  had  driven  to  Willard's 
for  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  when  the  two  Presidents  came  out  together,  the 
military  escort  of  regular  and  District  troops  formed  closely  about 
their  carriage,  and  took  up  the  line  of  march.  The  District  compa¬ 
nies  were  the  theme  of  much  comment,  and  no  small  exultation.  It 
was  a  gratification  to  loyal  residents  of  Washington,  as  well  as  to 
their  visitors,  to  find  that  so  numerous  a  body  of  effective,  soldierly- 
looking  men  could  be  mustered  at  the  capital,  for  its  own  protection. 
What  other  disposition  of  troops  had  been  made,  few  knew;  but  there 
was  a  general  feeling  that  no  precaution  had  been  neglected.  General 
Scott  called  at  Seward’s  door,  in  his  brougham,  to  tell  him  where  he 
would  be  found;  and  to  say  that  the  troops  had  been  posted  as  ad¬ 
vantageously  as  practicable,  but,  at  the  same  time,  quietly  and  unos¬ 
tentatiously.  In  point  of  fact,  there  were  squads  of  riflemen  on  house¬ 
tops,  along  the  avenue,  and  at  the  windows  of  the  wings  of  the  Capi¬ 
tol,  and  under  the  steps  leading  to  the  platform,  while  batteries  of 
light  artillery  were  ready  for  immediate  service  to  quell  any  street  riot. 
But  no  untoward  incident  occurred  to  interrupt  the  proceedings. 

Round  the  President,  on  the  broad,  eastern  portico  were  clustered 
the  Senators  and  Members  of  Congress,  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  the  Diplomatic  Corps.  A  vast  crowd  gathered  in  the  open 
space  in  front  of  the  building,  who  listened  with  intense  interest, 
amid  a  stillness  almost  oppressive,  to  the  clear,  distinct  utterance  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  reading  his  Inaugural. 

Mr.  Weed  relates  that  “  after  Mr.  Lincoln  commenced  delivering 
his  address,  he  retired,  and  in  so  doing,  saw  Generals  Scott  and 


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LINCOLN’S  INAUGURATION. 


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FREEDOM  ”  IN  THE  EAST  PARK 

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library 

OF  THE 

DIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


1861.] 


AT  THE  BALL. 


517 


Wool  in  full  uniform,  standing  by  a  battery.  When  lie  presented 
himself  to  these  veterans  and  personal  friends,  General  Scott  inquired 
how  the  Inauguration  was  going  on.  ‘It  is  a  success/  replied  Mr. 
Weed;  hearing  which,  the  old  hero  raised  his  arms,  and  exclaimed: 
‘God  be  praised!  God  in  His  goodness  be  praised!  ’  ” 

In  the  evening,  the  “Union  Ball  ”  took  place,  in  a  temporary 
building  erected  for  the  purpose,  in  the  rear  of  the  City  Hall.  The 
exterior  was  simply  of  plain  boards;  the  interior  tastefully  decorated 
with  flowers,  evergreens,  and  national  dags.  The  new  President  and 
Mrs.  Lincoln  came  about  nine  o'clock,  and  walked  through  the  room 
to  the  dais,  where  they  received  the  greetings  and  salutations  of  guests, 
as  they  were  presented.  There  was  no  crowd,  little  dancing;  and  one 
might  almost  say,  no  gayety.  The  guests  assembled  were,  for  the 
most  part,  redned,  and  well-dressed  people,  with  a  more  serious  air 
than  is  usual  on  occasions  of  social  festivity.  Many  of  those  who 
attended,  like  those  who  subscribed  for  it,  did  so  because  it  was  an 
opportunity  to  display  ddelity  to  the  Union.  Many  who  had  been 
prominent  in  the  society  of  the  capital,  during  the  previous  Adminis¬ 
tration,  manifested  their  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  “Black  Republi¬ 
cans"  by  staying  away.  Of  course,  the  chief  topic  was  the  Inaugura¬ 
tion  and  its  .incidents.  And  here  one  may  be  recalled.  Conversing  in 
the  supper-room  about  the  Inaugural  Address,  its  peroration  or  closing 
sentence  was  especially  commended  by  A.  Oakey  Hall,  from  whom,  a 
day  or  two  later,  came  the  following  poetic  note: 

New  York  City,  March  7,  1861. 

Regardez  au  plai&ir.  Par  Parenthese :  See  how  the  paragraph  slips  into 
rhyme.  I  intend  to  have  it  set  to  music,  and  sung: 

The  mystic  chords  of  Memory 
That  stretch  from  patriot  graves; 

From  battle-fields  to  living  hearts, 

Or  hearth-stones  freed  from  slaves, 

An  Union  chorus  shall  prolong, 

Ar.d  grandly,  proudly  swell, 

When  by  those  better  angels  touched 
Who  in  all  natures  dwell. 

Yours,  appropriately,  on  foreign  post, 

A.  OAKEY  HALL. 

At  twelve  o’clock  on  Monday,  the  Democrats  had  a  majority  in  the  r 
Senate,  and  it  was  presided  over  by  John  C.  Breckinridge.  Atone 
o’clock,  the  Republicans  had  a  majority,  and  it  was  presided  over  by 
Hannibal  Hamlin.  So  many  Secessionists  had  gone  away,  and  so 
many  new  Senators  were  to  be  sworn  in,  that  the  new  Executive  would 
have  the  Senate  practically  in  accord  with  him.  When  they  reassem- 


518 


IN  THE  STATE  DEPARTMENT. 


[186L 


bled  on  Tuesday  morning.  President  Lincoln  laid  before  them  his 
nominations  for  his  Cabinet,  all  of  whom  were  duly  confirmed: 

William  H.  Seward  of  New  York,  Secretary  of  State;  Salmon  P. 
Chase  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Simon  Cameron  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  Secretary  of  War;  Gideon  Welles  of  Connecticut,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy;  Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  Secretary  of  the  Interior; 
Edward  Bates  of  Missouri,  Attorney-General;  Montgomery  Blair  of 
Maryland,  Postmaster- General. 

On  learning  of  the  action  of  the  Senate,  the  President  penned  a 
note,  and  sent  it  by  his  messenger. 

Executive  Chamber,  March  5,  1861. 

Hon.  W.  II.  Seward  : 

My  Dear  Sir  —  Please  give  me  an  interview  at  once. 

Yours,  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Seward  presented  himself  at  once,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
his  new  office,  the  first  of  which  was  to  take  the  oath,  and  the  next  to 
call  a  Cabinet  meeting. 

Three  days  later  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

March  8. 

I  cannot  recollect  when  it  was  that  I  wrote  to  you  last.  It  has  been  a  busy 
period,  however,  since  that  last  letter. 

I  slipped  quietly  out  of  Congress,  without  getting  any  bones  broken,  and  not 
without  getting  some  little  ground  conceded  by  it,  on  which  an  Administration 
can  stand.  The  President  is  determined  that  he  will  have  a  compound  Cabi¬ 
net;  and  that  it  shall  be  peaceful,  and  even  permanent.  I  was  at  one  time  on 
the  point  of  refusing  —  nay,  I  did  refuse,  for  a  time  to  hazard  myself  in  the 
experiment.  But  a  distracted  country  appeared  before  me;  and  I  withdrew 
from  that  position.  I  believe  I  can  endure  as  much  as  any  one  ;  and  may 
be  that  I  can  endure  enough  to  make  the  experiment  successful.  At  all  events 
I  did  not  dare  to  go  home,  or  to  England,  and  leave  the  country  to  chance. 

I  attended,  but  was  careful  not  to  be  conspicuous,  at  the  Inauguration  and 
at  the  ball.  Circumstances  indicate  that,  in  losing  my  prominence,  I  shall 
receive  some  more  of  toleration  from  the  public  than  heretofore.  On  Tuesday  I 
was  appointed  Secretary ;  and  it  was  pleasant  that  the  President  and  Senate,  with 
great  good-will,  confirmed  Frederick  as  my  assistant.  I  have  placed  him  where 
he  must  meet  the  whole  array  of  friends  seeking  offices  —  an  hundred  taking 
tickets  where  only  one  can  draw  a  prize.  I  do  not  know  what  I  should  do 
without  him. 

I  went  into  office  on  Wednesday,  and  for  two  days  have  attended  at  the  de¬ 
partment  nine  hours  each.  Last  night  I  broke  down,  and  sent  for  Dr.  Miller. 
I  have  kept  my  chamber  to-day,  except  an  hour,  when  I  went  on  a  necessary 
errand  to  the  White  House. 


1861. J 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE. 


519 


I  wish  T  could  tell  you  something  of  the  political  troubles  of  the  country; 
but  I  cannot  find  the  time.  They  are  enough  to  tax  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest. 
Fort  Sumter  in  danger.  Relief  of  it  practically  impossible.  The  Commis¬ 
sioners  from  the  Southern  Confederacy  are  here.  These  cares  fall  chiefly  on 
me.  The  country  will,  before  long,  come  to  a  severe  trial  of  its  patience  and 
patriotism. 

The  Department  of  State,  at  this  period,  was  in  the  old  two-story 
brick  building,  which  used  to  stand  on  ground  now  occupied  by  the 
northern  end  of  the  Treasury  Department.  It  was  substantial  and 
convenient,  without  being  either  stately  or  imposing.  Its  exterior 
was  painted  a  plain  drab  color,  and  exhibited  little  attempt  at  orna¬ 
mentation,  excepting  a  portico  of  six  white  columns  on  the  northern 
side.  Under  this  portico  was  the  main  entrance,  which,  however, 
was  little  used  —  a  side  door  on  Fifteenth  street  offering  a  more  con¬ 
venient  way  of  ingress  and  egress.  Within,  its  finish  wras  equally 
simple.  It  had  but  thirty  or  forty  rooms,,  not  large,  though  well 
arranged  for  their  purpose;  and  these,  during  the  preceding  half  cen¬ 
tury,  had  been  found  ample  for  the  needs  of  this  branch  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment;  though  the  accumulation  of  books  and  archives  was  now 
beginning  to  cramp  the  space  of  some  of  the  clerks.  The  two  rooms 
in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  second  floor  were  usually  occupied  by 
the  Secretary  —  one  for  study,  the  other  for  receiving  visitors.  Mes¬ 
sengers  were  just  outside  his  door;  and  across  the  hall,  within  con¬ 
venient  reach,  were  the  rooms  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  and  Chief 
Clerk. 

On  the  morning  after  his  appointment,  Seward  quietly  entered  and, 
took  his  chair.  His  first  summons  was  for  Mr.  Hunter,  in  wdiose 
charge  the  department  had  been  left,  on  the  retirement  of  the  pre¬ 
ceding  Secretary,  Judge  Black.  Mr.  Hunter  was,  and  for  years  had 
been,  the  personification  of  the  department  work.  He  was  its  mem¬ 
ory,  its  guiding  hand.  Originally  appointed  by  John  Quincy  Adams, 
he  had  remained  in  the  department  ever  since,  usually  as  Chief  Clerk, 
sometimes  as  Assistant  or  Acting  Secretaiy.  His  life  had  been  devoted 
to  its  service;  and  in  return,  it  had  come  to  regard  him  as  an  indis¬ 
pensable  component  part  of  its  existence;  while  successive  Presi¬ 
dents  and  Secretaries  came  and  passed  away.  The  working  force  of 
the  department  was  small,  but  capable  and  experienced.  It  comprised 
between  thirty  and  forty  clerks  and  messengers.  Some  of  them  had 
already  grown  gray  in  the  service.  Some  had  come  under  its  roof 
with  Secretaries  Van  Buren,  Webster,  Marcy,  Clayton,  and  Everett; 
others  were  of  more  recent  date.  With  the  change  of  parties,  and 
the  coming  in  of  a  new  Administration,  applicants,  by  the  hundreds, 


520 


THE  DIPLOMATIC  CORPS. 


[1861. 


were  in  waiting  for  every  place;  and  it  had  been  confidently  predicted 
that  the  Republicans  would  “  make  a  clean  sweep’'  in  every  depart¬ 
ment,  even  in  the  staid  and  conservative  department  of  Foreign 
Affairs. 

On  his  first  day  in  office,  Seward  made  inquiry  as  to  how  many  of 
the  clerks  were  loyal  to  the  Union,  and  how  many  sympathized  with 
the  Secessionists.  In  so  small  and  compact  a  body,  proclivities  for 
and  against  disunion  could  easily  be  ascertained.  He  promptly  dis¬ 
missed  every  disunion  sympathizer;  and  gave  orders  that  access  to 
archives  and  papers  should  thenceforth  be  denied  them.  Then  he 
informed  the  loyal  Union  men  remaining,  that  he  should  make  no  in¬ 
quiry  into  their  politics.  Whether  they  were  Whigs,  Democrats,  or 
Republicans,  their  stay  in  the  department  would  depend  upon  their 
fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  official  duties.  Such  a  course  inspired 
alacrity,  and  encouraged  patriotism.  That  it  was  wise,  has  been 
attested  by  the  fact  that  no  case  of  disloyalty  subsequently  occurred; 
and  that,  following  his  example,  successive  Secretaries  have  continued 
the  same  incumbents  in  place,-  from  that  day  to  this  —  only  filling  by 
new  appointments,  such  vacancies  as  have  occurred  through  death, 
resignation,  or  promotion. 

One  of  the  ceremonial  occasions  incident  to  the  opening  of  a  new 
Administration  is  the  presentation  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  to  the 
President.  This  now  took  place  at  the  White  House;  Seward  for¬ 
mally  introducing  the  foreign  Ministers,  with  their  secretaries  and 
attaches,  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  Hardly  any  of  them  were  strangers  to  the 
new  Secretary  *of  State,  whose  long  residence  in  Washington  had 
brought  him  into  personal  acquaintance  with  most  of  the  Ministers. 
The  cloyeii  or  senior  member  of  the  Corps  at  this  time  was  the  Com¬ 
mander  Figaniere,  the  Portuguese  Envoy,  who  had  been  accredited  in 
1854.  Baron  Gerolt,  the  Prussian  Minister,  had  come  in  the  same 
year.  Senor  Antonio  Jose  de  Yrissari,  from  Guatemala  and  Salvador, 
had  come  in  1855.  Mr.  Edward  de  Stoeckl  as  the  representative  of 
Russia,  and  Senor  Don  Gabriel  Garcia  y  Tassara,  the  representative 
of  Spain,  had  both  come  in  1857.  The  others  had  arrived  during  the 
Administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  Senor  Luis  Molina  was  the  Minis¬ 
ter  from  Costa  Rica  and  Honduras,  Lord  Lyons  from  Great  Britain, 
M.  Blondeel  von  Cuelebrouck  from  Belgium,  Senor  Miguel  Maria 
Lisboa  from  Brazil,  M.  Henri  Mercier  from  France,  and  Mr.  Roest 
Van  Limburg  from  the  Netherlands. 

The  new  Cabinet  assembled  in  the  President’s  room,  around  the 
green  table,  which  had  been  the  center  of  so  many  important  deliber¬ 
ations;  the  President  occupying  the  head,  with  the  Secretary  of  State 


THE  OLD  STATE  DEPARTMENT. 


IN  THE  SECRETARY’S  ROOM. 


UBSiM'* 

Of 


w, «  1LUN0U 


/ 


1861.] 


FIRST  CABINET  MEETING. 


521 


on  his  right  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  his  left.  With  sev¬ 
eral  of  his  new  associates  Seward  was  already  well  acquainted.  Chase 
and  Cameron  had  been  with  him  in  the  Senate.  Caleb  B.  Smith  he  had 
known  as  a  Member  of  Congress.  Montgomery  Blair  was  the  son  of 
his  old  friend  at  Silver  Spring.  Edward  Bates  he  had  known  as  a 
leading  Whig.  With  Mr.  Welles  he  had  little  or  no  acquaintance 
prior  to  their  meeting  in  the  Cabinet. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  making  up  his  Cabinet,  had  given  the  chief  places 
to  those  who  were  the  rival  candidates  for  the  presidential  nomination 
at  Chicago;  and  had  sought  to  have  his  privy  counselors  represent  each 
of  the  different  elements  which  made  up  the  Republican  party.  It 
was  a  sagacious  thought,  and  a  generous  one.  Such  a  Cabinet  would 
be  well  calculated  to  maintain  harmony  in  the  party  —  provided  it 
could  maintain  harmony  within  itself.  In  ordinary  times  such  com¬ 
binations  are  apt  to  lead  to  discords.  But  the  great  crisis  now  upon 
the  Government,  imposing  like  duties,  risks,  and  responsibilities  on 
every  member,  brought  unity  of  sentiment  and  action.  The  pressure 
of  the  public  danger  soon  obliterated  whatever  tendency  there  might 
be  to  personal  or  factional  feeling;  and  during  the  next  three  critical 
years  the  Cabinet  remained  practically  in  accord.  Its  deliberations 
were,  often  anxious  and  prolonged  —  never  bitter  or  unfriendly. 
Solicitude  to  find  the  best  means  to  meet  the  emergency  of  the  hour, 
and  readiness  to  acquiesce  in  and  carry  out  whatever  measure  was  de¬ 
termined  upon,  were  marked  characteristics  of  President  Lincoln’s 
Cabinet  throughout  this  period. 

One  day  during  his  first  week  in  office,  Seward  requested  his  son  to 
get  a  blank  book  for  him,  remarking  that,  as  the  epoch  would  proba¬ 
bly  be  one  of  historic  importance,  he  should  begin  to  keep  a  diary.  A 
suitable  book  was  obtained,  and  laid  on  his  table.  On  the  following 
morning  he  came  out  of  his  room  with  it  in  his  hand,  and  giving  it 
back,  said: 

ei  There  is  the  first  page  of  my  diary,  and  the  last.  One  day’s  record 
satisfies  me  that  if  I  should  everyday  set  down  my  hasty  impressions, 
based  on  half  information,  I  should  do  injustice  to  everybody  around 
me,  and  to  none  more  than  my  most  intimate  friends.” 

The  book  still  remains  with  its  one  written  page. 

Another  curious  relic  of  this  time  is  a  sort  of  a  cipher  used  by 
E.  W.  Lander  (afterward  a  General  in  the  United  States  Army). 
It  had  become  important  to  know  exactly  what  was  going  on  in  the 
seceded  States.  Reliable  information,  however,  was  difficult  to  ob¬ 
tain.  Official  utterances,  and  the  accounts  given  by  the  press,  seemed 
to  savor  of  bluster  and  exaggeration.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  plain, 


522 


AMERICAN  ENVOYS  TO  EUROPE. 


[1861. 


that,  although  nominally  at  peace  with  the  North,  various  Southern 
localities  were  making  active  preparations  for  war.  Northern  visitors 
found  themselves  closely  watched,  and  deemed  it  hardly  prudent  to 
write  letters  that  might  be  intercepted.  Lander  had  been  called  to 
the  South  on  business  of  his  own,  and  while  there  took  occasion  to 
-inform  Seward  of  what  he  saw  there.  In  accordance  with  previous 
arrangements  before  leaving  Washington,  he  wrote  as  if  he  was  report¬ 
ing  to  a  landed  proprietor,  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  his  crops, 
cattle,  and  estate  in  Texas.  In  these  letters  “ sheep”  signified  troops, 
“bucks"  were  officers,  “  ranch  or  farm"  was  a  fort,  “corral ”  a  camp, 
“  ditching  or  plowing"  was  fortifying,  “  horses  "  were  cannon,  “  tim¬ 
ber"  was  munitions,  “herdsmen"  were  Union  men,  “traders"  were 
ships,  etc.,  etc.  Other  similar  words  and  phrases  referred  to  different 
localities  and  people.  Simple  as  the  cipher  was,  it  served  its  turn  for 
the  time. 

As  soon  as  he  was  installed  in  office,  Seward  commenced  the  pre¬ 
paration  of  a  circular  to  all  of  the  Ministers  of  the  United  States  in 
foreign  countries.  It  was  completed  and  sent  off  by  the  first  outgoing 
foreign  mail.  His  predecessor,  Judge  Black,  apprehending  that  per¬ 
sons  claiming  to  represent  the  seceding  States  might  seek  for  recog¬ 
nition  in  Europe,  had  issued  a  circular,  in  February,  in  which  he  said 
that  “the  Government  had  not  relinquished  its  constitutional  jurisdic¬ 
tion  within  those  States,  and  did  not  desire  to  do  so," adding,  “it  is  the 
right  of  this  Government  to  ask  all  foreign  powers,  that  the  latter  will 
take  no  steps  which  will  tend  to  encourage  the  revolutionary  movement." 

Seward  renewed  and  emphasized  the  warning,  instructing  each  Min¬ 
ister  to  “use  all  proper  and  necessary  measures  to  prevent  the  success 
of  efforts  which  may  be  made  by  persons  claiming  to  represent  those 
States,  to  procure  a  recognition,"  and  saying,  that  he  should  expect  the 
“exercise  of  the  greatest  possible  diligence  and  fidelity  to  counteract 
and  prevent  the  designs  of  those  who  would  invoke  foreign  interven¬ 
tion  to  embarrass  or  overthrow  the  Bepublic."  He  then  set  forth  the 
position  of  the  Government,  and  the  consequences  that  would  follow, 
at  home  and  abroad,  if  foreign  powers  should  so  far  forget  their 
friendship  as  to  intervene. 

As  yet  the  Ministers  appointed  by  Mr.  Buchanan  were  still  in  place. 
Among  them  were  some  Southerners,  who  might  decide  to  join  the 
rebellion.  The  majority  of  them,  however,  were  loyal.  Mr.  Dallas 
was  at  London;  Governor  Wright  at  Berlin;  J.  Glancy  Jones  at  Vienna; 
John  Appleton  at  St.  Petersburg;  Henry  C.  Murphy  at  The  Hague. 
At  Paris,  the  representative  of  the  Union  was  a  Virginian;  and  at 
Brussels  an  Alabamian,  and  at  Madrid  a  Kentuckian. 


18G1.J 


THE  OFFICE  SEEKERS. 


523 


Letters  and  newspapers  by  every  mail  were  now  bringing  the  re¬ 
sponse  of  the  country  to  President  Lincoln's  inaugural.  Even  those 
who  found  fault  with  it  did  not  misunderstand  it.  Under  its  calm, 
temperate,  conciliatory  language  was  manifest  a  fixed  determination 
to  maintain  the  laws,  and  uphold  the  Union.  “Sectional,”  and 
“mischievous,”  “the  knell  and  requiem  of  the  Union,”  “the  death 
of  hope,”  “a  declaration  of  war,”  “a  challenge  to  fight,”  were 
among  the  epithets  showered  upon  it,  by  the  Secessionists.  And  yet, 
neither  at  the  North  nor  the  South,  was  there  any  widespread  appre¬ 
hension  of  actual  war.  At  the  South,  it  was  believed  that  the  North 
could  not  be  aroused  to  attack  armed  States,  leagued  together,  and 
bent  on  disunion.  At  the  North,  it  seemed  difficult  to  believe  that 
any  portion  of  the  American  people  would  deliberately  begin  hostili¬ 
ties  against  the  rest.  Such  threats  and  declarations  were  familiar 
figures  of  political  speech.  Stump  speakers  had  for  years  talked  of 
“  struggles  for  liberty,”  “hordes  of  invaders,”  “marshaling  hosts 
for  the  battle,”  “vigorous  campaigning,”  “routing  the  enemy,” 
“sweeping  fire,”  “bayonet  charges,”  and  “ hand-to-hand  fighting,” 
when  they  only  meant,  and  were  understood  by  their  hearers  to  mean, 
bringing  out  voters  to  put  ballots  into  a  box.  As,  hitherto,  all  such 
military  rhetoric  had  ended,  either  in  some  concession  by  the  major¬ 
ity,  or  in  the  acquiescence  of  the  minority,  it  was  not  easy  to  realize 
that,  this  time,  the  words  might  have  a  different  meaning. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  first  troubles  of  the  new  Administration  came, 
not  from  its  enemies,  but  from  its  friends.  Washington,  as  usual, 
after  Inauguration  Day,  was  full  of  applicants  for  office.  Hotels  over¬ 
flowed  with  them.  Halls  and  corridors  were  blocked  with  them.  The 
President’s  doorway  was  thronged  by  a  crowd,  that  seemed  to  daily 
receive  fresh  accessions.  They  were  more  than  usually  numerous,  for, 
this  year,  the  change  of  Administration  was  also  a  change  of  parties. 
The  Republicans  were  in  power,  for  the  first  time,  and  might  be  ex¬ 
pected  to  turn  out  all  their  opponents  in  the  public  offices.  Each  ap¬ 
plicant  was  armed  with  his  letters  of  recommendation,  and,  if  possible, 
brought  his  Senator  or  Member,  to  get  him  a  personal  interview. 
Each  wanted  only  his  own  case  attended  to,  and  found  the  others  as 
much  in  his  way  as  they  were  in  that  of  the  appointing  power.  The 
President’s  kindly  heart,  and  habits  of  popular  intercourse,  rendered 
him  unwilling  to  shut  his  door  against  any  citizen.  Secretaries, 'Sena¬ 
tors,  and  Representatives  could  not  ungraciously  turn  away  those  who 
had  been  helping  them  into  power.  Yet  the  moments  were  too  pre¬ 
cious  to  waste,  in  listening  i  the  “oft-told  tale”  of  personal  solici¬ 
tation.  To  listen  to  all  was  simply  impossible.  There  would  be  no 


524 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


[1861. 


time  for  the  public  business,  nor  even  for  food  and  sleep.  As  it  was, 
it  was  necessary  to  work  nights  and  Sundays,  and  to  delay  much  that 
needed  prompt  attention.  Returning  home  after  a  hard  day’s  work  at 
the  department,  Seward  usually  found  his  parlor  and  library  filled 
with  a  crowd  of  applicants,  who,  weary  of  waiting  their  turn  in  the 
official  ante-room,  had  betaken  themselves  to  his  private  house,  as  an 
easier  and  more  speedy  way  of  getting  “  an  interview  with  the  Sec¬ 
retary.” 

If  those  who  were  “out”  were  importunate,  some  of  those  who 
were  “  in,”  were  worse.  There  was  too  much  reason  to  fear  that,  in 
every  department  of  the  Government,  were  men  disloyal  to  it,  who 
were  betraying  its  secrets  to  those  arrayed  against  it.  One  of  the 
most  urgent  duties  of  the  Administration  was  to  oust  all  such,  and  fill 
their  places  with  faithful  adherents.  This  was  not  merely  a  matter  of 
rewarding  political  followers,  but  of  public  safety.  And  not  only  dis¬ 
loyalty,  but  lukewarmness,  must  be  thwarted.  If  any  new  line  of 
policy  was  to  be  entered  upon,  all  the  great  public  offices  must  be  at 
once  filled  with  those  who  would  be  efficient  in  its  support. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  selection  of  a  Cabinet  was  the  choice  of 
diplomatic  representatives  to  protect  the  country’s  interests  abroad. 
There  was  no  lack  of  material  in  the  Republican  party  to  fill  all  the 
places  acceptably;  but  the  claims  of  locality  and  the  wishes  of  local 
leaders  caused  some  difficulty  and  embarrassment. 

Seward  shared  in  the  President’s  desire  to  recognize  each  component 
portion  of  the  party,  adding  to  it  his  own  solicitude  to  find  wise  and 
discreet  Ministers,  who  would  carry  out  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter 
of  their  instructions.  An  evening  spent  in  consultation  with  the  Presi¬ 
dent  resulted  in  a  memorandum  of  names  for  the  principal  missions, 
which  was  satisfactory  to  the  judgment  of  both;  and,  with  some  subse¬ 
quent  modifications,  became  the  basis  of  the  nominations  sent  to  the 
Senate. 

Two  informal  notes  sent  over  from  the  White  House  will  illustrate 
the  cordial  feeling  and  mutual  confidence  which  pervaded  these  con¬ 
sultations: 

Executive  Mansion,  March  11,  1861. 

Hon.  Sec’y  of  State: 

My  Dear  Sir — What  think  you  of  sending  Ministers  at  once,  as  follows? 
Dayton  to  England,  Fremont  to  France,  Clay'to  Spain,  Corwin  to  Mexico.  We 
need  to  have  these  points  guarded  as  strongly  and  quickly  as  possible. 

This  is  suggestion  merely,  and  not  dictation. 

Your  ob’t  serv’t, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


1861.] 


FOREIGN  APPOINTMENTS. 


525 


Executive  Mansion,  March  18,  1861. 

Hon.  Sec’y  of  State: 

My  Dear  Sir  —  I  believe  it  is  a  necessity  with  us  to  make  the  appointments 
I  mentioned  last  night  —  that  is,  Charles  F.  Adams  to  England,  William  L. 
Dayton  to  France,  George  P.  Marsh  to  Sardinia,  and  Anson  Burlingame  to 
Austria.  These  gentlemen  all  have  my  highest  esteem ;  but  no  one  of  them  is 
originally  suggested  by  me,  except  Mr.  Dayton.  Mr.  Adams  I  take,  because 
you  suggested  him,  coupled  with  his  eminent  fitness  for  the  place.  Mr.  Marsh 
and  Mr.  Burlingame  I  take  because  of  the  intense  pressure  of  their  respective 
States,  and  their  fitness  also.  The  objection  to  this  is,  that,  locally,  they  are 
so  huddled  up  — three  being  in  New  England,  and  two  from  a  single  State;  I 
have  considered  this,  and  will  not  shrink  from  the  responsibility.  This  being 
done,  leaves  but  five  full  missions  undisposed  of  —  Rome,  China,  Brazil,  Peru, 
and  Chili.  And  then,  what  about  Carl  Schurz;  or,  in  other  words,  what 
about  our  German  friends?  Shall  we  put  the  card  through  and  arrange  the  rest 
afterward?  What  say  you? 

Your  ob’t  serv’t, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

The  appointment  of  Mr.  Judd  to  Prussia  was  the  first  made,  fol¬ 
lowed  during  the  month  by  those  of  Mr.  Dayton  to  France,  Mr. 
Adams  to  England,  Mr.  Marsh  to  Italy,  Mr.  Sanford  to  Belgium,  Mr. 
Corwin  to  Mexico,  Mr.  Burlingame  to  Austria,  Mr.  Wood  to  Denmark,. 

Mr.  Schurz  to  Spain,  Mr.  Clay  to  Russia,  Mr.  Pike  to  The  Hague,  and 

* 

Mr.  Fogg  to  Switzerland. 

Mr.  George  Harrington,  whose  long  experience  in  the  Treasury 
Department,  under  Secretaries  Spencer,  Walker,  Meredith,  aud  Cor¬ 
win,  peculiarly  qualified  him  for  the  responsible  post,  was  made  As¬ 
sistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  and  was  rendering  effective  aid  to 

Secretary  Chase. 

«/ 

Mr.  Holt  had  remained  some  days  at  the  War  Department  until  Mr. 
Cameron  should  arrive  to  take  charge  of  it.  Both  he  and  Mr.  Stan¬ 
ton,  as  well  as  General  Dix  and  Judge  Black,  were  enabled,  by  their 
recent  experience,  to  give  the  new  Administration  useful  information 
in  regard  to  the  state  of  business  in  their  respective  departments. 

Meeting  one  of  the  Secretaries  in  the  street  soon  after  the  inaugura¬ 
tion,  Mr.  Stanton  earnestly  inquired  as  to  the  progress  of  affairs;  and 
when  answered  that  the  rush  of  office-seekers  seemed  to  clog  and  delay 
every  thing,  he  exclaimed:  “  Get  rid  of  them,  somehow.  Fill  all  the 
places  as  soon  as  possible,  so  as  to  get  at  the  real  work  before  you.’" 


526 


THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY. 


[1861. 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

1861. 

The  Army  and  Navy.  “  The  Border  States.”  Efforts  to  Win  them  to  Secession,  and  to 
Save  them  to  the  Union.  Southern  Unionists.  The  Relief  of  Sumter.  Cabinet 
Discussions.  The  Written  Opinions.  The  Southern  Commissioners.  A  “Memo¬ 
randum.”  Instructing  the  New  Envoys.  The  Senate.  Preston  King  and  the  Flag. 
The  Virginia  Convention.  News  from  Sumter  and  Pickens.  Preparing  Expeditions 
for  Relief.  “  Some  Thoughts  for  the  President’s  Consideration.” 

While  the  crowd  of  applicants  beleaguered  his  doors,  and  sought 
to  divert  the  President’s  attention  from  his  4 ‘  real  work  ”  to  their 
imaginary  “  claims,  ”  he  was  earnestly  trying  to  inform  himself  about 
the  impending  national  danger.  On  the  third  day  of  his  official 
term,  he  wrote  to  Seward: 

Executive  Chamber,  March  7,  1861. 

Will  you  please  bring  with  you  to-day  the  message  from  the  War  Depart¬ 
ment,  with  General  Scott’s  note  upon  it,  which  we  had  here  yesterday.  I  wish 
to  examine  the  General’s  opinion,  which  I  have  not  yet  seen. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Hon.  W.  H.  Seward. 

As  to  the  exact  amount  of  the  slender  military  and  naval  force  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Government,  he  was  promptly  advised  by  his  Sec¬ 
retaries  of  War  and  the  Navy.  But  as  to  the  actual  power  and  intent 
of  those  who  denied  its  authority,  it  was  not  so  easy  to  gain  informa¬ 
tion.  True,  nearly  every  day  was  bringing  intelligence  of  the  resig¬ 
nation  of  some  military  or  naval  officer,  or  some  civil  functionary  of 
Southern  birth,  who  deemed  that  his  primary  allegiance  was  due  to 
his  seceding  State,  and  not  to  the  Federal  Government.  But  no 
more  States  seemed  inclined  to  secede.  Virginia  had  elected,  to  her 
Convention,  delegates  of  whom  the  majority  were  Union  men.  Ar¬ 
kansas,  in  response  to  an  appeal  to  join  the  Confederacy,  had  voted 
“not  to  secede  from  the  Union/’  North  Carolina  had  given  a  ma¬ 
jority  for  the  Union,  and  voted  not  to  hold  a  Convention.  Missouri 
formally  declared  there  was  “no  adequate  cause  to  impel  her  to  dis¬ 
solve  her  connection  with  the  Union.”  The  Kentucky  Legislature 
had  refused  to  call  a  Convention.  Apparently,  the  tide  of  disunion 
was  checked,  if  not  permanently  stayed.  Whether  the  outcome  of 
the  crisis  would  be  peace  or  war,  seemed  to  depend,  now,  on  the 
course  chosen  by  “the  Border  States.”  If  they  all  sided  with  the 
Union,  “the  Confederacy,”  limited  to  South  Carolina  and  the  Gulf 
States,  must  speedily  collapse.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  all  joined 


1861.] 


THE  “  BORDER  STATES.” 


527 


the  “Confederacy,”  it  would  have  territory  and  resources  rivaling 
those  of  the  Union. 

Both  Secessionists  and  Union  men,  therefore,  put  forth  strenuous 
efforts  to  obtain  the  “  Border  States.”  Official  envoys  and  volunteer 
advisers  went  out  from  Montgomery  to  the  capitals  of  Maryland,  Del- 
aware,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and 
Arkansas,  to  urge  them  to  “join  their  fortunes  with  the  South.” 
One  of  their  strongest  arguments  was,  that  the  North  would  not  dare 
to  attack  “an  united  South,”  which  could  then  go  on,  and  take  in,  or 
leave  out,  one  by  one,  such  Northern  States  as  it  chose;  and  thus  re¬ 
construct  the  Union,  on  a  basis  that  would  respect  slavery,  and 
“secure  Southern  rights.”  Secret  societies,  “Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle”  and  others,  were  assiduous  in  this  work. 

So,  on  the  other  hand,  the  leading  Union  men  of  the  “  Border 
States  ”  were  active,  with  tongue  and  pen  and  press,  in  urging  their 
fellow-citizens  to  “stand  by  the  old  flag.”  They  put  themselves  in 
communication  with  Senators,  and  the  Administration,  at  Washing¬ 
ton;  who  were  thus  kept  advised  of  the  progress  of  the  struggle,  from 
day  to  day.  On  one  point,  both  Secessionists  and  Union  men  were, 
for  tlie  moment,  agreed.  That  was,  in  deprecating  any  thing  that 
would  precipitate  a  collision  of  arms,  until  the  attitude  of  the  “Border 
States”  could  be  definitely  ascertained.  Each  feared  to  lose  them,  by 
hasty  action.  Each  hoped  to  gain  them,  by  delay. 

During  the  winter  Seward’s  correspondence  had  been  enormous. 
Letters  poured  in  on  him  from  all  parts  of  the  country  filled  with  the 
writer’s  hopes  and  fears  about  the  Union.  Many  were  from  the  South 
and  showed  a  Union  feeling  ]3ervading  in  many  localities.  In  Eastern 
Tennessee,  in  Western  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  in  portions  of 
Kentucky  and  Missouri  it  was  especially  outspoken.  Even  in  the 
Gulf  States  there  was  an  earnest  “Union  ”  minority.  It  was  noticeable, 
however,  that  as  soon  as  a  State  formally  seceded,  Union  letters  gradu¬ 
ally  ceased  to  come  from  it  —  showing  that  his  correspondents  deemed 
it  unsafe  to  trust  the  mails,  or  had  decided  to  “go  with  their  State.” 

Now,  in  March,  he  was  receiving  hundreds  of  letters  about  Fort 
Sumter,  showing  the  intense  eagerness  with  which  the  public  was 
watching  that  matter.  Every  conceivable  plan  that  had  been  thought 
or  talked  of  by  military  and  naval  men  was  urged,  as  at  least  worthy 
of  a  trial.  And  some  that  would  never  have  occurred  to  any  practical 
mind,  were  gravely  propounded  and  advocated.  One  man  was  sure 
that  a  submarine  vessel  could  carry  reinforcements  unnoticed  “right 
up  to  the  fort.”  Another  wTas  confident  that  supplies  could  be  sent 
by  balloon,  and  dropped  down  within  the  walls. 


528 


THE  RELIEF  OF  SUMTER. 


[186L 


The  relief  of  Sumter  was  a  frequent  topic,  not  only  among  the  peo¬ 
ple,  but  in  the  Cabinet  council.  To  the  outside  public,  the  question 
seemed  a  simple  one  —  to  send  relief,  or  to  refuse  it.  To  those  inside 
the  council  chamber,  it  was  more  complex;  for  they  had  to  consider 
the  feasibility  of  methods,  and  the  question  of  consequences.  Accus¬ 
tomed  to  see  measures  adopted  or  rejected  in  Congress  by  “ayes  and 
nays,”  the  press  and  public  fell  readily  into  the  mistaken  notion  that 
there  were  two  parties  in  the  Cabinet,  voting  for  and  against  relief;  and 
that  it  would  be  granted  or  withheld  in  accordance  with  the  verdict  of 
the  majority.  But  Cabinet  questions  are  not  decided  by  a  majority  of 
votes.  As  Seward  once  expressed  it,  “there  is  but  one  vote  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  that  is  cast  by  the  President.”  He  asks  the  opinions  of 
each  of  his  advisers,  but  is  under  no  obligation  to  conform  to  that  of 
the  majority  —  does  not  conform  to  it  unless  he  thinks  it  is  also  the 
wiser  one.  He  often  adopts  that  of  the  minority  —  sometimes  even 
decides  adversely  to  the  united  advice  of  his  counselors.  Having  so 
decided,  their  duty  is  to  accept  and  faithfully  carry  out  his  decision, 
and  consider  their  own  objections  overruled.  If  not  willing  to  do  this 
they  ought  not  to  stay  with  him. 

In  the  present  case  there  was  no  one  in  the  Cabinet  who  did  not 
want  to  relieve  Sumter,  if  it  could  be  done.  At  the  same  time  there 
was  no  one  who  felt  at  all  certain  that  it  could.  The  differences  in 
the  Cabinet,  exaggerated  and  distorted  outside,  were  only  the  differ¬ 
ences  that  arise  in  every  consultation  of  practical  men,  over  the  ways 
to  achieve  an  end  that  all  desire.  The  chief  point  of  doubt  was  as  to 
the  expediency  of  attempting  relief,  at  a  time  when  the  attempt  would 
probably  fail,  and  would  precipitate  collision.  On  this  point  opinions 
changed,  with  the  varying  intelligence  received  from  the  military  offi¬ 
cers,  and  from  the  “Border  States.”*  Manifestly,  that  which  might 
be  unwise  one  week,  might  prove  advisable  the  next,  or  vice  versa. 

After  much  discussion  of  the  subject  in  Cabinet,  the  President  re¬ 
quested  each  of  the  members  to  give  him  their  opinions  confidentially, 
in  writing,  in  order  that  the  question  might  be  carefully  weighed  and 
considered  in  all  its  aspects  by  them  all.  Seward  drafted  his  opinion 
on  the  following  day,  and  submitted  it.  It  was  elaborate  and  full. 
As  all  these  opinions  have  been  already  published  elsewhere,  it  will 
suffice  for  the  purpose  of  this  narrative,  to  give  here  two  or  three  ex¬ 
tracts  from  that  of  Seward,  showing  its  tenor  and  scope: 

Department  of  State,  ) 
Washington,  March  15,  1861.  j 

The  President  submits  to  me  the  following  question :  “Assuming  it  to  be 
possible  to  now  provision  Fort  Sumter,  under  all  the  circumstances,  is  it  wise 
to  attempt  it?  ” 


1861.] 


FORT  SUMTER. 


529 


If  it  were  possible  to  peacefully  provision  Fort  Sumter,  of  course  I  should 
answer  that  it  would  be  both  unwise  and  inhuman  not  to  attempt  it.  But  the 
facts  of  the  case  are  known  to  be,  that  the  attempt  must  be  made  with  the 
employment  of  military  and  marine  force,  which  would  provoke  combat,  and 
probably  initiate  a  civil  war,  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
would  be  committed  to  maintain,  through  all  changes,  to  some  definite  con¬ 
clusion. 

Seven  of  the  slave  States  have  seceded,  and  organized  a  new  confederacy, 
under  the  name  of  “  The  Confederated  States  of  America.”  These  States,  find¬ 
ing  a  large  number  of  the  mints,  custom-houses,  forts  and  arsenals  of  the 
United  States  situated  within  their  limits,  unoccupied,  undefended,  and  vir¬ 
tually  abandoned  by  the  late  Administration,  have  seized  and  appropriated 
them  to  their  own  use;  and  under  the  same  circumstances  have  seized  and  ap¬ 
propriated,  to  their  own  use,  large  amounts  of  money  and  other  public  property 
of  the  United  States.  The  people  of  the  other  slave  States,  divided  and  bal¬ 
ancing  between  sympathy  with  the  seceding  States  and  loyalty  to  the  Union, 
have  been  intensely  excited,  but,  at  the  present  moment,  indicate  a  disposition 
to  adhere  to  the  Union,  if  nothing  extraordinary  shall  occur  to  renew  excite¬ 
ment  and  produce  popular  exasperation.  This  is  the  stage  in  this  premedi¬ 
tated  revolution,  at  which  wre  now  stand.  As  a  statesman  in  the  public  ser¬ 
vice,  I  have  not  hesitated  to  assume  that  the  Federal  Government  is  commit¬ 
ted  to  maintain,  preserve,  and  defend  the  Union—  peacefully,  if  it  can  — 
forcibly,  if  it  must,  to  every  extremity.  I  have,  therefore,  made  it  the  labor 
and  study  of  the  hour,  how  to  save  the  Union  from  dismemberment,  by  peace¬ 
ful  policy,  and  without  civil  war.  Justified  by  these  sentiments,  I  have  felt 
that  it  is  exceedingly  fortunate  that  to  a  great  extent  the  Federal  Government 
occupies,  thus  far,  not  an  aggressive  attitude,  but  practically  a  defensive  one, 
while  the  necessity  for  action,  if  civil  war  is  to  be  initiated,  falls  on  those  who 
seek  to  dismember  the  Union. 

It  is  by  this  policy,  thus  pursued,  I  think,  that  the  progress  of  dismember¬ 
ment  has  been  arrested,  and  the  ‘‘Border  States”  yet  remain,  although  they 
do  so  uneasily,  in  the  Union.  It  is  to  a  perseverance  in  this  policy,  for  a 
short  time  longer,  that  I  look  as  the  only  peaceful  means  of  assuring  the  con¬ 
tinuance  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mis¬ 
souri  and  Arkansas,  or  most  of  those  States,  in  the  Union.  I  am  not  unaware 
I  am  conceding  more  than  can  reasonably  be  demanded  by  the  people  of  the 
“Border  States.”  They  could,  speaking  justly,  demand  nothing.  They  are 
bound  by  the  Federal  obligation  to  adhere  to  the  Union,  without  concession 
or  conciliation,  just  as  much  as  the  people  of  the  free  States  are.  But,  in  ad¬ 
ministration,  we  must  deal  with  men,  facts,  and  circumstances,  not  as  they 
ought  to  be,  but  as  they  are.  In  this  active  and  enlightened  country,  in  this 
season  of  excitement,  with  a  daily  press,  daily  mails,  and  an  incessantly  ope¬ 
rating  telegraph,  the  design  to  reinforce  and  supply  the  garrison  must  become 
known  to  the  opposite  party  at  Charleston,  as  soon,  at  least,  as  preparations 
for  it  should  begin.  The  garrison  would  then  almost  certainly  fall  by  assault, 
before  the  expedition  could  reach  the  harbor  of  Charleston. 


34 


530 


THE  CONFEDERATE  COMMISSIONERS. 


[1861. 


While  there  was  some  difference  of  opinion  among  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet  as  to  this  line  of  action,  yet  it  was,  on  the  whole,  acqui¬ 
esced  in,  though  without  formally  deciding  how  long  it  should  be 
pursued,  or  even  formally  adopting  it  at  all.  For  nearly  all  the  month, 
the  question  of  reinforcement  or  withdrawal  remained  in  statu  quo> 
awaiting  the  turn  of  events  in  the  “  Border  States.” 

Seward  wrote  home: 

March  16. 

Of  course  you  could  tell  our  friends  that  I  have  not  written  to  you  about 
appointments;  for  I  have  thus  far  written  to  you  very  little,  and  certainly 
office  is  a  subject  that  I  never  write  upon,  to  any  one.  It  don’t  bear  writing 
upon. 

It  has  been  a  laborious  week  for  both  Frederick  and  myself.  The  questions 
of  Fort  Sumter,  and  of  the  reception  of  the  “  ambassadors  ”  from  Davis  and 
Toombs,  have  given  me  occupation  enough.  But  as  this  is  Cabinet  work, 
you  wont  know  about  it. 

This  President  proposes  to  do  all  his  work.  Of  course  he  takes  that  busi¬ 
ness  up,  first,  which  is  pressed  upon  him  most.  Solicitants  for  offices  besiege 
him,  and  he,  of  course,  finds  his  hands  full  for  the  present. 

My  duties  call  me  to  the  White  House  one,  two,  or  three  times  a  day.  The 
grounds,  halls,  stairways,  closets,  are  filled  with  applicants,  who  render  ingress 
and  egress  difficult  . 

I  still  hope  for  the  prevalence  of  wise  and  prudent  counsels. 

The  “  ambassadors”  or  commissioners  here  alluded  to  were  now  in 
Washington,  and  had  been  there  for  a  fortnight.  They  had  sought 
an  interview  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  order  to  open  negotiations* 
but  he  declined  to  receive  them.  Then  they  invoked  the  help  of  Sena¬ 
tors,  as  well  as  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  of  one  or  two  of  the 
foreign  Ministers,  to  obtain  even  an  informal  interview.  Of  course,  to 
receive  and  treat  them  as  representatives  of  an  “independent  nation” 
would  be  acknowledgment  and  recognition  of  the  “  Confederacy.” 

Finally,  they  sent  a  sealed  communication  to  him  at  the  Depart¬ 
ment,  requesting  him  to  name  a  day  when  they  “  might  present  to  the 
President  their  credentials,  and  acquaint  him  with  the  object  of  their 
mission;  which  was,”  they  intimated,  “the  speedy  adjustment  of  all 
the  questions  growing  out  of  separation,  as  the  respective  interests, 
geographical  contiguity,  and  future  welfare  of  the  two  nations  may 
render  necessary.” 

When  this  was  laid  before  Seward,  he  saw  that,  to  prevent  misap¬ 
prehension  of  the  attitude  of  the  Government,  either  by  the  appli¬ 
cants,  or  by  the  public  at  large,  some  notice  must  be  takeu  of  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  any  letter  to  them,  in  reply,  might  be  claimed  to  be 
the  opening  of  “official  correspondence.”  So  he  prepared  a  “Mem- 


1861.] 


A  “  MEMORANDUM.” 


531 


orandum,”  to  be  placed  on  the  files  of  the  department,  and  to  become 
a  part  of  its  archives.  Of  this,  they,  or  whoever  chose,  could  have  a 
copy,  on  application. 

In  this  “  Memorandum,”  after  stating  the  contents  of  their  com¬ 
munication,  he  added: 

The  Secretary  of  State  understands  the  events  -which  have  recently  occurred, 
very  differently  from  the  aspect  in  which  they  are  presented  by  Messrs.  Forsyth 
and  Crawford.  lie  sees  in  them,  not  a  rightful  and  accomplished  revolution, 
and  an  independent  nation,  with  an  established  government,  but  rather  a  per¬ 
version  of  a  temporary  and  partisan  excitement,  to  the  inconsiderate  purposes 
of  an  unjustifiable,  unconstitutional  aggression  upon  the  rights  and  the  au¬ 
thority  vested  in  the  Federal  Government,  and  benignly  exercised  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union,  preservation  of  liberty,  and  the  security,  peace, 
welfare,  happiness,  and  aggrandizement  of  the  American  people. 

The  Secretary  of  State  is  unable  to  comply  with  the  request  of  Messrs. 
Forsyth  and  Crawford,  to  appoint  a  day  on  which  they  may  present  the  evi¬ 
dences  of  their  authority,  and  the  objects  of  their  visit  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  obliged  to  state  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and 
Crawford,  that  he  has  no  authority,  nor  is  he  at  liberty  to  recognize  them 
as  diplomatic  agents,  or  hold  correspondence  or  other  communication  with 
them. 

This  ‘‘Memorandum”  was  placed  on  the  files  of  the  department, 
and  remained  uncalled  for,  during  a  fortnight  or  more.  The  Com¬ 
missioners,  anticipating  that  its  decision  would  be  adverse  to  their 
request,  and  daily  hoping  and  expecting  to  hear  that  Forts  Sumter 
and  Pickens  were  to  be  evacuated,  preferred  to  await  the  course  of 
events;  and  so  delayed  asking  for  their  answer. 

Meanwhile,  the  next  duty  devolving  upon  the  Secretary  of  State  was 
that  of  instructing  the  newly-appointed  envoys  to  European  courts. 
Mr.  Judd  was  the  first.  Seward  wrote  him,  prior  to  his  departure  for 
Berlin,  saying:  “You  are  well  aware  of  what  you  will  find  Europeans 
unable  to  understand:  that,  owing  to  the  peculiar  structure  of  the 
Federal  Government  and  the  character  and  habits  of  the  American 
people,  this  Government  not  only  wisely,  but  necessarily,  hesitates  to 
resort  to  coercion  and  compulsion  to  secure  a  return  of  the  disaffected 
‘to  their  allegiance/  ”  After  emphatically  stating  the  “  purpose”  to 
maintain  the  sovereignty  and  authority  of  the  Union  everywhere  with 
firmness,  as  well  as  discretion,  he  went  on  to  remark  that  it  was  “of 
the  greatest  importance  that  the  disaffected  States  should  not  succeed 
in  obtaining  favor  or  recognition  from  foreign  nations.”  Informing 
the  Minister  that  agents  to  solicit  such  recognition  were  believed  to  be 
already  on  the  way,  he  proceeded  to  advise  as  to  the  best  method  of 
counteracting  their  efforts,  and  to  point  out  the  line  of  argument  that 


tk 


532 


INSTRUCTIONS  TO  MINISTERS. 


[1861. 


might  best  influence  the  action  of  the  Government  to  which  he  was 
accredited. 

Four  days  later  he  was  giving  similar  instructions  to  Mr.  Sanford 
before  leaving  for  his  post  at  Brussels.  After  warning  the  Minister 
that  the  Federal  Government  would  “not  consent  to  the  interposition 
of  any  foreign  power,  in  a  controversy  which  is  merely  a  domestic  one,” 
he  added:  “There  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  the  agents  of  the 
disunionists  will  attempt  to  win  favor  for  their  scheme  of  recognition 
by  affecting  to  sympathize  with  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
European  nations  in  their  discontent  with  the  tariff  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  by  promising  to  receive  the  fabrics  of  such  nations  on  more 
favorable  terms.  You  will  be  able  to  reply  to  such  seductions  as  these.” 
He  suggested  the  points,  “  that  all  the  interests  of  European  manu¬ 
factures  and  commerce  are  identified  with  the  peace  and  undisturbed 
activity  of  the  American  people;  and  that  the  consequences  of  dis¬ 
union  by  civil  war  would  be  disastrous  to  all  the  existing  systems  of 
industrial  activity  in  Europe.”  He  added,  that  “the  phase  of  the 
whole  affair  changes  almost  daily.” 

These  changing  phases  of  the  situation  were  reflected  in  the  Senate. 
Resolutions  were  introduced  and  debated  urging  the  withdrawal  of  all 
troops  from  the  seceded  States,  and  the  evacuation  of  the  forts.  These 
were  met  by  counter-resolutions  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Executive 
to  enforce  the  laws  and  protect  the  public  property.  The  Republican 
majority,  deeming  it  wiser  and  safer  to  leave  the  question  of  Execu¬ 
tive  policy  to  be  determined  by  the  Administration  itself,  contented 
themselves  with  laying  the  various  propositions  on  the  table,  and  finally 
adjourned  the  special  session  on  March  28. 

An  incident  of  this  session  illustrative  of  the  times  was  related  by 
Preston  King,  who  said: 

I  think  it  was  the  captain  of  the  watch  here  at  the  Capitol,  who  came  and 
consulted  me  about  getting  permission  to  omit,  during  the  session  of  the  Senate 
to  hoist  the  flag  on  the  top  of  the  Capitol;  and  when  he  was  asked  what  he 
wanted  to  omit  that  for,  he  said  he  feared  that  it  might  be  supposed  that  lie 
desired  to  save  labor  and  trouble;  but  he  really  suggested  it,  because  “it  hurt 
these  people  about  here  to  look  at  it.”  To  see  the  flag  on  the  top  of  the  Capitol ! 
I  had  not  done  much,  but  I  wrote  a  letter  very  promptly  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  stating  the  fact,  and  saying  I  did  not  care  whom  he  appointed,  but  that 
I  wanted  that  man  removed.  He  was  removed,  and  within  ten  days  was  with 
the  enemy. 

The  closing  week  of  March  brought  news  from  the  Union  men  in 
the  Virginia  Convention  that  they  felt  encouraged  and  hopeful.  They 
were  in  a  decided  majority;  and  believed  themselves  able  to  defeat  the 


1861.] 


THE  BORDER  STATES  AND  TIIE  FORTS. 


533 


Secession  scheme,  whenever  a  vote  should  be  readied.  Then  the  Con¬ 
vention  would  adjourn  sine  die,  and  Virginia  would  stand  firmly  in 
the  Union.  From  Arkansas  came  news  that  Secession  there  also  was, 
thus  far,  a  failure.  From  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  came 
intelligence  that  the  agents  or  advocates  of  Secession,  though  active 
and  busy,  could  “.never  obtain  control.”  There  was  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  sincerity  of  the  Union  feeling  in  the  “Border  States.” 
Mingled  with  it,  however,  was  a  habit  of  believing  m  compromises 
and  concessions  to  slavery,  and  some  natural  distrust  of  the  Republi¬ 
can  Administration,  whose  election  Southern  Union  men  had  opposed. 
The  advocates  of  Secession,  who  were  numerous  at  every  Southern 
capital,  skillfully  adapted  their  appeals  for  “  Southern  unity,”  so  as  to 
utilize  these  prejudices.  Yet  they  had,  thus  far,  converted  no  “  Bor¬ 
der  States.” 

But  while  the  debate  for  and  against  the  Union  dragged  thus  slowly 
on  the  border,  matters  in  Charleston  harbor  were  rapidly  approaching 
a  crisis.  The  South  Carolinians  were  throwing  up  batteries,  mount¬ 
ing  guns,  massing  troops,  obstructing  the  harbor,  and  making  rapid 
preparations  to  assault  the  fort.  Anderson’s  little  force  had  nearly 
exhausted  their  supplies,  and  in  a  fortnight  would  be  driven  out  by 
starvation,  even  if  not  attacked.  Communication  between  the  fort 
and  the  town  had  been  cut  off  by  the  Confederates,  but  official  mes¬ 
sages  to  and  from  Washington,  though  jealously  watched,  were  per¬ 
mitted  to  pass,  in  the  hope  that  their  statements  would  hasten  the 
evacuation. 

Without  any  formal  or  written  agreement,  it  was  understood,  both 
at  Washington  and  at  Charleston,  that  there  would  be  no  attempt  to 
change  the  existing  status  at  Sumter,  by  surprise,  but  that,  whenever 
the  rebels  should  decide  to  attack,  or  the  Government  to  reinforce, 
previous  notice  would  be  given.  Meanwhile  the  Administration,  be¬ 
sides  Anderson’s  written  communications,  now  had  the  personal  testi¬ 
mony  of  several  eye-witnesses — Lieutenant  Hall,  who  had  brought 
dispatches;  Captain  Fox,  who  had  visited  the  fort;  Colonel  Lamon,  who 
had  visited  it  subsequently,  and  finally,  Lieutenant  Talbot,  who  came 
from  Anderson  to  state  the  condition  of  affairs. 

From  Pickens,  the  intelligence  was  hardly  more  reassuring.  The 
flag  was  still  flying,  but  no  reinforcements  had  been  landed  from  the 
fleet.  Meanwhile  a  force  was  gathering  to  wrest  that  fortification  also, 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  turn  it  over  to  the 
“  Confederacy.” 

The  Cabinet  conferences  during  the  next  few  days,  after  the  adjourn¬ 
ment  of  the  Senate,  were  frequent  and  earnest  in  regard  to  the  threat- 


534 


THE  RELIEF  OF  FORT  PICKENS. 


[1861. 


ened  forts.  The  President  and  his  advisers  were  unwilling  to  abandon 
them,  without  at  least  making  some  effort  in  the  direction  of  relief. 
As  to  Fort  Sumter,  the  President  decided  to  commence  preparing  a 
relief  expedition,  “to  be  ultimately  used,  or  not,  according  to  circum¬ 
stances/’  It  was  based  on  a  plan  proposed  by  Captain  Fox.  On  the 
30th  of  March,  as  that  officer  narrates,  “  the  President  sent  him  to  New 
York,  with  verbal  directions  to  prepare  for  the  voyage  to  Sumter,  but 
to  make  no  binding  engagements.” 

As  to  Fort  Pickens,  Seward,  before  leaving  the  council  chamber, 
penned  this  note  to  his  son: 

Send  a  note  by  a  messenger,  who  will  be  sure  to  find  Captain  M.  C.  Meigs, 
and  bring  him  to  the  Department,  that  I  may  introduce  him  to  the  President. 

W.  H.  S. 

March  20,  1861. 

What  came  of  this  interview  will  be  seen  by  Captain  Meigs’  letter, 
in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Proceeding  afterward  to  General  Scott’s  head-quarters,  on  Seven¬ 
teenth  street,  Seward  found  him  sitting  at  his  table,  busy  with  military 
papers.  Addressing  him  in  a  grave  tone,  but  with  a  smile,  he  said: 
“  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  you  have  officially  advised  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  that,  in  your  judgment,  it  will  not  be  practicable 
to  relieve  Fort  Sumter  and  Fort  Pickens.  I  have  come  to  you,  from 
the  President,  to  tell  you  that  he  directs  that  Fort  Pickens  shall  be 
relieved.” 

Scott,  looking  up,  caught  both  the  humor  and  the  gravity  of  the 
situation.  He  placed  his  two  hands  on  the  table,  and  rose  slowly,  and 
with  difficulty,  till  he  stood  erect,  at  full  height,  facing  his  visitor: 
“Well,  Mr.  Secretary,”  he  sonorously  answered,  “the  great  Frederick 
used  to  say  that  ‘when  the  King  commands,  nothing  is  impossible  !’ 
Sir,  the  President’s  orders  shall  be  obeyed!  ”  And  in  five  minutes 
more,  he  had  out  his  maps,  and  reports,  and  was  at  work  with  energy 
and  hearty  good-will. 

Seward  found  it  no  longer  prudent,  or  possible,  to  write  in  detail  of 
passing  events.  But  in  a  hasty  letter  to  Mrs.  Seward,  he  said: 

I  would  not  have  all  communications  with  you  and  Fanny  suspended.  But 
I  am  full  of  occupation,  and  more  of  anxieties.  I  could  write  only  of  them, 
and  they  must  not  enter  into  our  correspondence.  Dangers  and  breakers  are 
before  us.  I  wish  you  were  near  enough  to  share  some  of  my  thoughts  and 
feelings,  and  fears,  and  trials. 

On  the  same  day  he  prepared  a  confidential  memorandum  of  his 
views  in  regard  to  the  future  course  of  the  Government.  It  was  this: 


1861.] 


POINTS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENT’S  CONSIDERATION. 


535 


SOME  THOUGHTS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENT’S  CONSIDERATION. 

Aj>ril  1,  1861. 

1.  We  are  at,  the  end  of  a  month’s  Administration,  and  yet  without  a  policy 
either  domestic  or  foreign. 

2.  This,  however,  is  not  culpable,  and  it  has  even  been  unavoidable.  The 
presence  of  the  Senate,  with  the  need  to  meet  applications  for  patronage,  have 
prevented  attention  to  other  and  more  grave  matters. 

3.  But  further  delay  to  adopt  and  prosecute  our  policies,  for  both  domestic 
and  foreign  affairs,  would  not  only  bring  scandal  on  the  Administration,  but 
danger  upon  the  country. 

4.  To  do  this  we  must  dismiss  the  applicants  for  office.  But  how  ?  I  sug¬ 
gest  that  we  make  the  local  appointments  forthwith,  leaving  foreign  or  gen¬ 
eral  ones  for  ulterior  and  occasional  action. 

5.  The  policy  at  home.  I  am  aware  that  my  views  are  singular,  and,  per¬ 
haps,  not  sufficiently  explained.  My  system  is  built  on  this  idea ,  as  a  ruling 
one,  namely:  that  we  must  change  the  question,  before  the  public,  from  one 
upon  Slavery,  or  about  Slavery,  for  a  question  upon  Union  or  Disunion.  In 
other  words,  from  what  would  be  regarded  as  a  party  question  to  one  of  Pa¬ 
triotism  or  Union. 

The  occupation  or  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  although  not,  in  fact,  a  slavery 
or  party  question,  is  so  regarded.  Witness  the  temper  manifested  by  the  Re¬ 
publicans  in  the  free  States,  and  even  by  Union  men  in  the  South.  I  would, 
therefore,  terminate  it,  as  a  safe  means  of  changing  the  issue.  I  deem  it  for¬ 
tunate  that  the  last  Administration  created  the  necessity. 

For  the  rest,  I  would  simultaneously  defend  all  the  forts  in  the  Gulf,  and 
have  the  Navy  recalled  from  foreign  stations,  to  be  prepared  for  a  blockade. 
Put  the  island  of  Key  West  under  martial  law. 

This  will  raise  distinctly  the  question  of  Union  or  Disunion.  I  would  main¬ 
tain  every  fort  and  possession  in  the  South. 

* 

For  Foreign  Nations. 

I  would  demand  explanations  from  Spain  and  France  categorically,  at  once. 

I  would  seek  explanation  from  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  and  send  agents 
into  Canada,  Mexico,  and  Central  America,  to  rouse  a  vigorous  continental 
spirit  of  independence  on  this  continent  against  European  intervention,  and  if 
satisfactory  explanations  are  not  received  from  Spain  and  France,  would  con¬ 
vene  Congress,  and  declare  war  against  them. 

But  whatever  policy  we  adopt,  there  must  be  an  energetic  prosecution  of  it. 
For  this  purpose,  it  must  be  somebody’s  business  to  pursue  and  direct  it,  in¬ 
cessantly. 

Either  the  President  must  do  it  himself,  and  be  all  the  while  active  in  it,  or 
devolve  it  on  some  member  of  his  Cabinet.  Once  adopted,  debates  on  it  must 
end,  and  all  agree,  and  abide.  It  is  not  my  especial  province;  but  I  neither 
seek  to  evade,  nor  assume  responsibility. 

The  President’s  reply  was  kind  and  dignified.  Dissenting,  on  some 
points,  as  to  the  lack  of  definite  policy,  he  said,  as  to  the  closing  sug- 


536 


THE  CRISIS  REACHED. 


[1861. 


gestion:  “  If  this  must  be  done,  I  must  do  it.  When  a  general  line 
of  policy  is  adopted,  I  apprehend  there  is  no  danger  of  its  being 
changed  without  good  reason,  or  continuing  to  be  a  subject  of  unneces- 
saiy  debate;  still,  upon  points  arising  in  its  progress,  I  wish,  and  sup¬ 
pose  I  am  entitled  to  have,  the  advice  of  all  the  Cabinet.” 

Before  the  month  passed  away,  the  policy  thus  discussed  had  been 
adopted.  Seward’s  “  ruling  idea”  was  verified  and  realized.  The 
swift  march  of  events,  and  the  Administration’s  action  thereon,  soon 
“  changed  the  question  before  the  public  from  one  upon  Slavery  or 
about  Slavery  for  a  question  upon  Union  or  Disunion .” 


CHAPTER  LVII. 

1861. 

The  Crisis  Reached.  Dispatch  of  the  Sumter  Expedition.  “  The  War  upon  Us.”  De¬ 
parture  of  the  Southern  Commissioners.  Successful  Reinforcement  of  Fort  Pickens. 
Instructions  to  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Corwin.  Questions  to  be  Settled  after  the  War. 
The  Bombardment  of  Sumter.  The  Cabinet  Meeting.  The  Call  to  Arms.  The 
Proclamation  for  75,000  Men.  The  Response.  Northern  Enthusiasm.  Southern  De¬ 
fiance.  Border  State  Refusals.'  A  Diplomatic  View  of  the  Situation.  The  Procla¬ 
mation  of  Blockade.  The  “  War  Democrats.”  Seizure  of  Harper’s  Ferry.  Attack 
on  the  Troops  in  Baltimore.  The  Norfolk  Navy  Yard.  Washington  Cut  off  and 
Beleaguered. 


President  Lincoln  tersely  described  the  condition  of  affairs  at 
this  juncture,  in  saying:  “Starvation  was  not  yet  upon  the  garrison 
(at  Sumter),  and  ere  it  could  be  readied  Fort  Pickens  might  be  re¬ 
inforced.  This  would  be  a  clear  indication  of  policy,  and  would  bet¬ 
ter  enable  the  country  to  accept  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  as  a 
military  necessity.” 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  up  to  the  close  of  March.  But 
four  days  of  April  brought  a  change.  News  of  the  near  exhaustion 
of  the  provisions  at  Sumter,  and  of  the  gz/asi-armistice  at  Pickens, 
showed  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  reinforce  the  latter  before  the 
crisis  would  be  reached  at  the  former.  “  The  strongest  anticipated 
case  for  using  the  relief  expedition  ”  was  now  presented,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  send  it  forward.  On  the  4th  of  April,  the  President  sent 
for  Captain  Fox,  and  informed  him  that  he  had  now  decided  “to  let 
the  expedition  go.” 

In  accordance  with  the  understanding  that  notice  should  be  given, 
the  President  requested  Seward  to  find  him  a  trusty  messenger  to  con- 


1861.] 


THE  SUMTER  EXPEDITION". 


537 


vey  the  notification  to  Charleston.  Mr.  Robert  S.  Chew  of  the  State 
Department  was  selected,  and  instructed  to  go  with  as  much  celerity 
and  secrecy  as  possible.  He  carried  this  notice  drafted  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
himself: 

I  am  directed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  notify  you  to  expect 
an  attempt  will  be  made  to  supply  Fort  Sumter  with  provisions  only;  and  that 
if  such  attempt  be  not  resisted,  no  effort  to  throw  in  provisions,  arms,  or  am¬ 
munition  will  be  made  without  further  notice,  or  in  case  of  an  attack  upon 
the  fort. 

On  the  day  this  notice  was  given  at  Charleston,  the  expedition  un¬ 
der  command  of  Captain  Fox  was  expected  to  sail  from  New  York 
harbor.  Before  it  had  time  to  reach  its  destination  the  news  of  its 
departure  was  spreading  North  and  South.  At  Washington  the  an- 
.  nouneement  occasioned  intense  excitement  and  alarm.  Mr.  Stanton, 
in  a  brief  note  to  ex-President  Buchanan,  described  the  feeling  of  the 
hour  among  the  citizens: 

We  have  the  war  upon  us.  The  telegraph  news  of  this  morning  you  will 
have  seen  before  this  reaches  you.  The  impression  here  is  held  by  many: 

First.  That  the  effort  to  reinforce  will  be  a  failure. 

Second.  That  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours  from  this  time,  Anderson  will 
have  surrendered. 

Third.  That  in  less  than  thirty  days  Davis  will  be  in  possession  of  Wash¬ 
ington. 

The  Southern  Commissioners,  finding  their  hopes  disappointed, 
now  sent  for,  and  received  a  copy  of  the  “  Memorandum,”  placed  on 
file  in  answer  to  their  application.  After  reading  it,  they  sent  in  re¬ 
sponse,  a  sharp  and  caustic  letter,  in  which  they  remarked  that  the 
Secretary  of  State  was  “  persistently  wedded  to  those  fatal  theories  of 
construction  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  always  rejected  by  the  states¬ 
men  of  the  South;”  adding  that,  “  you  now,  with  a  persistence  un¬ 
taught,  and  uncured  by  the  ruin  which  lias  been  wrought,  refuse  to 
recognize  the  great  fact,  to  you,  of  a  completed  and  successful  revolu¬ 
tion;  you  close  your  eyes  to  the  existence  of  the  Government  founded 
upon  it.”  Predicting  that  “ blood  and  mourning”  "would  ensue;  and 
that  history  would  place  the  responsibility  for  it  on  the  Administra¬ 
tion,  they  adverted  to  the  expedition  fitting  out  for  the  relief  of  Fort 
Sumter,  and  said,  “the  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  their  Government 
and  people,  accept  the  gage  of  battle  thus  thrown  to  them.'" 

On  the  receipt  of  this  warlike  missive,  Seward  directed  it  to  be 
placed  upon  the  files,  and  with  it,  the  following  memorandum: 


538 


SUMTER  AND  PICKENS. 


[1861. 


MEMORANDUM. 

Department  of  State,  ) 
Washington,  April  10,  1861.  f 

Messrs.  Forsyth,  Crawford,  and  Roman  having  been  apprised  by  a  memo¬ 
randum  which  has  been  delivered  to  them,  that  the  Secretary  of  State  is  not 
at  liberty  to  hold  official  intercourse  with  them,  will,  it  is  presumed,  expect 
no  notice  from  him  of  the  new  communication  which  they  have  addressed  to 
him  under  date  of  the  ninth  instant,  beyond  the  simple  acknowledgment  of 
the  receipt  thereof,  which  he  hereby  very  cheerfully  gives. 

In  March,  Judge  Campbell  had  called  with  a  telegram  received 
from  Governor  Pickens  of  South  Carolina,  inquiring  about  Sumter. 
Seward  wrote  the  words  for  him  to  use  in  reply:  “I  am  satisfied  the 
Government  will  not  undertake  to  supply  Fort  Sumter,  without  giv¬ 
ing  notice  to  Governor  Pickens.”  When  it  began  to  be  known  that 
an  expedition  to  relieve  Sumter  was  in  preparation,  Judge  Campbell 
made  inquiry,  by  letter,  whether  the  assurances  he  had  given  were 
well  or  ill  founded. 

Seward  wrote  in  reply: 

Faith  as  to  Sumter  fully  kept.  Wait  and  see. 

This  was  regarded  as  entirely  unsatisfactory;  for  while  “ faith  was 
kept,”  in  sending  the  notice,  it  was  deemed  to  have  been  broken,  by 
sending  the  expedition  to  which 'the  notice  referred.  Apparently  the 
Confederate  envoys  believed  they  had  received  an  assurance  that  the 
fort  would  be  evacuated  —  an  assurance  that  neither  the  President 
nor  any  of  the  Cabinet  could  have  given ;  for  the  question  of  evacua¬ 
tion  had  remained  undecided  from  the  4th  of  March  till  the  day 
when  the  special  messenger  was  sent  to  Charleston.  But  such  mis¬ 
understandings  are  common  enough  in  the  period  of  excited  feeling 
which  precedes  a  war.  Those  who  are  about  to  begin  hostilities 
usually  prefer  to  believe  themselves  aggrieved  and  wronged.  Seward 
was  charged  with.  “  duplicity,”  and  the  Commissioners  were  said  to 
have  been  “abused”  and  “overreached.” 

The  story  of  the  Fort  Pickens  Expedition,  the  secrecy  which  attended 
its  fitting  out,  the  misunderstandings  to  which  it  gave  rise,  and  its 
successful  result,  can  best  be  told  by  Captain  Meigs  himself.  He  re¬ 
lates  it  in  his  published  letters  and  official  report: 

Mv  first  interview  with  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  State  in  relation 
to  this  matter  was  on  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  March.  Tlx?  President  did 
not  inform  me  that  he  intended  to  attempt  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter;  but  ques¬ 
tioned  me  as  to  the  possibility  of  doing  it.  I  advised  him,  in  general  terms, 
that  I  could  find  him  plenty  of  officers  of  the  Navy  willing  to  try  it.  He  then 
asked  me  whether  I  thought  Fort  Pickens  could  be  reinforced.  I  replied. 


1861.] 


THE  RELIEF  OF  FORT  PICKEXS. 


539 


that  if  the  attempt  was  made,  a  fleet  steamer  under  a  young  and  enterprising 
officer  should  be  dispatched  immediately,  to  run  the  batteries,  enter  the  har¬ 
bor,  and  prevent  any  expedition  of  Bragg’s  crossing  the  harbor  in  boats  to 
assault  Fort  Pickens. 

The  President  said  he  would  see  me  again,  if  he  concluded  to  go  farther  in 
the  matter.  I  quietly  made  inquiries,  and  learned  that  the  Powhatan  had  just 
returned  from  the  East,  and  was  able  to  go  to  sea. 

On  the  morning  of  the  31st  of  March,  I  was  again  summoned  and  directed, 
in  con  junction  with  Colonel  E.  D.  Keyes,  and  with  the  approval  of  General 
Scott,  to  prepare  a  project  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Pickens. 

The  President  signed  two  orders  on  the  1st  of  April,  to  Lieutenant  David 
D.  Porter,  one  directing  him  “to  proceed  to  New  York,  and  with  the  least 
possible  delay  assume  command  of  any  naval  steamers  available,  proceed  to 
Pensacola  harbor,  and,  at  any  cost  or  risk,  prevent  any  expedition  from  reach¬ 
ing  Fort  Pickens  or  Santa  Rosa  Island. ’’  He  also  instructed  Lieutenant  Porter 
to  communicate  this  order,  his  object,  and  destination,  to  no  person  whatever, 
until  he  reached  the  harbor  of  Pensacola.  The  other  order  of  the  same  date 
was  intended  for  exhibition  to  such  officers  as  had  control  of  the  vessels.  It 
authorized  him  to  take  command  of  the  steamer  Powhatan ,  or  any  other  United 
States  steamer  ready  for  sea,  which  he  might  deem  best  fit  for  the  service  to 
which  it  had  been  assigned  by  confidential  instructions  of  the  same  date  —  1st 
of  April. 

All  of  this  was  three  days  before  the  President  informed  Captain  Fox  that 
he  had  decided  to  let  the  Sumter  expedition  go.  The  Powhatan  was  taken 
under  an  order  signed  by  him,  before  he'authorized  the  Sumter  expedition,  in 
which  order  she  was  expressly  designated,  by  name,  for  the  Pickens  expedi¬ 
tion.  The  orders  of  the  President  in  relation  to  the  Powhatan ,  and  to  the 
whole  Pickens  expedition,  were  not  known  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  The 
success  of  the  expedition  to  relieve  Fort  Pickens  depended  upon  secrecy. 
Washington  and  New  York  were  full  of  persons  ready  to  transmit  the  first  in¬ 
telligence  of  such  an  intention.  The  telegraph  was  in  operation,  and  open  to 
the  rebels,  as  to  the  United  States,  and  had  it  become  known  that  the  expedi¬ 
tion  was  being  prepared  to  relieve  that  post,  the  telegraph  would  have  commu¬ 
nicated  the  fact  to  Bragg,  who  had  several  thousand  men,  and  who  could 
have  taken  Fort  Pickens  by  assault,  on  any  night,  at  the  cost  of  a  few  hundred 
men. 

The  instructions  to  Lieutenant  Porter  were  signed  on  the  1st  of  April,  and 
the  President,  on  that  day,  signed,  at  my  request,  a  telegraphic  dispatch  to  New 
York,  directing  that  the  Powhatan  be  made  ready  for  the  sea  instantly.  This 
dispatch,  as  we  learned,  reached  the  Navy  Yard  only  an  hour  or  two  after  the 
Powhatan  had  been  put  out  of  commission,  and  her  spars  taken  down,  and  her 
crew  detached.  Great  exertions  were  made  to  prepare  her  for  sea;  but,  instead 
of  sailing  on  the  2d,  as  intended,  she  did  not  leave  until  the  6th,  by  which 
time  the  steamer  Atlantic ,  with  stores,  supplies,  and  some  700  men,  had  also 
been  made  ready,  and  sailed  the  same  day. 

Lieutenant  Porter  did  not  produce  the  order  to  assume  command  of  the 


540 


THE  STORY  OF  FORT  PICKENS. 


[1861. 


Powhatan  until  the  last  moment,  as  it  was  considered  better  not  to  awaken 
attention,  by  changing  commanders,  until  the  vessel  was  about  to  sail. 

Some  other  interference  with  the  program  of  another  expedition,  it  seems, 
arose  in  the  secrecy  with  which  both  were  organized.  The  orders  in  relation  to 
the  two  expeditious  were  communicated  only  to  the  officers  engaged  in  each. 
We  were  unadvised  of  the  preparations  for  the  Sumter  expedition ;  and  at  the 
moment  the  Powhatan  was  ready  for  sea,  the  sign-manual  of  the  President  was 
produced,  and  Captain  Mercer,  after  some  hesitation,  in  consequence  of  con¬ 
flicting  orders  from  the  Navy  Department,  gave  up  the  ship.  The  positive 
order  of  the  President  detaching  him,  and  placing  Lieutenant  Porter  in  com¬ 
mand,  overruled  the  orders  of  the  Navy  Department.  The  conflict  was  the  re¬ 
sult  of  the  secrecy  with  which  the  whole  business  was  conducted;  and  to  that 
secrecy,  in  great  measure,  was  due  the  relief  of  Fort  Pickens,  and  the  retention 
of  the  finest  harbor  in  the  South  by  the  United  States. 

Secrecy  has  its  inconveniences ;  but  upon  perfect  secrecy  depended  these  great 
stakes,  and  so  well  kept  was  the  secret,  that  in  the  returning  steamer  Atlantic , 
I  brought  back  to  New  York,  at  once,  the  news  of  the  destination,  and  of  the 
success  of  the  expedition. 

M.  C.  MEIGS. 

And  in  another  letter  he  added: 

This  order  designating  the  commander,  and  the  designation  of  a  single  second- 
class  war  steamer  certainly  appeared  to  me  to  be  within  the  prerogative  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  I  readily  saw  that  its  chances  of 
success  were  increased  by  excluding  from  all  knowledge  of  it,  the  chiefs  and 
the  officers  and  the  clerks  of  the  two  departments,  in  either  of  which  a  leaky  or 
disloyal  person  could  have  betrayed  it.  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  there 
was  any  distrust  of  any  Cabinet  Minister  involved  in  this  secrecy,  or  any  de¬ 
sire  to  interfere  with  one;  but  it  does  not  require  argument  to  prove  that  the 
safety  of  a  secret  is  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  number  of  persons  holding  it. 

The  truth  is,  probably,  that  the  real  object  and  hopes  of  the  President  in 
both  expeditions  were  attained.  The  Pickens  expedition  sailed  in  secrecy,  and 
saved  to  the  United  States  the  control  of  the  entrance  to  the  finest  Southern 
port  and  naval  station;  saved  the  cost  of  a  large  blockading  squadron  for 
years.  The  Sumter  expedition,  which  the  President  and  the  Cabinet  had  been 
advised  by  the  highest  military  and  naval  authorities  to  be  impracticable,  de¬ 
monstrated,  and  published  to  the  world,  the  resolve  of  the  President  to  do  all 
in  his  power  to  retain  Fort  Sumter.  The  correctness  of  the  opinions  of  the 
advisers  of  the  President  was  shown  by  the  result. 

M.  C.  MEIGS. 

While  the  expeditions  were  on  their  way,  and  the  country  awaiting 
the  news  of  the  impending  conflict,  Seward  set  to  work  in  the  line  of 
duty,  which  would  now  be  imposed  on  him,  of  counteracting  un¬ 
friendly  intervention  from  abroad. 

Preparing  elaborate  instructions  for  Mr.  Adams,  who  was  going  out 
as  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  he  remarked  that  “the  agita- 


1861.] 


INSTRUCTING  THE  NEW  MINISTERS. 


541 


tors  in  this  bad  enterprise”  were  not  mistaken  in  supposing  that  it 
would  derive  signal  advantage  from  a  recognition  “by  any  European 
power,”  and  especially  Great  Britain.  He  advised  the  Minister,  there¬ 
fore,  that  his  task  involved  “the  responsibility  of  preventing  the  com¬ 
mission  of  an  act  by  the  government  of  that  country  which  would  be 
fraught  with  disaster,  perhaps  ruin,  to  our  own.” 

Describing  the  condition  of  affairs  at  the  time  when  the  new  Admin¬ 
istration  came  into  office,  he  said,  “it  found  itself  confronted  by  an 
insurrectionary  combination  of  seven  States  practicing  insidious  strat¬ 
egy  to  secure  eight  others.”  Up  to  that  moment  the  dominant  party 
liad  practically  “held  in  unreserved  communion  all  disunionists.  It 
held  the  Executive  Administration.  The  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury, 
War,  and  the  Interior  were  disunionists.  The  same  party  held  a  large 
majority  of  the  Senate,  and  nearly  equally  divided  the  House  of  Kep- 
resentatives.  Disaffection  lurked,  if  it  did  not  openly  avow  itself,  in 
every  department  and  every  bureau,  in  every  regiment  and  in  every 
legation  and  consulate  from  London  to  Calcutta.  Of  four  thousand 
four  hundred  and  seventy  officers  in  the  public  service,  civil  and  mili¬ 
tary,  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  were  representatives  of 
States  where  the  revolutionary  movement  was  openly  advocated  and 
urged,  e/en  if  not  actually  organized.  No  provision  had  ever  been 
made  to  anticipate  this  unprecedented  disturbance.  The  magistracy 
was  demoralized,  and  the  laws  were  powerless.” 

Proceeding  to  narrate  the  gradual  change  toward  “  a  better  senti¬ 
ment,”  he  said,  “  the  Executive  Administration  hesitatingly,  in  part, 
reformed  itself.  The  Capitol  was  garrisoned,  the  new  President  came 
in  unresisted,  and  soon  constituted  a  new  and  purely  loyal  Adminis¬ 
tration.  They  found  the  disunionists  perseveringly  engaged  in  rais¬ 
ing  armies,  and  laying  siege  around  national  fortifications  within  the 
territory  of  the  disaffected  States.  The  Federal  marine  seemed  to 
have  been  scattered  everywhere,  except  where  its  presence  was  neces¬ 
sary;  and  such  military  forces  as  were  not  in  remote  States  and  Ter¬ 
ritories  were  held  back  from  activity  by  vague  and  mysterious  armis¬ 
tices,  informally  contracted  with  a  view  to  postpone  conflict.  Com¬ 
missioners  sent  by  the  new  confederacy  were  already  demanding  recog¬ 
nition  of  its  sovereignty,  and  a  partition  of  the  national  property  and 
domain.  The  treasury  was  exhausted  and  the  public  credit  was  pros¬ 
trate.  ” 

Describing  the  specious  form  at  first  taken  by  disunion,  he  said  its 
advocates  claimed  “  that  the  Union  is  a  purely  voluntary  connection, 
founded  on  the  revocable  assent  of  the  States;”  and  that  their  move¬ 
ment,  therefore,  “instead  of  being  war  is  peace.”  Assuming  that 


542 


INSTRUCTIONS  TO  CORWIN  ABOUT  MEXICO. 


[1861. 


“peaceful  separation”  was  “in  harmony  with  the  Constitution,”  they 
urged  that  “  coercion  would,  therefore,  be  tyrannical,”  and  even  pushed 
their  claims  so  far  as  to  insist  that  “the  defensive  retaining,  by  the 
Government,  of  its  positions  in  the  seceding  States,”  was  an  act  of 
“such  coercion.”  It  was  not  strange  that,  under  these  circumstances, 
disunion  had  rapidly  matured.  “  The  country  was  bewildered,” 
“Union  required  time”  to  “appeal  to  reason,”  while  “military 
spirit,”  more  fully  developed  in  the  disaffected  States,  was  “  ready  for 
revolution.  Thousands  of  men  have  alreadv  banded  themselves,  as 
soldiers,  in  the  cause  of  disunion,  while  the  defenders  of  the  Union, 
before  resorting  to  arms,  everywhere  wait  to  make  sure  that  it  cannot 
be  otherwise  preserved.” 

Foreseeing  that  in  the  coming  contest,  the  Mexican  Republic 
would  “  share  our  perils,”  since  it  would  naturally  be  found  a  con¬ 
venient  field  for  intrigue,  or  conquest,  he  gave  very  full  instructions 
to  Mr.  Corwin,  who  was  about  going  out  as  Minister.  Remarking  on 
the  late  information  that  the  government  of  President  Juarez  had 
finally  overthrown  its  adversaries,  and  established  itself  at  the  capital, 
he  proceeded  to  foreshadow  the  line  of  policy  to  be  adopted  by  the 
United  States  toward  her  sister  republic.  He  said  that  he  found 
“  the  archives  here,  full  of  complaints  against  the  Mexican  Govern¬ 
ment,  for  violations  of  contracts  and  spoliations,”  lodged  there  with 
the  view  of  having  them  made  the  basis  of  demands  for  indemnity. 
But  no  such  claims  would  be  presented,  nor  any  unfriendly  contro¬ 
versy  opened  with  Mexico,  at  a  time  when  their  mutual  interests  re¬ 
quired  harmony  and  confidence.  He  §aid  that,  while  deprecating  “a 
continuance  of  the  chronic  reign  of  disorder”  in  Mexico,  the  United 
States  themselves  were  now  embarrassed  by  “  civil  commotions  ”  by 
which  “  Mexico,  in  consequence  of  her  proximity,  is  not  unlikely  to 
be  affected.”  “The  spirit  of  discontent  seems,  at  last,  to  have 
crossed  the  border.”  He  added: 

Botli  of  the  governments  must  address  themselves  to  this  new  and  annoy¬ 
ing  condition  of  things,  with  common  dispositions  to  mitigate  its  evils,  and 
abridge  its  duration  as  much  as  possible.  *  *  *  Mexico,  instead  of  being 

benefited  by  the  prostration  or  obstruction  of  Federal  authority,  in  this  coun¬ 
try,  would  be  exposed  by  it,  to  new  and  fearful  dangers. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  condition  of  anarchy,  in  Mexico,  must  necessarily 
operate  as  a  seduction  to  those  conspiring  against  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
to  seek  aggrandizement  for  themselves,  by  conquests  in  Mexico.  Peace,  order, 
and  constitutional  authority,  in  each  and  all  of  the  several  republics  of  this 
continent,  are  not  exclusively  an  interest  of  any  one  of  them;  but  a  common 
and  indispensable  interest  of  them  all. 


1861.] 


THE  ATTACK  ON  FORT  SUMTER. 


543 


He  warned  the  Mexicans  that  foreign  powers  were  already  discuss¬ 
ing  the  question  whether  the  time  lntd  not  come  when  they  migth 
“  intervene  to  establish  a  protectorate,  or  some  other  form  of  govern¬ 
ment.  Such  schemes  may  even  now  be  held  under  consideration  by 
some  European  nations,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  designs 
have  been  conceived  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States  to  effect  either 
a  partial  dismemberment,  or  a  complete  overthrow  of  the  Mexican 
Government,  with  a  view  to  extend  over  it  the  authority  of  the  newly- 
projected  confederacy.” 

In  conclusion,  he  remarked  that,  “  while  the  Republican  system  of 
government  would  probably  pass  safely  through  all  ordeals,”  yet  it  was 
evident  that  it  would  have  to  “  make  its  way  painfully,  through  dif¬ 
ficulties  and  embarrassments  that  result  from  the  action  of  antago- 
nistical  elements,  which  are  a  legacy  of  former  times  and  very  dif¬ 
ferent  institutions.”' 

On  Friday,  the  1.2th,  came  intelligence  that  the  Secessionists  were 
about  to  attack  Fort  Sumter,  and  would  endeavor  to  carry  it  by  as¬ 
sault,  before  the  relief  expedition  could  reach  there.  It  was  while  the 
batteries  in  Charleston  harbor  were  opening  fire  on  the  national  flag, 
that  Seward  was  penning  his  first  instructions  to  Burlingame,  who 
was  expecting  to  go  out  as  Minister  to  Vienna.  In  them  he  remarked: 

We  are  just  now  entering  on  a  fearful  trial,  hitherto  not  only  unknown,  but 
even  deemed  impossible.  Ambitious  and  discontented  partisans  have  raised 
the  standard  of  insurrection,  and  organized  a  revolutionary  government. 
Their  agents  have  gone  abroad,  to  seek,  under  the  name  of  recognition,  aid 
and  assistance. 

Vienna  is  a  political  center.  You  may  expect  to  meet  agents  of  disunion 
there,  seeking  to  mould  public  opinion  for  effect  elsewhere.  There  is  reason 
to  apprehend  that  the  form  of  arguments  which  they  will  chiefly  employ  will 
be  an  assumption  that  the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  new  authority 
they  represent  is  already  de  facto  established. 

After  pointing  out  the  line  of  answering  argument,  he  added: 

At  all  events,  foreign  governments  may  be  expected  to  consult  their  own 
interests  and  welfare,  even  though  indifferent  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
United  States.  A  premature  declaration  of  recognition  by  any  foreign  State 
would  be  direct  intervention;  and  the  State  which  should  lend  it  must  be 
prepared  to  assume  the  relations  of  an  ally  of  the  projected  confederacy. 

And  then,  looking  through  and  beyond  the  war  about  to  be  inau¬ 
gurated,  he  remarked: 

But,  in  truth,  both  the  justice  and  the  wisdom  of  the  war  must,  in  the  end, 
be  settled,  as  all  questions  which  concern  the  American  people  must  be  deter¬ 
mined,  not  by  arms,  but  by  suffrage.  When,  at  last,  the  ballot  is  to  be  em- 


544 


THE  CALL  TO  ARMS. 


[1861. 


ployed,  after  the  sword,  then  in  addition  to  the  questions  indicated,  two 
further  ones  will  arise,  requiring  to  be  answered,  namely:  which  party  began 
the  conflict;  and  which  maintained,  iu  that  conflict,  the  cause  of  freedom  and 
humanity? 

On  the  following  morning,  came  the  news  of  the  bombardment, 
and  the  gallant  defense  of  their  flag,  by  the  handful  of  men  in  the 
garrison,  against  the  overwhelming  odds  of  batteries  erected  all  round 
the  harbor,  and  manned  by  besiegers,  who  were  to  the  besieged  more 
than  a  hundred  to  one.  Occasional  telegraphic  dispatches,  sent  out 
during  the  day,  and  evening,  by  the  assailants,  chronicled  the  progress 
of  the  unequal  struggle. 

On  Sunday  morning,  it  was  known  in  Washington  that  the  defend¬ 
ers,  having  faithfully  performed  their  duty,  so  long  as  their  guns  and 
ammunition  held  out,  would  haul  down  their  flag  at  noon,  and  evacu¬ 
ate  the  fort. 

President  and  Cabinet  passed  most  of  the  day  in  consultation  over 
the  grave,  though  not  unexpected  event,  and  its  far-reaching  conse¬ 
quences.  As  to  their  own  immediate  duty,  there  was  no  difference 
of  opinion.  The  time  had  manifestly  arrived  to  call  for  troops.  It 
was  no  longer  a  question  of  “  coercing  States,”  but  of  defending  the 
existence  of  the  nation.  Nor  was  there  any  delusive  hope  that  a  small 
force  would  suffice.  Each  of  the  Cabinet  realized  that  the  contest 
would  be  gigantic.  The  point  for  anxious  consultation  was,  not,  how 
many  soldiers  would  quell  the  rebellion,  but  how  many  it  would  be 
wise  to  call  for,  at  the  very  outset.  Thousands  would  readily  respond; 
but  patriotic  zeal  might  be  dampened,  if  the  call  was  for  a  number 
impossible  to  obtain.  The  lowest  figure  suggested  was  fifty  thousand 
men;  the  highest,  one  hundred  thousand.  Seward  advocated  the 
largest  number.  It  was  finally,  however,  deemed  prudent  to  fix  the 
limit  at  seventy-five  thousand.  By  this,  an  effective  force  of  fifty  thou¬ 
sand  might  be  counted  upon,  at  once,  from  the  Northern  States.  In 
the  Border  States,  there  would  be  lukewarmness  and  delay;  perhaps 
refusal. 

Then  as  to  calling  Congress.  The  Executive  branch  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  could  not  levy  armies  and  expend  public  money,  without  con¬ 
gressional  sanction.  Congress  would  be  loyal;  but  it  would  be  a  de¬ 
liberative  body;  and  to  wait  for  “many  men  with  many  minds”  to 
shape  a  war  policy,  in  the  debates  of  an  extra  session,  would  be  to 
invite  disaster.  So  it  was  concluded  to  call  Congress  to  meet  on  the 
4th  of  July;  and  to  trust  to  their  patriotism  to  sanction  the  steps 
taken,  prior  to  that  time,  by  the  Executive. 

President  Lincoln  drafted  the  substance  of  his  proposed  Proclama- 


1861.] 


THE  CALL  FOR  TROOPS. 


545 


tion.  The  Secretary  of  War  undertook  to  arrange  the  respective 
quotas  of  the  several  States.  The  Secretary  of  State  brought  the 
document  to  his  department,  and  calling  together  his  clerks,  had  it 
duly  perfected  in  form  and  engrossed.  The  President's  signature 
and  his  own  were  appended,  the  great  seal  affixed  that  evening;  and 
copies  were  given  to  the  press  that  it  might  appear  in  the  newspapers 
of  Monday  morning,  bearing  the  date  “  April  15, 1861."  It  was  care¬ 
fully  worded,  appealing  to  “all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facilitate,  and 
aid  this  effort  to  maintain  the  honor,  the  integrity,  and  existence 
of  our  National  Union,  and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  government;" 
and  declared  the  purpose  of  avoiding  any  unnecessary  devastation  or 
destruction  of  property. 

On  that  day  Seward  penned  a  hurried  reply  to  a  letter  from  his  wife 
at  Auburn: 

Monday ,  April  15,  1861. 

I  think  that  care  and  responsibility  will  make  me  forget  everybody  and 
every  thing  but  the  country  and  its  perils.  Treason  is  a  painful  fact,  and  at 
last  we  have. the  stern  necessity  of  meeting  and  treating  it  as  such.  I  leave 
vou  in  order  to  discuss  our  national  affairs  with  our  Minister  to  France.  I  have 

V 

already  instructed  the  Ministers  to  Belgium,  Prussia,  England,  and  Austria. 
I  have  to  fight  everybody  to  get  time  to  study. 

The  Diplomatic  Corps  were,  of  course,  upon  the  qui  vive  and  watching 
the  political  situation  with  the  closest  interest.  Their  respective  Gov¬ 
ernments  would  expect  from  them  the  latest  and  most  authentic  intelli¬ 
gence,  both  as  to  passing  events  and  as  to  the  policy  of  the  Executive. 
Many  historic  statements  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war  have  been  penned, 
but  all  American  accounts  are  necessarily  from  the  standpoint  of  per¬ 
sonal  sympathy  with  one  side  or  the  other.  It  may  be  of  interest  to 
note  how  the  matter  appeared  to  a  dispassionate  outside  observer. 
Lord  Lyons,  the  British  Minister,  an  experienced  and  sagacious  diplo¬ 
matist,  wrote  home  to  his  Government: 

*  *  *  Civil  war  is  now  imminent ;  or,  rather,  has  already  begun.  *  *  * 

The  loss  of  Fort  Sumter  is  not,  of  itself,  of  much  importance,  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  to  this  Government.  As  the  beginning  of  civil  war,  it  is  a  most 
serious  and  a  most  unhappy  event.  It  seems  calculated  to  arouse  feelings  of 
resentment  and  humiliation  in  the  North,  which  will  overwhelm  the  party  of 
peace,  and  throw  the  people,  with  bitter  eagerness,  into  the  war. 

The  immediate  apprehensions  of  the  Government  are  for  this  city.  The  chiefs 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy  loudly  declare  their  intention  of  attacking  it 
immediately  if  the  border  States  join  them.  This  Government,  previously  to 
the  issue  of  the  proclamation  this  morning,  were  already  making  arrangements 
with  the  Governors  of  the  Northern  States  to  obtain  volunteers  and  militia  to 
defend  it. 


35 


546 


THE  RESPONSE  PROM  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


[1861. 


In  the  approaching  contest  the  North  has  the  superiority  in  numbers  and  in 
wealth;  and  the  immense  advantage  of  possessing,  and  of  being  able  to  main¬ 
tain,  a  navy.  It  has  also  an  organized,  though  small,  regular  army;  but  the 
advantage  of  this  will  be  in  a  great  measure  neutralized  by  the  retirement  of 
the  Southern  officers.  The  South  is,  if  the  accounts  which  reach  us  are  to  be 
trusted,  more  unanimous;  it  is  more  eager,  and,  as  it  has  more  at  stake, 
is  more  ready  to  make  sacrifices.  The  taint  of  slavery  icill  render  the  cause  of 
the  South  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  the  civilized  world.  On  the  other  hand ,  com¬ 
mercial  intercourse  with  the  cotton  States  is  of  vital  importance  to  manufacturing 
nations. 

The  conduct  of  Virginia  and  the  other  border  States  is  now  more  than  ever 
the  critical  question.  If  they  remain  true  to  the  Union,  the  contest  may  be 
confined  to  small  dimensions.  Unless,  however,  they  abandon  their  solemn 
declarations,  they  must  now  make  common  cause  with  the  South. 

These  prognostications  were  well  founded.  The  response  to  the 
proclamation  at  the  North  was  all  or  more  than  could  have  been  an¬ 
ticipated.  Every  Governor  of  a  free  State  promptly  promised  that  his 
quota  should  be  forthcoming.  An  enthusiastic  outburst  of  patriotic 
feeling  —  an  “uprising  of  the  North”  in  town  and  country  was  re¬ 
ported  by  telegraph.  Dispatches  poured  in,  announcing  the  readiness 
not  only  of  individuals,  but  of  whole  organizations,  to  volunteer. 
Party  lines  for  the  moment  were  swept  away.  Disunion  sympathizers 
were  silenced.  Whole  communities  were  vigorously  at  work  muster¬ 
ing  troops  and  sending  them  forward  for  the  defense  of  the  national 
capital.  The  newspapers  were  filled  with  vivid  pictures  of  the  scenes 
of  popular  enthusiasm  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  where 
regiments  were  forming  amid  the  waving  of  flags,  the  roar  of  cannon, 
and  the  shouts  of  assembled  thousands. 

From  the  South  the  echo  to  the  proclamation  was  more  sullen,  but 
equally  significant.  Troops  already  organized  were  hurrying  forward. 
Veteran  soldiers  of  the  Union  were  marshaling  recruits  for  the  strug¬ 
gle  against  it.  Popular  feeling  in  the  seceded  States  was  declared  to 
be  unanimous.  “Union”  utterances  were  silenced,  and  the  South 
was  said  to  be  bitterly  in  earnest  “  in  fighting  for  independence.” 

From  the  border  States  came  indications  that,  while  there  was  still 
division  of  opinion,  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  was  paralyzing  the  Union 
men,  and  lending  new  energy  to  the  Secessionists’  efforts  to  induce 
the  slave-holding  States  to  combine.  To  the  call  upon  them  for 
militia,  defiant  answers  were  returned.  “You  can  get  no  troops  from 
North  Carolina,”  telegraphed  the  Governor  of  that  State;  “I  regard 
the  levy  of  troops  made  by  the  Administration,  for  the  purpose  of 
subjugating  the  States  of  the  South,  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitu¬ 
tion,  and  a  usurpation  of  power.”  The  Governor  of  Tennessee  re- 


1861.] 


PROCLAIMING  A  BLOCKADE. 


547 


plied :  “  Tennessee  will  not  furnish  a  single  man  for  coercion,  but  fifty 
thousand,  if  necessary,  for  the  defense  of  our  rights,  and  those  of  our 
brethren."  The  Governor  of  Kentucky  answered:  “  Kentucky  will 
furnish  no  troops  for  the  wicked  purpose  of  subduing  her  sister  South¬ 
ern  States/*’  The  Governor  of  Missouri  said:  “  Not  one  man  will 
the  State  of  Missouri  furnish  to  carry  on  so  unholy  a  crusade. ”  The 
Governor  of  Delaware  more  mildly  answered:  “The  laws  of  this 
State  do  not  confer  upon  the  Executive  any  authority  allowing  him 
to  comply  with  such  requisition.”  From  Maryland,  came  no  im¬ 
mediate  response.  From  Virginia  came  ominous  news,  that  the  Con¬ 
vention  had  hastily  and  secretly  reversed  its  previous  decision;  had 
adopted  an  Ordinance  of  Secession,  and  had  joined  the  Confed¬ 
eracy.  The  President  of  the  Rebel  Government,  at  Montgomery,  issued 
a  proclamation  offering  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  to  armed  pri¬ 
vateers  of  any  nation;  and  active  measures  were  begun  for  organizing 
troops  to  attack  the  national  capital. 

Seward  had  counseled,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Administration,  that 
naval  vessels  in  foreign  waters  should  be  recalled,  for  use  in  a  blockade 
of  the  Southern  ports,  whenever  that  step  should  be  found  advisable. 
Ever  since  the  seizure  of  the  custom-houses,  and  defiance  of  the  reve¬ 
nue  laws,  at  the  South,  the  proper  course  for  the  Government  to  pur¬ 
sue  there  had  been  the  subject  of  discussion  in  the  newspapers  and 
elsewhere.  Publicists  differed  in  opinion  as  to  the  expediency  of  a 
blockade.  It  was  urged,  with  some  force,  that,  as  blockades  were 
usually  instituted  against  foreign  enemies;  and  as  the  Government 
lacked  naval  force  to  make  one  effective,  a  more  suitable  wav  to  deal 
with  this  domestic  disturbance  would  be,  to  declare,  by  Executive 
order  and  Congressional  enactment,  that  certain  ports  of  the  United 
States  were  closed.  Seward's  examination  of  the  question  soon  satis¬ 
fied  him,  that  European  nations,  wanting  cotton,  were  not  likely  to 
respect  a  “paper .blockade ”  of  that  sort.  No  principle  of  inter¬ 
national  law  is  better  settled  than  that  a  blockade,  to  be  respected, 
must  be  actual  and  effective.  Any  thing  else  is  but  a  flimsy  barrier. 

The  assault  on  Sumter,  the  call  for  troops,  and  the  rebel  project  of 
letters  of  marque,  brought  the  expected  emergency,  and  the  President 
and  Cabinet  decided  that  the  time  had  come  to  issue  a  proclamation 
of  blockade.  Upon  the  Secretary  of  State,  of  course,  devolved  the 
duty  of  preparing  and  perfecting  its  details.  The  proclamation  was 
duly  signed,  and  then  given  to  the  public  on  the  morning  of  the  19th 
of  April.  It  began  by  stating  that  “  an  insurrection  against  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  of  the  United  States  has  broken  out  in  the  States  of  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and 


548 


TIIE  UPRISING  OP  THE  PEOPLE. 


[1861. 


Texas,”  so  that  the  “laws  for  the  collection  of  revenue”  could  not 
be  efficiently  executed.  Then,  after  referring  to  the  rebel  project  of 
letters  of  marque,  and  the  Union  call  for  troops,  it  proclaimed  “a 
blockade  of  the  ports  within  the  States  aforesaid,  in  pursuance  of  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  laws  of  nations,  in  such  cases 
provided.  For  this  purpose,  a  competent  force  will  be  posted,  so  as 
to  prevent  entrance  and  exit  of  vessels.”  It  stated  the  penalty  for 
violation,  after  due  warning.  “  If  the  same  vessel  shall  again  attempt 
to  enter  or  leave  the  blockaded  port,  she  will  be  captured  and  sent  to 
the  nearest  convenient  port,  for  such  proceedings  against  her  and  her 
cargo,  as  prize,  as  may  be  deemed  advisable.”  Finally,  to  meet  the 
case  of  rebel  privateers,  it  added,  “  that  if  any  person,  under  the  pre¬ 
tended  authority  of  such  States,  shall  molest  a  vessel  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  persons  or  cargo  on  board  of  her,  such  persons  will  be 
held  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  for  the  prevention 
and  punishment  of  piracy.” 

Of  the  regiments  called  for,  New  York  was  to  furnish  seventeen, 
Pennsylvania  sixteen,  and  Oliio  thirteen;  the  quotas  of  the  other 
States  ranged  from  one  to  six.  The  day  after  the  proclamation  was 
issued,  the  Massachusetts  Sixth  mustered  on  Boston  Common;  and 
on  the  following  evening,  armed  and  equipped,  was  on  its  way  to 
Washington.  Acclamations  greeted  it  along  the  road;  and  its  march 
down  Broadway  in  New  York  roused  the  popular  enthusiasm  to  the 
highest  point.  The  evening  of  Thursday,  the  18th,  found  it  at 
Philadelphia.  The  same  evening  witnessed  the  arrival  in  Washing¬ 
ton  of  three  or  four  hundred  Pennsylvanians,  to  be  armed,  equipped, 
and  placed  in  regimental  organizations  after  reaching  the  capital. 
These  were  the  first  comers  of  the  new  levy.  A  day  later  the  tele¬ 
graph  announced  that  General  Butler  with  the  Massachusetts  Eighth, 
and  Colonel  Lefferts  with  the  New  York  Seventh  were  also  en  route 
through  Philadelphia.  Others  would  speedily  follow.  It  seemed 
probable  that,  before  the  week  was  out,  Washington  would  be  amply 
garrisoned  and  protected. 

The  press  of  the  North  reflected  the  unanimity  of  the  people.  A 
few  journals,  here  and  there,  could  not  at  once  give  up  their  long- 
settled  habit  of  praising  Southern  statesmanship,  and  of  denouncing 
the  “  Black  Republicans”  as  blood-thirsty  “agitators.”  But  when 
they  undertook  to  comment  in  this  vein  on  the  President’s  procla¬ 
mation,  they  drew  upon  themselves  so  much  popular  censure  that, 
with  more  or  less  grace,  they  changed  front;  and  accepted  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  firing  on  a  fort  was  not  a  “peace  measure;”  and  armed 
rebellion  not  a  “Union-saving  compromise.” 


1861.] 


HARPER’S  FERRY  AND  NORFOLK  NAVY  YARD. 


549 


Amid  the  general  outburst  of  patriotism,  nothing  was  more  signifi¬ 
cant,  or  more  gratifying,  than  the  promptness  with  which  many 
influential  Northern  Democrats  announced  their  determination  to 
“stand  by  the  Government.”  Chief  among  them  was  Douglas,  who 
on  the  day  the  proclamation  was  signed,  visited  the  President,  to 
assure  him  of  hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation  against  the  rebellion. 

But  the  Confederates  had  not  been  idle,  nor  were  they  indifferent 
to  so  tempting  a  prize,  within  their  reach,  as  the  national  capital, 
exposed  to  easy  attack  from  the  slave-holding  States  on  either  side  of 
it.  While  celebrating  the  fall  of  Sumter,  the  rebel  Secretary  of  War 
at  Montgomery  predicted  that  the  “Confederate  flag  would  float  over 
the  Capitol  at  Washington  before  the  1st  of  May.”  And  the  chain  of 
disasters  which  followed,  in  swift  succession,  menaced  Washington 
with  a  fulfilment  of  the  prediction. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  came  news  that  Virginia,  now  sud¬ 
denly  transformed  into  a  hostile  power,  had  sent  troops  to  seize  Har¬ 
per’s  Ferry.  The  lieutenant  in  charge  had  escaped  with  his  little 
garrison,  after  setting  fire  to  some  of  the  buildings;  but  the  rebels 
had  thus  gained  an  important  post,  with  valuable  machinery,  and  a 
large  amount  of  arms.  Later  in  the  day  came  the  startling  intelli¬ 
gence  of  the  mob  attack  upon  the  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania 
troops,  as  they  were  coming  through  Baltimore.  Seward  was  sitting 
in  the  department,  at  work  on  his  foreign  dispatches,  when  his  friend, 
ex-Speaker  Littlejohn,  who  had  come  on  the  train  from  Philadelphia 
with  the  troops  entered  the  room.  He  hurriedly  recounted  the  facts, 
and  described  the  scene  as  he  saw  it  from  one  of  the  cars  which  had 
succeeded  in  getting  through  the  excited  mob.  The  telegraph  and 
the  evening  papers  soon  brought  confirmation,  and  further  news, 
showing  that  the  rioters  had  practical  control  of  Baltimore  and  of  the 
communication  with  the  capital. 

A  day  later  came  the  news  that  the  Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk  would 
probably  share  the  fate  of  the  Armory  at  Harper’s  Ferry.  Protected 
by  only  a  few  marines,  it  was  exposed  to  easy  capture  by  the  Virginia 
forces  from  without,  aided  by  disloyal  officers  within.  The  vessels, 
arms,  supplies,  machinery,  buildings  and  docks  had  cost  the  United 
States  Government  many  millions,  and  their  value  to  insurgents,  at 
the  very  outset  of  a  rebellion,  was  incalculable.  Possession  of  Armory 
and  Navy  Yard  would  place  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  for  instant  use, 
more  of  the  material  of  wrar  than  the  Government  itself  would  have  at 
the  capital. 

The  Administration  could  not  send  troops  enough  to  defend  the 
Yard;  but  Commodore  Paulding  could  be  sent  with  the  Pawnee ,  to 


550 


WASHINGTON  ISOLATED. 


[1861. 


rescue  and  bring  such  of  the  ships  and  supplies  as  might  be  practicable, 
lie  found,  on  arrival,  that  the  ships  had  already  been  scuttled,  and 
after  a  hasty  conference  of  the  officers  of  the  expedition,  it  was  deter¬ 
mined,  that  since  the  property  could  not  be  saved  for  the  Government, 
it  was  best  to  burn  and  destroy  as  much  as  possible,  to  keep  it  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  rebels. 

Dangers  were  thickening  around  the  Federal  city  in  all  directions. 
With  Virginia  in  active  hostility  on  one  side,  Maryland  was  taking 
steps  to  prevent  all  help  on  the  other.  From  Baltimore  came  intelli¬ 
gence  that  the  Secessionists  were  in  complete  control  of  the  city,  prob¬ 
ably  of  the  State.  They  were  holding  meetings,  mustering  State 
troops,  stopping  trains,  burning  railway  bridges.  By  Saturday  night 
it  was  known  that  railway  communication  with  the  North  through 
Baltimore  was  cut  off.  By  Sunday  night  the  telegraph  had  ceased  to 
work,-  and  it  was  realized  that  Washington  was  isolated,  and  belea¬ 
guered  by  its  enemies. 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 

1861. 

Washington  Isolated.  Wild  Rumors.  The  Administration  and  the  Crisis.  Vesting  Pro¬ 
visional  Powers  in  New  York.  Communications  through  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania. 
General  Scott.  Amusing  Incidents.  “No  Troops  through  Maryland.”  British 
Mediation  Suggested.  Troops  Arriving  at  Annapolis.  The  Dispatch  to  France. 
How  Governments  Converse.  The  Key-note  of  Seward’s  Foreign  Correspondence. 
Faith  Under  Difficulties.  Proffering  the  Principles  of  the  Paris  Congress.  Arrival 
of  the  Seventh  Regiment  and  the  Massachusetts  Eighth.  The  Dead-lock  Broken. 
News  from  the  North  and  South. 

Washington  was  still  a  slave-holdmg  city.  Southern  sympathies 
pervaded  its  social,  and  as  yet  even  its  official  circles.  Its  inhabitants 
were  divided  in  opinion.  Some  clung  strongly  to  the  hope  of  a  return 
to  power  of  the  Southern  leaders  so  long  dominant  in  Congress. 
Others  were  beginning  to  realize  that  the  future  fortunes  of  the  city 
were  inseparably  linked  with  those  of  the  new  Administration.  When 
it  began  to  look  as  if  the  latter  were  cut  off  from  all  Northern  help, 
and  would  soon  be  captured  by  troops  advancing  from  the  South, 
the  exultation  of  secession  sympathizers  was  neither  concealed  nor 
repressed.  The  rebel  flag  was  flying  at  Alexandria  in  full  view  from 
the  Capitol  and  the  White  House.  Rebel  scouts  were  reported  to  be 
posted  at  the  end  of  the  bridge  connecting  the  city  with  Virginia.  In 


1861.] 


WASHINGTON  CUT  OFF  AND  IN  DANGER. 


ool 


the  streets  ancl  hotels  the  wildest  rumors  gained  credence.  A  mob  was 
reported  to  be  coming  over  from  Baltimore  to  burn  the  public  build¬ 
ings  and  sack  the  town.  Rebel  vessels  were  declared  to  be  coming  up 
from  Norfolk  to  bombard  it.  Rebel  troops  were  asserted  to  be  march¬ 
ing  up  from  Richmond  and  down  from  Harper’s  Ferry  to  take  posses¬ 
sion.  “  Forty  thousand  Virginia  volunteers,”  armed  “  with  bowie- 
knives,”  it  was  said,  were  “  coming  over  the  Long  Bridge.”  Business 
was  at  a  stand-still.  The  railway  station  was  silent;  the  wharves  de¬ 
serted.  Groups  of  people  gathered  at  street  corners,  exchanging  in 
low  tones  their  forebodings  of  disaster  or  their  hopes  of  relief.  Gov¬ 
ernment  clerks  cherishing  disloyal  sympathies  made  haste  to  vacate 
their  places;  and  Southern  army  and  navy  officers  to  resign  their  com¬ 
missions,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  join  the  ranks  of  the  coming  conquerors. 
The  newspapers,  cut  off  from  their  usual  telegraphic  facilities,  gave 
such  intelligence  as  they  could  get;  but  their  columns  would  hardly 
hold  a  tithe  of  the  startling  stories  that  were  flying  about  the  streets. 

Order  and  quiet  reigned  at  the  White  House  and  in  the  departments. 
Government  business  was  dispatched  with  more  than  usual  celerity, 
for  it  was  now  falling  into  loyal  hands;  and  there  was  no  outside  pres¬ 
sure  to  cause  delay.  The  crowd  of  office-seekers  had  fled  and  scat¬ 
tered  at  the  first  alarm.  On  Sunday,  the  President  hastily  convened 
a  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  in  the  Navy  Department,  for,  as  he  said,  “  it 
became  necessary  to  choose  whether,  using  only  the  existing  means 
which  Congress  had  provided,  he  should  let  the  Government  fall  into 
ruin,”  or,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  he  should 
use  against  the  insurrection  such  unauthorized  means  as  only  were 
available,  and  trust  to  Congress  for  their  subsequent  sanction.  The 
Cabinet  were  unanimous  in  favor  of  this  course.  Orders  were,  there¬ 
fore,  made  for  the  purchase,  charter,  and  arming  of  steamships  in 
New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia;  and  extraordinary  powers  to  act 
in  behalf  of  the  War  and  Navy  Departments  were  bestowed  upon  Gov¬ 
ernor  Morgan,  George  D.  Morgan,  William  M.  Evarts,  R.  M.  Blatch- 
ford,  and  Moses  H.  Grin n ell,  to  whom  officers  should  report  for  in¬ 
struction  and  advice  in  forwarding  troops  and  supplies.  Similar 
powers  to  act  for  the  Treasury  Department  in  expending  the  public 
money  were  conferred  upon  John  A.  Dix,  George  Opdyke,  and  R.  M. 
Blatcliford.  These  gentlemen  were  to  give  no  security;  and  to  act 
without  compensation,  reporting  their  proceedings  when  communica¬ 
tions  should  be  reestablished.  The  messenger  bearing  the  grant  of 
these  large  powers  started  at  once,  to  go  around  to  New  York  by  way 
of  Wheeling  and  Pittsburg.  How  faithfully  the  great  trust  was  dis¬ 
charged,  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  at  a  later  day,  bore  testimony.  He  said: 


552 


DEFENDING  THE  CAPITAL. 


[1861. 


The  several  departments  of  the  Government  at  that  time  contained  so  large 
a  number  of  disloyal  persons,  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  provide 
safely,  through  official  agents  only,  for  the  performance  of  the  duties,  thus  con¬ 
fided  to  citizens  favorably  known  for  their  ability,  loyalty,  and  patriotism.  The 
several  orders  issued  upon  these  occurrences  were  transmitted  by  private  mes¬ 
sengers,  who  pursued  a  circuitous  way  to  the  seaboard  cities,  inland  across  the 
States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and  the  northern  lakes.  I  believe,  that  by 
these  and  similar  measures  taken  in  that  crisis,  some  of  which  were  without 
any  authority  of  law,  the  Government  was  saved  from  overthrow.  I  am  not 
aware  that  a  dollar  of  the  public  funds,  thus  confided,  without  authority  of 
law,  to  unofficial  persons,  was  either  lost  or  wasted. 

General  Scott  sat  in  his  office  on  Seventeenth  street,  placid  as  a 
summer  morning,  and  renewing  the  military  activity  of  his  youth  in  the 
bustle  of  giving  orders  and  receiving  reports.  His  military  secretary  sat 
at  the  table  by  his  side,  to  take  down  instructions  which  he  was  dictat¬ 
ing  with  his  accustomed  precision  of  language.  In  an  adjoining  room, 
Adjutant-General  Townsend,  and  Aides-de-Camp  Henry  Van  Rensse¬ 
laer,  E.  D.  Keyes,  Schuyler  Hamilton,  and  H.  G.  Wright  were  carry¬ 
ing  them  into  effect.  His  military  force  was  small,  but  it  was  charged 
with  a  momentous  duty,  being  nothing  less  than  the  safety  of  the 
American  Government.  Half  a  dozen  companies  of  the  Regular 
Army  had  been  gathered,  and  distributed  where  most  needed.  The 
batteries  of  light  artillery  were  posted  to  guard  the  bridges.  The 
Capitol  was  barricaded,  and  the  Massachusetts  Sixth,  which  had, 
fought  its  way  through  Baltimore,  was  quartered  in  the  Senate  Cham¬ 
ber.  The  Pennsylvanians  had  been  armed  and  assigned  to  similar 
duty.  The  marines  were  charged  with  the  defense  of  the  wharves, 
and  the  Navy  Yard.  The  District  Militia,  which  the  General  had  or¬ 
ganized  for  the  Inauguration,  now  proved  a  valuable  arm  of  defense.  It 
mustered  fifteen  companies,  several  new  ones  having  been  added  dur¬ 
ing  April.  They  were  distributed  to  guard  the  avenues  and  public 
buildings.  Sentries  were  posted,  ammunition  distributed,  and  a  sys¬ 
tem  of  signals  arranged,  so  as  to  insure  rapid  concentration  at  any  point 
attacked.  Secretary  Cameron  directed  that  the  railroad  depot,  and 
such  cars  and  engines  as  could  be  found  there,  should  be  taken  for  the 
use  and  protection  of  the  Government.  Secretary  Welles  gave  like 
orders  as  to  steamboats  at  the  wharves.  Some  of  them  were  placed 
under  the  command  of  naval  officers,  and  hurriedly  fitted  up  with 
howitzers  and  muskets  for  river  patrol.  Civilian  volunteers  were  wel¬ 
come.  Muskets  were  distributed  to  clerks  in  various  Government  offi¬ 
ces,  and  many  private  residences  were  armed  for  defense.  Two 
companies  wrere  hastily  formed  by  visitors  at  the  hotels  and  others 


GENERAL  SCOTT  AND  STAFF. 


HARPER’S  FERRY  ARSENAL  IN  RUINS, 


library 
OF  THE 

jNiVERSiTY  OF  llUHQSl 


1861.] 


HUMOROUS  INCIDENTS. 


553 


under  the  lead  of  Cassius  M.  Clay  and  James  H.  Lane,  who  patroled 
the  streets,  and  performed  guard  duty. 

Even  a  period  of  public  danger  has  its  humorous  incidents.  “  Gen¬ 
eral  Scott,"  said  one  of  the  Cabinet,  at  a  conference  around  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  green  table,  “how  are  we  defended  on  the  river  below  here? 
What  force  is  there  in  Fort  Washington,  at  present?” 

“I  think,  sir,” -replied  the  General,  with  his  customary  precision, 
“  I  think,  sir,  that  Fort  Washington  could  now  be  taken  with  a  bottle 
of  whisky.  At  last  accounts,  it  was  in  charge  of  a  single  old  soldier, 
who  is  entirely  reliable  when  he  is  sober.” 

One  indefatigable  applicant  for  a  place  was  urging  his  claims  upon 
a  Secretary  so  late  in  the  evening,  that  when  he  essayed  to  leave  the 
department,  he  found  sentries  had  been  posted  for  the  night,  and  he 
could  not  get  out  without  the  countersign.  Informed  of  the  dilemma, 
the  Secretary  hastily  wrote  on  a  slip  of  paper,  “  Let  the  bearer  pass,” 
and  signed  it.  In  1863,  the  pass  was  returned  to  the  Secretary,  by 
the  commanding  officer  at  Fredericksburg,  who  found  the  holder  had 
traveled  on  it,  up  and  down,  within  the  lines  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto¬ 
mac  for  two  years. 

There  was  some  talk  among  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  as  to  the  pro¬ 
priety  of  raising  their  flags  over  their  resjiective  legations,  in  case  the 
city  should  be  attacked  —  a  customary  usage  in  war,  for  the  protec¬ 
tion  of  the  Minister’s  archives,  and  of  his  family.  Then,  to  the  cha¬ 
grin  of  some,  and  the  amusement  of  others,  it  was  found  that,  hav¬ 
ing  always  regarded  Washington  as  a  peaceful  city,  hardly  one  Minister 
had  a  flag  to  hoist.  Baron  Gerolt,  the  Prussian  envoys  was  a  staunch 
believer  in  the  Union;  but  seeing  that  there  might  be  a  Confederate 
attack,  thought  it  as  well  to  be  prepared;  and  so  ordered  a  set  of  his 
national  colors  from  New  York..  The  Baltimore  mob  tore  up  the 
railway  before  these  reached  him.  Not  willing  to  be  checkmated,  he 
employed  a  painter  to  inscribe  in  large  German  text,  over  his  door, 
“  The  Prussian  Legation.”  Returning  from  a  call  at  the  State  De¬ 
partment,  he  was  disgusted  to  find  a  drunken  German  soldier  endeav¬ 
oring  to  force  his  way  into  the  house.  On  demanding  what  he  wanted, 
the  man  replied:  “  Something  to  drink.” 

“  Go  away,  then,”  said  the  Baron,  “there  is  nothing  to  drink  here. 
This  is  not  a  tavern.” 

The  man  leered  at  him,  and  retorted  with  drunken  gravity: 

“  If  you  don’t  keep  a  Gast-Haus,  then  what  for  do  "you  put  up  a 
sign  ?” 

At  a  Cabinet  conference,  General  Scott  suggested  that  troops  might 
be  brought  by  way  of  Annapolis,  as  well  as  by  the  Relay  House;  thus 


554 


NO  TROOPS  THROUGH  MARYLAND. 


[1361. 


( c 


avoiding  the  obstacles  created  by  the  Baltimore  rioters.  No  sooner 
were  the  orders  given,  however,  than  committees,  deputations,  and 
individuals  from  Baltimore  presented  themselves  at  the  White  House, 
to  urge  the  President  not -to  allow  any  Northern  troops  to  come 
through  Maryland,  as  it  would  certainly  provoke  disturbance.  They 
based  their  pleas  on  their  desire  to  preserve  peace,  and  “  prevent  the 
effusion  of  blood.”  It  was  not  as  well  understood,  at  the  time,  as  it 
came  to  be  afterward,  that  many  of  these  zealous  advocates  of  peace 
were  really  in  sympathy  with  the  Secessionists,  and  wanted  the  capi¬ 
tal  to  be  left  without  reinforcements,  in  order  that  it  might  more 
easily  fall  into  rebel  hands.  President  Lincoln's  patient  forbearance 
was  severely  tried  by  the  pertinacity  of  these  absurd  appeals.  “We 
must  have  troops  for  defense,”  he  said,  “  and  as  they  can  neither  get 
under  Maryland,  nor  fly  over  it,  why,  they  must  cross  through  it.” 

The  Governor  of  Maryland,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the  commu¬ 
nity  about  him,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  advising 
that  the  troops  arriving  at  Annapolis  should  be  ordered  away,  and 
that  “  no  more  should  be  sent  through  Maryland;  ”  adding  the  sug¬ 
gestion  that  Lord  Lyons  should  be  recpiested  to  act  as  mediator  be¬ 
tween  the  contending  parties.  Seward,  in  his  reply,  refusing  to  ac¬ 
cede  to  the  suggestion,  added: 

There  has  been  a  time  in  the  history  of  our  country,  when  a  General  of  the 
American  Union,  with  forces  designed  for  the  defense  of  its  capital,  was  not 
unwelcome  anywhere  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  and  certainly  not  at  Annapolis. 
If  eighty  years  could  have  obliterated  all  the  other  noble  sentiments  of  that 
age  in  Maryland,  there  is  one  that  would  forever  remain  there,  and  every¬ 
where.  That  sentiment  is,  that  no  domestic  contention  whatever,  that  may 
arise  among  the  parties  of  this  Republic,  ought  in  any  case  to  be  referred  to 
any  foreign  arbitrament  —  least  of  all  to  the  arbitrament  of  an  European 
monarchy. 

The  suggestion  was  as  much  a  surprise  to  the  British  Minister  as  to 
any  one.  Lord  Lyons  immediately  wrote  to  Lord  John  Russell,  then 
in  charge  of  the  foreign  office: 

My  Lord,  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  a  copy  of  a  letter  dated  yesterday  from 
Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  to  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  which  has  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  Washington  papers  this  morning.  I  learn  from  it  that  the  Gov¬ 
ernor  proposed  to  Mr.  Seward  that  I  be  requested  to  act  as  mediator  between 
the  contending  parties,  to  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood.  I  had  no  previous 
knowledge  of  this  proposal,  nor  have  I  had  any  communication  whatever  with 
Governor  Hicks,  or  any  other  of  the  Maryland  authorities. 

The  proposal  is,  as  might  have  beeu  foreseen,  unhesitatingly  rejected  by  Mr. 
Seward.  I  am  convinced  that  no  good  effect  could  be  produced  at  this  mo- 


f 


BARON  GEROLT. 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


LIBRARY 

Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINCK 

-  i 


1861.] 


DISPATCH KS  TO  FRANCE. 


DOD 


merit  by  any  offer  on  the  part  of  the  representatives  of  the  European  powers 
to  mediate  between  the  North  and  South. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  vessels  from  New  York  had  arrived 
at  Annapolis  with  troops,  messengers  were  dispatched  from  Washington 
to  urge  them  to  proceed  to  the  city  with  all  speed.  But  the  messen¬ 
gers,  as  soon  as  they  were  out  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  found 
scouting  parties  and  sentries  of  the  Maryland  Militia,  who  had  volun¬ 
teered  or  had  been  posted  to  guard  the  country  roads,  and  to  prevent 
all  communication  between  the  Government  and  its  troops.  On  the 
branch  railway  from  the  Annapolis  Junction  to  Annapolis  the  Seces- 

m 

sionists  had  torn  up  the  rails,  and  stopped  all  traffic  as  effectually  as 
through  Baltimore.  One  after  another  of  the  messengers  were  turned 
back;  and  those  who  succeeded  in  accomplishing  their  mission  only 
did  so  by  concealing  their  character  and  purpose. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  gloom,  while  the  fate  of  the  national 
capital  seemed  trembling  in  the  balance,  that  Seward  sat  calmly  at  his 
writing-table  drafting  his  dispatch  to  Mr.  Dayton  for  the  eye  of  the 
French  Government.  It  was  in  strong  contrast  to  the  outlook  imme¬ 
diately  around  him.  As  regarded  the  Union,  it  was  not  only  hopeful, 
but  confident.  As  regarded  the  possibility  of  European  aid  to  the 
rebels,  it  was.  as  far  as  comported  with  diplomatic  courtesy,  defiant. 
He  knew  that  the  intelligence  of  the  peril  of  the  capital,  and  the 
accession  of  the  border  States  to  the  Confederacy,  would  go  out  by  the 
foreign  mail.  He  meant  that  when  it  was  read  by  European  Cabinets 
they  should  also  read  that  the  Washington  Government  was,  neverthe¬ 
less,  firm,  bold,  and  confident.  His  dispatches  would  accompany  the 
untoward  news,  and  must,  so  far  as  possible,  counteract  its  effect. 
After  remarking  that  as  a  large  portion  of  the  American  people  had 
been  bewildered  by  the  suddenness  of  the  disunion  movement,  it  was 
not  strange  that  foreign  nations  should  not  at  once  comprehend  it,  he 
said: 

To  take  care  that  the  Government  of  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  France  do 
not  misunderstand  our  position,  and  through  that  misunderstanding  do  us  some 
possible  wrong,  is  the  chief  duty  which  you  will  have  to  perform  at  Paris. 

After  pointing  out  the  various  reasons,  commercial  and  political, 
that  should  make  France  desire  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  and 
emphatically  stating  that  no  foreign  intervention,  interference,  or  in¬ 
fluence  would  either  be  invoked  or  admitted  by  the  United  States  in 
the  present  contest,  he  said: 

Foreign  intervention  would  oblige  us  to  treat  those  who  should  yield  it  as 
allies  of  the  insurrectionary  party,  and  to  carry  on  the  war  against  them  as  ene¬ 
mies.  The  case  would  only  be  aggravated  if  several  European  States  should 


556 


HOW  GOVERNMENTS  CONVERSE. 


[1861. 


combine  in  that  intervention.  The  President  and  the  people  of  the  United. 
States  deem  the  Union,  which  would  then  be  at  stake,  worth  all  the  cost  and 
all  the  sacrifices  of  a  contest  with  the  world  in  arms;  if  such  a  contest  should 
prove  inevitable. 

The  tone  here  adopted  is  that  which  pervaded  all  Seward’s  dis¬ 
patches  during  the  war.  It  is  one  that  never  was  satisfactory  to  the 
Confederates  or  their  sympathizers.  They  endeavored  to  parry  its 
force  by  declaring  Seward  was  a  “visionary,”*  an  “optimist,”  who 
loved  to  indulge  in  baseless  hopes.  Nothing  would  have  suited  them 
better  than  to  have  the  Secretary  of  State  give  some  sign  that  he  “  de¬ 
spaired  of  the  Republic.” 

Some  of  his  friends  even,  uninitiated  in  diplomatic  usage,  wondered 
why  he  deemed  it  necessary  to  so  persistently  assure  Mr.  Adams  and 
Mr.  Dayton  of  the  strength  and  stability  of  the  Union.  But  Govern¬ 
ments  cannot  converse,  except  through  their  diplomatic  representa¬ 
tives.  The  Secretary  of  State  addresses,  to  an  American  envoy 
abroad,  the  views  he  desires  to  have  laid  before  the  Ministry  of  the 
foreign  power.  Sometimes  the  envoy  is  requested  to  present  the  sub¬ 
ject  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  conversationally,  in  his  own 
words.  Sometimes  he  is  instructed  to  read  the  dispatch  to  the  Min¬ 
ister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  to  give  him  a  copy  of  it.  The  arguments 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  therefore,  though  addressed  to  the  American 
envoy,  are  actually  for  the  eye  and  ear  of  the  Ministry  of  the  foreign 
power.  They  must  be  courteous,  or  they  will  irritate,  instead  of  per¬ 
suading;  they  must  be  confident  and  sincere,  or  they  will  not  in¬ 
spire  belief.  They  must  be  logically  sound,  or  they  will  fail  to 
impress  the  trained  intellects  of  statesmen  who  are  the  rulers  of 
kingdoms. 

Seward  saw,  at  the  outset  of  the  war,  that  the  first  and  indispensable 
step  toward  convincing  European  Governments  that  the  Union  would 
stand,  was  to  show  that  he  believed  it  himself.  What  they  had  heard 
from  former  representatives  of  the  country,  what  they  were  reading 
in  the  daily  newspapers,  and  what  they  were  receiving  from  their 
Ministers  and  Consuls  in  the  United  States,  all  tended  to  show  that 
grave  doubts  existed  at  Washington,  as  to  the  ability  of  the  Union  to 
maintain  itself.  Seward  determined  they  should  find  no  word  of 
doubt,  no  hint  of  apprehension,  in  any  thing  that  he,  as  the  nation’s 
mouthpiece,  might  utter.  The  Union  could,  would,  and  should  be 
preserved.  That  must  be  the  key-note  of  all  his  correspondence.  How 
could  there  be  any  other  ?  For  him  to  discuss  intervention,  would 
be  to  invite  it.  For  him  to  betray  apprehension,  would  be  to  betray 
the  Union. 


1861.] 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  PARIS  CONGRESS. 


557 


Readers  of  his  dispatches  were  sometimes  puzzled  by  the  anomaly, 
that  he  expressed  the  most  fervent  faith  in  success,  at  the  hour  when 
the  prospects  for  it  seemed  the  darkest.  That  was  precisely  his 
reason.  Victories  might  be  trusted  to  carry  their  own  moral;  but 
tidings  of  a  defeat  must  always  be  accompanied  by  assurances  that 
the  Union  would  surmount  its  troubles,  however  grave  and  protracted 
they  might  be. 

Two  days  later,  he  prepared  and  sent  out  a  circular  to  the  United 

States  Ministers  at  London,  Paris,  St.  Petersburg,  Berlin,  Vienna, 

Brussels,  Turin,  and  Copenhagen.  The  Paris  Congress  of  1856  had 

formulated  a  mutual  agreement  upon  four  principles  of  international 

law,  in  these  words: 

*  # 

1.  Privateering  is,  and  remains  abolished. 

2.  The  neutral  flag  covers  enemy’s  goods,  with  the  exception  of  contraband 
of  war. 

3.  Neutral  goods,  with  the  exception  of  contraband  of  war,  are  not  liable 
to  capture  under  the  enemy’s  flag. 

4.  Blockades,  in  order  to  be  binding,  must  be  effective;  that  is  to  say,  main¬ 
tained  by  forces  sufficient  really  to  prevent  access  to  the  coast  of  the  enemy. 

These  principles  Great  Britain,  France,  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria, 
Sardinia  and  Turkey  agreed  to  adopt,  as  toward  each  other,  and  toward 
any  power  that  should  afterward  join  in  the  compact.  The  United 
States  had  been  invited  to  join,  but  declined,  not  being  at  that  time 
prepared  to  give  up  the  right  of  privateering. 

Referring  to  these  events,  Seward  now  instructed  the  American 
Ministers  to  reopen  the  subject,  with  a  view  to  the  formal  accession 
of  the  United  States  to  the  Paris  agreement.  Such  accession  would 
protect  American  commerce  from  the  threatened  depredations  of  pri¬ 
vateers,  and  would  prevent  the  maritime  powers  from  assisting,  or 
even  tolerating  their  existence.  In  case  the  powers  should  accept  the 
proposition,  the  Ministers  were  authorized  to  conclude  the  necessary 
treaties  at  once. 

Now  came  the  lioped-for  news  from  Annapolis,  that  the  Massachu¬ 
setts  Eighth  Regiment,  under  General  Butler,  and  the  New  York 
Seventh,  under  Colonel  Lefferts,  had  safely  landed  there,  were  in  quiet 
possession  of  the  Navy  Yard,  and  were  preparing  to  march  to  Wash¬ 
ington. 

Soon  followed  the  intelligence  that  they  were  marching  by  the  rail¬ 
way  track,  relaying  the  rails  that  had  been  torn  up  to  prevent  their 
approach.  There  were  rumors  of  batteries  and  ambush  parties  lying 
in  wait  for  them,  but  they  encountered  no  opposition.  A  twenty-mile 
march  through  a  hostile  region,  accompanied  by  the  work  of  track- 


558 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  TROOPS. 


[1861. 


laying,  daring  a  day  and  a  night,  was  a  laborious  task,  for  soldiers  as 
yet  unaccustomed  to  campaigning.  But  they  were  pushing  forward 
with  zeal  and  spirit.  Reaching  the  Junction,  they  found  a  train 
awaiting  them,  which,  two  hours  later,  landed  them  in  Washington. 
When  the  welcome  sound  of  their  drums  was  heard,  the  townspeople 
thronged  the  streets  to  see  and  greet  them  with  cheers  and  flags,  hats 
and  handkerchiefs.  Their  march  up  Pennsylvania  avenue,  past  the 
Treasury  and  State  Departments,  past  the  portico  of  the  White  House, 
where  the  President  stood  to  salute  them,  and  to  the  War  Department 
to  report  for  duty,  was  an  ovation  throughout.  Perhaps  no  regiment 
ever  entered  Washington,  before  or  since,  that  was  received  with  such 
heartfelt  satisfaction.  Their  arrival  showed  that  the  dead-lock  was 
broken,  the  isolation  over.  Henceforth  troops  and  supplies  would 
reach  the  capital.  The  Government  was  again  in  communication  with 
its  loyal  supporters. 

With  the  coming  of  the  troops,  began  to  come  also  a  flood  of  news, 
about  the  outburst  of  popular  enthusiasm  for  the  Union  throughout 
the  Northern  States;  the  great  New  York  meeting  in  Union  Square; 
the  formation  of  the  Union  Defense  Committee,  composed  of  leading- 
citizens;  the  organization  and  equipment  of  regiments,  the  forwarding 
of  supplies,  the  opening  of  subscription  lists,  the  prompt  action  of 
States  and  municipalities,  the  lavish  gifts  of  individuals,  the  speeches 
of  public  men,  the  sermons  of  the  clergy,  the  unanimity  of  the  press. 
Flags,  banners,  badges,  and  every  form  of  device  typified  the  popular 
feeling.  Quiet  villages  and  busy  streets  were  suddenly  transformed  by 
gay  decorations  of  the  ‘red,  white  and  blue/’  Drumbeats  and  cannon 
echoes  became  the  familiar  sound;  uniforms  the  favored  wear.  The 
drill-room  and  the  recruiting  office  were  centers  of  attraction.  Here¬ 
tofore,  the  South  had  been  the  only  scene  of  such  demonstrations,  and 
the  North  had  looked  on  with  apathetic  interest.  Now,  at  last,  the 
North  woke  up,  and  was  in  earnest  to  defend  the  Union  and  the  flag. 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  features  of  this  news  was  the  position 
taken  by  the  New  York  Democrats.  Announcing  that  their  country 
rather  than  their  party  had  the  first  claim  upon  their  loyal ty,  Dixand 
Dickinson,  Pierrepont,  Ilavemeyer,  Brady,  Walker,  Bronson,  and  Bell 
were  in  zealous  and  hearty  cooperation  with  Fish  and  Draper,  Evarts, 
Grinnell,  and  Blatchford  in  upholding  the  Administration.  Even  par¬ 
tisan  criticism  subsided  for  a  time.  Former  secession  sympathizers 
were  dumb;  and  the  wild  proposal  of  a  few  weeks  before,  that  New 
York  should  cut  loose  from  the  Union,  and  become  an  independent 
city,  was  only  a  theme  of  ridicule. 

Gratifying  as  was  the  news  from  the  North,  it  was  somewhat  coun- 


NORTH  AND  SOUTII. 


559 


1861.] 

terbalanced  by  that  which  now  came  from  the  South.  The  South¬ 
ern  Union  men  were  silenced.  Disunion ists  were  taking  easy  posses¬ 
sion  of  Southern  State  and  municipal  governments.  Organized  oppo¬ 
sition  to  their  plans  seemed  to  have  ceased  to  exist.  Governors/ 
Legislatures,  courts,  civil  magistrates,  and  military  officers  were  do¬ 
ing  their  behests,  and  serving  the  new-born  Confederacy  with  energetic 
zeal.  Whether  a  reign  of  terror  was  stifling  adverse  opinions,  or 
whether  the  Union  men  had  experienced  a  sudden  change  of  feeling, 
could  not  be  known.  But  the  result  was  the  same.  The  seceding 
States  were  apparently  as  united  against  the  Federal  Government,  as 
the  free  States  were  in  its  favor.  Confederate  and  State  authorities 
made  haste  to  seize  whatever  Federal  property  was  within  their  reach. 
Arsenals,  forts,  mints,  custom-houses,  post-offices,  vessels,  arms,  pro¬ 
visions,  and  money  were  swept  into  Confederate  control,  as  lawful 
prize,  from  the  public  enemy.  Not  only  regiments,  but  armies  were 
mustering.  Proclamations,  resolutions,  orders,  and  oratory  were  “  firing 
the  Southern  heart  ”  for  the  coming  war. 

One  of  tha  curious  surprises  brought  by  the  news  from  the  North 
was  the  discovery  that  loyal,  but  impatient  leaders  and  journals, 
even  while  they  were  hurrying  troops  to  the  rescue  of  the  imperiled 
capital,  were  freely  berating  the  Administration  for  its  inefficiency  in 
not  having  put  down  the  Baltimore  rioters,  and  saved  Norfolk,  during 
the  time  Washington  was  beleaguered,  and  waiting  for  troops.  But 
this  was  in  accordance  with  the  good  old  Anglo-Saxon  custom,  when 
things  go  wrong,  of  laying  the  blame  for  it  on  the  Government. 
Seward,  writing  to  Weed,  said: 

Washington,  April  26. 

Twenty  steamers  were  ordered  to  be  purchased,  and  armed,  by  a  messenger, 
who  left  here  the  day  the  blockade  teas  ordered.  Captain  Stringham  takes  charge 
of  that. 

Do  send  men,  money,  provisions  forward,  and  don’t  complain  of  us  for  in¬ 
efficiency,  without  stopping  to  think.  Think  of  the  Seventh  New  York,  and 
of  the  Massachusetts  regiments,  lying  seventy-two  hours  at  Annapolis,  within 
thirty-six  miles  of  us,  and  we,  with  only  three  thousand  men  here  —  half  of 
those  District  Militia.  All  Virginia,  and  all  Maryland,  are  to  be  upon  us  in 
mass,  it  seems,  from  reports  of  our  messengers  there. 

To  Mrs.  Seward,  he  wrote: 

April  26. 

Eight  thousand  troops  actually  arrived;  we  are  safe  from  surprise.  Prepa¬ 
rations  in  Virginia  and  Maryland  indicate  a  conflict  here,  or  in  the  vicinity, 
in  which  the  forces  will  be  counted  by  the  hundred  thousand  on  a  side.  We 
are  in  the  right,  for  our  country,  for  freedom,  for  peace,  for  humanity,  cheer¬ 
ful  and  content —  only  fearful  of  failure  to  acquit  ourselves  of  so  great  re¬ 
sponsibilities. 


560 


WHO  SHALL  BE  GEHERALS? 


[1361. 


CHAPTER  LIX. 

1861. 

Troops  for  the  Defense  of  the  Capital.  Visiting  the  Camps.  The  House  on  La  Fayette 
Square.  Growth  of  the  Union  Army.  Its  Generals.  The  Confederacy.  Guarding 
the  Railways.  Occupying  Baltimore.  The  Movement  into  Virginia.  Fortifying  the 
Heights.  Ellsworth’s  Death.  Changed  Aspect  of  Washington.  A  Great  Camp. 
Scott’s  Plan  of  Campaign.  Building  up  a  Navy..  The  Blockade. 

Now  troops  came  pouring  in  for  the  defense  of  the  capital.  The 
quiet  little  town  of  Annapolis  woke  up  to  sudden  bustle  and  ac¬ 
tivity,  as  vessels  appeared  in  its  harbor  debarking  regiment  after  regi¬ 
ment,  who  hastened  by  rail  to  Washington.  Every  day  came  the 
welcome  sound  of  drum  and  fife,  and  the  cheering  gleam  of  bayonets,  as 
the  long  lines  of  newcomers  marched  up  Pennsylvania  avenue,  passing 
the  State  Department,  and  the  White  House,  and  pausing  at  the  por¬ 
tal  of  the  War  Department  “to  report  for  duty/’  and  to  be  assigned 
to  their  camps. 

Seward  wrote  home: 

Washington,  April  27,  1861. 

Virginia  has  precipitated  events,  and  war  with  her  is  rendered  inevitable  by 
her  own  act.  Ten  thousand  of  our  troops  are  arrived  here,  and  the  city  is 
considered  safe.  It  begins  to  be  a  camp. 

Frequently  in  the  course  of  an  afternoon  drive,  Seward  would  stop 
to  visit  General  Scott,  either  at  his  office  or  at  his  lodgings.  Usually 
in  either  place,  the  General’s  surroundings  were  those  of  active  military 
service  —  the  sentry  pacing  before  his  door,  the  orderly  sitting  in  the 
hall,  the  aides-de-camp  at  their  respective  desks,  and  the  General’s 
table  covered  ivith  maps,  dispatches,  and  calculations.  One  day,  soon 
after  the  first  call  for  troops,  while  exchanging  news  and  comparing 
views,  Seward  remarked,  “We  are  gathering  a  large  army.  What  I 
do  not  yet  foresee,  is  how  it  is  to  be  led.  What  are  we  to  do  for 
generals  ?  ” 

“That  is  a  subject,  Mr.  Secretary,”  said  the  veteran  commander, 
“that  I  have  thought  much  about.  If  I  could  only  mount  a  horse,  I, — ” 
then  checking  himself,  with  a  shake  of  his  head,  he  added,  “but  I 
am  past  that.  I  can  only  serve  my  country,  as  I  am  doing  here  now, 
in  my  chair.” 

“Even  if  you  had  your  youth  and  strength  again,  General,  it  might 
not  be  worth  as  much  to  us  as  your  experience.  In  any  case,  you 
would  need  commanders  of  military  training,  to  carry  out  your  orders.” 

“There  are  few  who  have  had  command  in  the  field,  even  of  a 
brigade,”  said  the  General,  “but,”  he  added  reflectively,  “there  is 


- 


L  ii  iir,\  Y 

GY  It  t 

JNIVEHSH  V  Of  \LUHOli 


THE  7th  (N.  Y.)  IN  CAMP. 


THE  69th  AT  PRAYERS 


1861.] 


WHO  WILL  BE  GENERALS  ? 


561 


excellent  material  in  the  Army  to  make  generals  of.  There  are 
good  officers.  Unfortunately  for  us,  the  South  has  taken  many  of 
those  holding  the  higher  grades.  We  have  captains  and  lieutenants 
that,  with  time  and  experience,  will  develop,  and  will  do  good  ser- 
vice. 

Proceeding  to  name  over  several  officers,  or  West  Point  graduates, 
in  whom  he  evidently  felt  interest  and  pride,  he  mentioned  McClellan, 
Franklin,  Halleck,  Hooker,  Mansfield,  Sumner,  and  several  others, 
actually  or  recently  in  the  Army.  “  There  is  one  officer  who  would 
make  an  excellent  general,”  he  continued,  “  but  I  do  not  know  whether 
we  can  rely  on  him.  He  lives  not  far  away,  and  I  have  sent  over  to  see. 
I  had  expected  to  hear  from  him  to-day.  If  he  comes  in  to-morrow, 
I  shall  know.” 

“I  will  not  ask  his  name  until  you  hear  from  him,  then,  General,” 
said  Seward,  “  though  I  think  I  can  guess  who  you  mean.” 

A  day  or  two  later,  reverting  in  their  conversation  to  the  same  sub¬ 
ject,  Seward  remarked,  “You  were  expecting  to  hear  from  some  offi¬ 
cer  you  thought  well  of.  Did  you?” 

“  Yres,”  said  the  General,  “it  was  too  late.  He  had  decided  to  ‘go 
with  his  State/  as  the  phrase  is  now.  I  am  sorry;  both  on  our  account 
and  on  his  own.” 

That  was  the  turning  point  ill  the  life  of  Robert  E.  Lee. 

About  the  only  relaxation  and  exercise  that  Seward  had,  at  this 
period,  was  this  afternoon  drive,  on  the  closing  of  the  department  for 
the  day.  At  this  season,  the  days  were  long  and  the  roads  good;  and 
he  took  especial  pleasure  in  visiting  the  newly-established  camps.  The 
New  York  Seventh  Regiment  (Colonel  Lefferts)  was  on  Meridian 
Hill.  The  Seventy-first  (Colonel  Vosburg’s),  at  the  Navy  Yard.  The 
Sixty-ninth  (Colonel  Corcoran),  at  Georgetown  College.  The  Twelfth 
(Colonel  Butterfield),  on  Franklin  Square.  The  Rhode  Island  Regiment 
(Colonel  Burnside),  on  the  Glenwood  road.  On  the  river  bank  were 
Ellsworth’s  Zouaves.  At  each  camp,  he  found  among  officers  and  men 
many  old  acquaintances,  and  the  sons  of  old  friends.  On  one  of  the 
heights  overlooking  Rock  Creek,  he  found  the  Nineteenth  N.  Y.  from 
Cayuga  county.,  which  was  largely  made  up  of  his  townsmen.  His 
neighbor,  John  S.  Clark,  was  its  colonel;  his  nephew,  Clarence  A. 
Seward,  its  lieutenant-colonel;  J.  S.  Ledlie  its  major;  his  family  phy¬ 
sician,  Dr.  Dimon,  its  surgeon;  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fowler,  the  Presby¬ 
terian  clergyman,  its  chaplain.  One  company,  commanded  by  Captain 
Gavigan,  had  sprung* into  being  literally  at  the  altar  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  under  the  impassioned  preaching  of  Father  Creedon.  Another 
was  commanded  by  Captain  Kennedy,  who  claimed  to  be  the  “first 
36 


562 


THE  HOUSE  LAFAYETTE  SQUARE. 


[1861. 


volunteer  of  the  war,”  having  begun  to  enroll  a  company  as  early  as 
November,  1860. 

As  other  regiments  came  in,  he  extended  the  circuit  of  his  drives. 
Ilis  hearty  greetings,  and  words  of  encouragement,  made  him  a  wel¬ 
come  visitor;  and  the  opportunities  these  visits  gave  him  of  studying 
the  character  and  needs  of  the  great  Union  Army  now  organizing 
were  useful  and  valuable. 

Early  in  May,  Seward  took  possession  of  the  residence  on  LaFayette 
Square,  that  he  was  to  occupy.  It  was  a  roomy  old  house  of  red 
brick,  plain  and  substantial,  with  spacious  parlors,  and  convenient 
rooms  for  library  and  study.  Many  traditions  about  its  former  owners 
clung  to  it.  Built  by  Commodore  Rodgers,  on  ground  bought  from 
Henrv  Clav,  it  had  been  the  residence  of  various  Cabinet  officers, 
and  Foreign  Ministers;  and  at  one  time  had  done  duty  as  a  club-house. 

The  still  unfurnished  rooms  were  hastily  decorated  with  flags;  and 
a  series  of  informal  evening  receptions  were  given,  to  enable  the 
new  Army  and  Navy  officers  to  meet  each  other,  as  well  as  the  families 
of  Washington  residents,  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  and  Government 
officials.  The  novel  circumstances  and  surroundings  gave  these 
gatherings  a  peculiar  interest  to  each  of  the  diverse  elements  thus 
brought  together.  Among  the  young  officers  who  had  here  their  first 
experiences  of  Washington  society,  were  several  whose  lives  and  names 
have  since  become  historic. 

Frequent  parades,  drills,  and  reviews  marked  the  opening  of  the 
new  military  era  at  the  capital.  There  was  a  musical  matinee  at  the 
Navy  Yard,  under  the  lead  of  Harrison  Millard,  where  patriotic  en¬ 
thusiasm  found  vent  in  national  songs.  Especial  merriment  and 
encores  greeted  a  song  descriptive  of  the  tedious  track-laying  march 
from  Annapolis,  to  the  air  of  “Jordan  is  a  hard  road  to  travel,”  —  of 
which  the  refrain  was:  “Only  nine  miles  —  only  nine  miles  —  only 
nine  miles  to  the  Junction  !  ” 

From  every  part  of  the  North  now  came  news  of  the  rising  tide  of 
popular  enthusiasm.  Governor  Morgan  of  New  York,  Governor  Den¬ 
nison  of  Ohio,  Governor  Blair  of  Michigan,  Governor  Curtin  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  Governor  Morton  of  Indiana,  Governor  Andrew  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  Governor  Sprague  of  Rhode  Island,  Governor  Randall  of 
Wisconsin,  and  all  the  other  loyal  Governors  were  mustering,  equip¬ 
ping,  and  forwarding  full  regiments.  Governor  Olden  of  New  Jersey 
was  sending  a  brigade.  Governor  Black  of  Nebraska  Territory  had 
called  for  volunteers.  The  Union  Defense  Committee  in  New  York 
was  providing  ships,  supplies,  arms,  and  transportation.  States  and 
cities  were  vieing  iu  lavish  appropriations.  Connecticut  had  appro- 


1861.] 


THE  UPRISING  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


563 


printed  $2,000,000.  New  Jersey  had  voted  $2,000,000.  By  the  end 
of  the  first  week  in  May,  the  war  contributions  had  amounted  to 
twenty-three  millions.  Institutions  and  individuals  were  proffering 
their  means,  and  tendering  their  services.  The  New  York  Yacht 
Club  were  offering  their  vessels.  The  Boston  school-teachers  were 
offering  part  of  their  salaries.  Medical  schools  were  sending  surgeons. 
Philadelphia  was  organizing  the  most  effective  means  of  hurrying  the 
forces  to  the  field.  Boston  was  paying  military  honors  to  her  soldiers 
killed  at  Baltimore.  In  every  important  Northern  town,  drums  were 
beating,  and  flags  flying.  The  recruiting  offices  were  thronged  with 
young  men,  eager  to  put  down  their  names.  College  boys  left  their 
classes,  mechanics  their  workshops,  farmers  their  fields;  professional 
men  and  skilled  artisans  gave  up  comfortable  incomes  to  serve  their 
country  for  a  pittance.  In  Michigan,  premiums  were  paid  for  places. 
Every  State  was  ready  to  furnish,  not  only  its  quota,  but  many  more. 
Clergymen  were  preaching  war  sermons,  ladies  were  organizing  “Union 
Aid  Societies,”  school-children  were  singing  national  anthems.  Patri¬ 
otic  devices  decorated  shops  and  streets.  Badges  were  worn,  in  endless 
variations  of  the  “Red,  White,  and  Blue.”  Letter-paper  and  envelopes 
were  stamped  with  Union  designs;  the  most  popular  being  one  repre¬ 
senting  a  volunteer  at  “  charge  bayonet,”  with  the  words,  “  Through 
Baltimore.” 

The  seventy-five  thousand  men  called  out  by  the  proclamation  of 
April  were  to  remain  in  the  service  for  three  months  only.  Militia 
regiments,  already  formed,  had  responded  to  the  call;  but  even  while 
this  force  was  assembling,  it  became  manifest  that  troops  would  be 
needed  for  a  longer  term.  As  more  than  seventy-five  thousand  had 
already  offered  their  services,  the  Administration  decided  to  give 
notice  that  additional  volunteers  would  now  be  accepted,  “  for  three 
years,  or  during  the  war.”  On  the  3d  of  May,  a  call  was  issued 
for  forty-two  thousand  and  thirty-four  volunteers,  and  twenty-two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fourteen  regulars,  to  be  added  to  the 
Army,  and,  also,  for  eighteen  thousand  seamen,  for  the  Navy.  No  ex¬ 
isting  law  warranted  such  a  call;  but  the  public  danger  made  it  neces* 
sary,  and  it  was  believed  that  Congress  would  justify  it. 

“If  the  North  is  terribly  in  earnest,  the  South  is  not  less  so,”  said, 
a  Southern  journal.  And,  indeed,  the  reports  coming  from  the 
Southern  States  seemed  to  show  that,  while  Southern  leaders  had 
been  somewhat  surprised  by  the  magnitude  of  the  Northern  “upris¬ 
ing,”  and  considerably  disappointed  at  the  news  of  Democrats  join¬ 
ing  with  Republicans  to  uphold  the  Union,  yet  they  bated  no  jot  of 
heart  or  hope.  The  “Confederacy”  so  suddenly  sprung  into  exist- 


564 


PREPARING  POR  BATTLES. 


[1861. 


ence  was  already  a  coherent,  aggressive,  gigantic  power.  Troops 
were  gathering  in  Richmond,  and  Lee  was  soon  placed  in  command. 
Virginia  had  turned  over  all  the  United  States  property  to  the  Con¬ 
federate  Government.  Other  States  were  doing  the  same.  Arms, 
steamers,  munitions  of  war,  and  public  funds  were  seized  without 
scruple.  President  Davis  had  sent  a  “  message”  to  the  “Confed¬ 
erate  Congress  ”  and  had  been  authorized  to  raise  an  army.  Regi¬ 
ments  were  mustering.  Privateers  were  arming.  A  “Confederate 
Loan"  had  been  proposed,  and  would  “command  a  premium  in 
London.”  Southern  States  and  Southern  business  men  were  ab¬ 
solved  from  liability  to  Northern  creditors. 

Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  North  Carolina,  after  long  holding  back, 
had  decided  to  join  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy,  whose  capital 
was  henceforth  to  be  at  Richmond.  “  Congress  ”  had  adjourned  to 
meet  there,  and  “  the  President”  was  on  his  way.  Governors  of  the 
several  States  were  issuing  proclamations,  and  enjoining  allegiance  to 
the  new  “  Government.”  It  was  a  part  of  the  ingenious  self-deception 
in  which  the  Southerners  now  indulged  to  underrate  and  decry  their 
adversaries.  “  One  Southron  is  a  match  for  five  Yankees”  was  a  com¬ 
mon  boast.  “Northern  mud-sills”  were  described  as  “white-livered 
cowards,”  who  “  dare  not  fight.”  They  would  hire  “Irish  and  Ger¬ 
man  mercenaries  ”  to  do  their  fighting;  perhaps  make  their  regiments 
out  of  some  of  the  “refuse  of  the  prisons,”  and  “scum  of  the  great 
cities;”  but  these  “hirelings  ”  would  “run  away  the  first  time  they 
saw  Southern  troops.” 

An  essential  feature  in  the  defense  of  Washington  was  to  keep  open 
its  lines  of  communication  with  the  North  and  the  sea.  The  route 
by  Annapolis  was  strengthened  and  fortified,  troops  were  pushed  for¬ 
ward  on  the  railway  line,  gradually  getting  possession  of  it  north  and 
south  of  Baltimore,  and  finally  General  Butler,  by  a  rapid  movement, 
entered  that  city  and  intrenched  his  force  on  Federal  Hill.  Before  the 
Secessionists  realized  it,  the  town  was  again  under  loyal control.  U nion 
men  began  to  show  themselves  and  tender  their  help.  Guards  were 
posted  at  Havre-de-Grace  and  the  reconstructed  bridges,  and  commu¬ 
nication  “through  Baltimore”  with  the  North  was  formally  restored. 
The  Northern  Central  railroad  was  re-opened  by  Pennsylvania  troops. 
As  there  were  rumors  of  rebel  troops  and  batteries  at  various  points 
on  the  lower  Potomac,  the  naval  force  to  patrol  the  river  was  increased 
and  strengthened,  and  additional  troops  were  sent  to  Fortress  Monroe. 

The  Administration  had  been  warned  by  the  reports  of  its  engineer 
officers,  that  there  could  be  no  assured  safetv  for  Washington  so  long 
as  the  heights  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  river  were  left  undefended. 


1861.] 


OCCUPYING  THE  VIRGINIA  HEIGHTS. 


565 


The  Secession  flag  was  still  flying  at  Alexandria  in  full  view  of  the 
windows  of  the  Executive  Mansion. 

At  an  evening  meeting  of  the  Cabinet,  called  for  that  purpose  by  the 
President,  he  laid  before  them  General  Scott’s  recommendation  of  a 
movement  to  occupy  and  fortify  those  heights.  Troops  enough  had 
now  arrived,  and  there  was  no  doubt  of  the  military  expediency  of 
that  step.  But  as  it  was  the  first  actual  “invasion  of  the  sacred  soil 
of  the  Old  Dominion”  for  permanent  occupation,  it  was  deemed 
proper  that  it  should  receive  formal  consideration.  All  the  Cabinet 
concurred  with  the  President.  The  order  was  given,  and  preparations 
quietly  made  for  the  march. 

On  the  evening  of  the  23d,  Seward  sat  reading  in  his  parlor  till  late 
at  night,  and  advised  his  family  not  to  retire,  but  to  sit  by  the  open 
windows  and  listen.  After  midnight,  while  the  moon  was  setting, 
came  the  distant  sound  of  footsteps,  gradually  swelling  till  it  seemed 
as  if  an  invisible  multitude  were  passing.  To  baffle  the  curiosity  of 
spies  and  rebel  sympathizers,  orders  had  been  given  to  “break  ranks” 
and  march  without  drum  and  fife,  so  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
tell  how  many  regiments  were  moving.  The  ceaseless,  irregular  tramp, 
tramp,  tramp  of  the  unseen  column  over  the  resounding  pavements 
made  the  force  seem  much  larger  than  it  really  was. 

Earlv  in  the  morning  came  the  intelligence  that  the  movement  had 
been  entirely  successful.  The  various  regiments  had  crossed  the 
bridges,  occupied  Arlington  Heights,  and  were  already  throwing  up 
earth-works  at  designated  points,  to  command  the  approaches  to  the 
river.  The  rebel  forces  had  retired,  except  some  cavalrymen  at  Alex¬ 
andria,  who  were  captured.  Ellsworth’s  Zouaves  had  proceeded  to 
Alexandria  by  steamer,  and  taken  possession  of  the  town.  But  that 
gallant  commander,  just  after  he  had  captured  the  rebel  flag,  had 
been  shot  down.  Mourning  over  his  untimely  death  pervaded  the 
capital  and  intensified  the  feeling  at  the  North.  He  lay  in  state  at 
the  White  House,  and  was  buried  with  military  honors.  For  months 
afterward,  “Remember  Ellsworth”  was  a  watchword  at  recruiting 
stations;  and  one  regiment  was  organized  with  the  title  of  the  “Ells¬ 
worth  Avengers.” 

A  change  was  now  coming  over  the  aspect  of  Washington.  Without 
trade  or  manufactures,  it  had  hitherto  been  a  quiet  Southern  town, 
busy  only  with  politics  in  the  winter,  and  lapsing  during  summer 
into  supreme  dullness.  The  coming  of  fifty  thousand  troops  gave  it 
life  and  activity.  They  not  only  “camped  round  about  it,”  but  were 
in  it  and  of  it,  everywhere.  Uniforms  and  flags  were  met  in  every 
street:  detachments,  parades,  and  drills  in  every  public  square. 


566 


WASHINGTON-  BECOMING  A  CAMP. 


[1861. 


Patrols  moving  at  quick-step,  and  orderlies  dashing  at  a  gallop,  were 
every-day  sights  in  the  avenues.  The  drum  and  the  bugle  became 
familiar  sounds;  and  all  knew  that  the  echo  of  guns  meant  only 
“  artillery  practice.”  The  tents  that  dotted  city  squares  and  suburban 
fields,  the  earth-works  bristling  with  black-mouthed  cannon,  the  long 
trains  of  army  wagons  passing  in  each  thoroughfare,  showed  that  the 
national  capital  was  fast  becoming  a  great  camp. 

None  were  more  surprised  than  the  business  men,  who,  in  Wash¬ 
ington  as  in  other  cities,  had  dreaded  the  advent  of  war,  as  meaning 
commercial  ruin.  But  their  business  grew  brisk.  Customers  multi¬ 
plied.  New  avenues  of  trade  opened.  Shops,  hotels,  places  of  amuse¬ 
ment,  and  public  conveyances  all  experienced  an  influx  of  prosperity, 
as  welcome  as  it  was  unexpected. 

During  the  next  few  weeks  the  War  Department  and  the  Lieuten¬ 
ant-General  were  busily  engaged  in  organizing  the  rapidly-growing 
army,  and  assigning  its  regiments  to  duty,  in  the  localities  where 
they  were  most  needed.  General  Mansfield,  in  command  of  the  troops 
for  the  defense  of  Washington,  was  at  work  with  his  camps  and 
fortifications.  McClellan  and  Fremont  were  appointed  major-generals 
in  the  regular  army;  shortly  afterward  Dix,  Butler,  and  Banks  received 
commissions  of  similar  grade;  the  former  in  the  regulars,  the  two  latter 
in  the  volunteers.  Raw  and  inexperienced  as  the  army  was,  it,  at  least, 
was  intensely  loyal  —  the  sympathizers  with  secession  having,  at  last, 
all  resigned  or  been  weeded  out.  It  was  one  of  the  curious  anomalies  of 
that  critical  period  in  April  —  when  Washington  was  in  hourly  appre¬ 
hension  of  attack,  that  three  of  its  commanders  were  in  sympathy 
with  the  rebels  —  Pemberton  of  the  infantry,  Magruder  of  the  artil¬ 
lery,  and  Commodore  Buchanan  of  the  Navy  Yard.  But,  when  their 
mistaken  sense  of  duty  led  them  over  to  the  enemy,  they  resigned 
their  trusts,  instead  of  attempting  to  betray  them. 

General  Scott  had  moved  his  head-quarters  to  a  more  convenient 
house  on  Pennsylvania  avenue,  and,  with  his  staff,  was  busy,  night 
and  day,  in  providing  for  the  disposition  and  equipment  of  his  troops. 
In  all  military  questions,  the  Administration  relied  largely  on  his 
judgment.  His  experience  had  told  him  that  raw  levies  of  volunteers 
could  be  most  effectively  used  as  infantry.  Proffers  of  volunteer 
cavalry  were,  therefore,  discountenanced,  at  the  outset.  “Unless  the 
war  is  going  to  last  two  years,”  said  he,  “there  is  no  use  in  accepting 
cavalry,  for  both  men  and  horses  require  months  of  training,  to  be 
effective.”  Pistols,  though  urged  by  their  friends  or  manufacturers? 
as  a  suitable  arm  for  the  volunteers,  the  General  also  discountenanced, 
remarking  that  “  Pistols  always  kill  more  friends  than  enemies.” 


1861.] 


PLAN  OF  CAMPAIGN  AND  BLOCKADE. 


567 


The  General’s  plan  of  campaign,  so  far  as  lie  had  matured  one,  at 
this  period,  was  in  substance:  First,  defense  of  the  national  capital. 
Second,  a  movement  from  the  north-west  down  the  Mississippi 
Valiev.  - 

V 

The  few  vessels  comprising  the  Navy  had  been  found  widely  scat¬ 
tered.  They  were  recalled,  manned,  and  equipped  for  active  service 
with  all  speed.  Every  Navy  Yard  at  the  North  had  become  a  hive  of 
industrious  activity.  Ocean  steamers,  coasting  propellers,  river  steam¬ 
boats  and  ferry-boats  were  chartered  or  purchased,  and  converted  into 
naval  vessels,  or  army  transports.  The  policy  of  declaring  the  South¬ 
ern  ports  closed  to  commerce,  by  Executive  decree  or  proclamation, 
had  been  earnestly  urged  upon  the  Administration,  as  less  costly  and 
troublesome  than  a  blockade.  It  was  soon  evident,  however,  that 
foreign  ships  would  regard  such  a  declaration  as  mere  “brutum  f  ul- 
men”  and  that  nothing  but  an  actual  blockade,  by  armed  vessels, 
would  be  effective.  The  first  proclamation  of  the  blockade,  issued  on 
the  19th  of  April,  was  supplemented  by  another  on  the  27th,  extend¬ 
ing  its  provisions  to  Virginia  and  North  Carolina;  and  vessels  were 
dispatched  as  promptly  as  possible,  to  enforce  them.  Already  there 
were  reports  of  rebel  privateering  vessels  on  the  coast.  One  was  cap¬ 
tured  in  Chesapeake  bay.  Others  were  reported  to  be  lying  in  wait  for 
incoming  merchantmen.  Before  May  was  passed,  Richmond  and  Nor¬ 
folk,  Charleston  and  Savannah,  Mobile  and  New  Orleans  were  all 
more  or  less  effectively  blockaded. 

The  news  of  the  successful  reinforcement  of  Fort  Pickens,  and  the 
saving  of  the  post  from  its  threatened  fate,  was  a  subject  of  general 
congratulation. 


CHAPTER  LX. 

✓  • 

1861. 

The  State  Department.  Dealing  with  Foreign  Powers.  Great  Britain.  France.  Spain. 
Austria.  Italy.  Switzerland.  Denmark.  Holland.  Belgium.  Rome.  Russia. 
Sweden.  Portugal.  Prussia.  Nicaragua.  Peru.  Mexico.  Stopping  Information 
and  Supplies  to  the  Insurgents.  Spies  and  Blockade-Runners.  “Arbitrary  Arrests.” 
Passport  Regulations.  Fort  La  Fayette.  Suspension  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus. 
Southern  Unionists.  East  Tennessee.  West  Virginia.  Maryland.  Missouri.  Let¬ 
ters  to  Weed. 

The  staid  and  quiet  old  Department  of  State  presented  a  marked 
contrast  to  the  bustling;  active  War  and  Navy  Departments.  Within, 


568 


SEWARD  TO  FOREIGN  GOVERNMENTS. 


[1861. 


its  work  was  going  on  just  as  busily,  but  without  sound  of  drum;  for 
while  their  business  was  war,  at  home,  its  function  was  to  keep  peace 
abroad. 

In  his  diplomatic  correspondence,  Seward  found  that  different  lines 
of  argument  were  necessary  with  different  countries.  The  same  rea¬ 
soning  would  not  be  effective  with  a  monarchy,  as  with  a  republic;  nor 
with  an  insular,  as  with  a  continental  power.  Yet  this  required  no 
double  dealing.  He  believed  that  it  was  for  the  true  interest  of  every 
people  in  the  world,  that  the  American  Union  should  survive.  'His 
only  care,  therefore,  was  to  find  the  reason  why,  in  each  particular 
case.  Thus  to  England,  he  wrote: 

Great  Britain  has  within  the  last  forty-five  years  changed  character  and  pur¬ 
pose.  She  lias  become  a  power  for  production,  rather  than  a  power  for  de¬ 
struction.  She  is  committed  to  a  policy  of  industry,  not  of  ambition;  a  policy 
of  peace,  not  of  war.  This  new  career  on  which  she  has  entered  is  as  wise  as 
it  is  humane  and  beneficent.  Her  success  in  this  career  requires  peace 
throughout  the  civilized  world;  and  nowhere  so  much  as  on  this  continent. 

The  British  Empire  itself  is  an  aggregate  of  diverse  communities.  Some, 
at  least,  of  these  communities  are  held  to  their  places  in  that  system,  by  bonds 
as  fragile  as  the  obligations  of  our  Federal  Union.  The  strain  will  some  time 
come,  which  is  to  try  the  strength  of  these  bonds,  though  it  will  be  of  a  dif¬ 
ferent  kind  from  that  which  is  trying  the  cords  of  our  confederation.  Would 
it  be  wise  for  her  Majesty’s  Government  to  set  a  dangerous  precedent,  or  pro¬ 
voke  retaliation  ?  *  *  * 

Great  Britain  will  calculate  for  herself  the  ultimate,  as  well  as  the  immediate 
consequences,  and  will  consider  what  position  she  will  hold,  when  she  shall 
have  forever  lost  the  sympathies  and  affections  of  the  only  nation  on  whose 
sympathies  and  affections  she  has  a  natural  claim. 

To  France,  on  the  other  hand,  he  said: 

France  is  an  agricultural  and  manufacturing  country.  Her  industry  de¬ 
pends  very  largely  on  a  consumption  of  her  productions  and  fabrics  within  the 
United  States,  and,  on  the  receipt,  in  exchange,  of  cotton,  or  other  staples,  or 
their  equivalent  in  money,  from  the  United  States.  The  ability  of  the  United 
States  to  thus  consume  and  furnish,  depends  on  their  ability  to  maintain  and 
preserve  peace.  *  *  *  However  other  European  powers  may  mistake,  His 

Majesty  knows  that  the  revolution  of  1775,  in  this  country,  was  a  successful 
contest,  of  the  American  idea  of  free,  popular  government.  He  knows  that 
the  conflict  awakened  the  sympathies  of  mankind.  He  knows  at  what  cost 
European  nations  resisted  for  a  time  the  progress  of  that  idea,  and  how  much 
France,  especially,  has  profited  by  it.  It  stands  forth  now  to  the  glory  of 
France  that  she  contributed  to  the  emancipation  of  this  continent  from  the 
control  of  European  states;  an  emancipation  which  has  rendered  only  less 
benefit  to  those  nations,  than  to  America  itself. 


EUROPEAN  SOVEREIGNS  IN  1861 


Belgium.  France. 
Sweden.  Prussia. 
Russia.  Rome. 


England. 

Holland. 

Italy. 


Denmark. 

Spain. 

Austria. 


I 


1  1 


1 


f 


U8RARY 
Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY  Of  ILLINOIC' 


136:.] 


SPA IX,  AUSTRIA  AND  ITALY. 


5G9 


To  Spain,  lie  addressed  this  view: 

i 

Her  Catholic  Majesty’s  Government  lias  not  been  addicted  to  such  interven¬ 
tion  hitherto;  and  the  wisdom  of  its  forbearance  is  seen  in  the  revival  of  the 
energies  of  the  nation. 

Adverting  to  the  point,  that  the  very  interest,  now  resorting  to  in¬ 
surrection,  was  the  one  which  had  gotten  up  the  filibustering  enter¬ 
prises  against  Cuba,  he  added: 

Will  the  disunionists  claim  that  they  are  the  discoverers  of  a  new  system, 
which  commends  itself  to  the  patronage  of  Her  Catholic  Majesty  ?  What  are 
the  salient  principles  of  their  system  ?  Each  State,  district,  intendency,  or 
province,  retains  an  inherent  and  absolute  sovereignty,  and  its  people  may 
rightfully  withdraw  from  the  Federal  Union  at  pleasure,  leaving  its  common 
debts  unpaid,  its  common  treaties  unfulfilled,  its  common  defenses  frustrated. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  kingdom  of  Spain  could  be  dissolved,  by 
Her  Catholic  Majesty’s  acceptance  of  this  new  system,  much  more  rapidly 
than  by  waiting  the  slow  effect  of  foreign  wars,  or  domestic  mal-administra- 
tion.  Castile,  and  Old  Castile,  Leon,  Andalusia,  and  Aragon,  Cuba,  and  the 
Philippine  Islands,  would  be  much  more  easily  separated,  on  this  plan,  than 
New  York  and  Louisiana,  California  and  Massachusetts,  Florida  and  Michigan. 

To  Austria,  he  said: 

Austria  is  not  an  unique  country,  with  a  homogeneous  people.  It  is  a  com¬ 
bination  of  kingdoms,  duchies,  provinces,  and  countries,  added  to  each  other 
by  force,  and  subjected  to  an  imperial  head,  but  remaining  at  the  same  time 
diverse,  distinct,  and  discordant.  *  *  *  The  interests  of  Europe,  and  of 

mankind,  demand  peace,  and,  especially,  peace  on  this  continent.  The  Union 
is  the  only  guaranty  of  peace.  Intervention  would  be  war,  and  disunion 
would  be  endless  war. 

Writing  to  Italy,  he  remarked: 

Count  Cavour,  a  true  exponent  of  the  sentiment  of  a  generous  sovereign, 
will  be  rejoiced  to  receive,  from  this  country,  a  minister  who  will  not  manifest 
a  repugnance  to  the  aspirations  of  the  Italian  people,  for  liberty  and  unity. 
So  Count  Cavour  cannot  be  at  any  loss  to  understand  the  present  political 
condition  of  the  United  States. 

The  American  revolution  of  177G,  with  its  benignant  results,  was  due  to 
three  effective  political  ideas:  First,  that  of  emancipation  from  distant 
European  control.  Second,  popular  desire  for  an  enlargement  of  the  political 
rights  of  the  individual,  upon  the  theory  of  the  natural  rights  of  man.  Third, 
that  of  union  among  the  States.  The  revolution  attempted  in  1861  is  a  spas¬ 
modic  reaction  against  the  revolution  of  1776.  It  combines  the  three  ideas 
put  down,  in  that  great  war,  namely:  First,  European  authority  to  regulate 
political  affairs  on  this  continent ;  second,  the  aggrandizement  and  extension 
of  human  slavery ;  third,  disunion,  dissolution,  and  anarchy. 


570 


TO  THE  EUROPEAN  POWERS. 


[1861. 


In  like  tone,  addressing  Switzerland,  he  said: 

Tell  the  Swiss  Republic,  that,  with  God’s  blessing,  wre  will  preserve  this 
model  of  Federal  Republican  Government,  by  which  they  have  reformed  their 
institutions,  and  we  invoke  them  to  retain  their  own  with  no  less  fidelity.  So 
Switzerland  and  the  United  States  shall,  in  after  ages,  be  honored  as  the 
founders  of  the  only  true  and  beneficent  system  of  human  government  —  a 
system  that  harmonizes  needful  authority  with  the  preservation  of  the  natural 
rights  of  man. 

To  Denmark,  lie  wrote: 

It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  these  agents  will  visit  the  capital  of  Den¬ 
mark.  They  will  seek  the  favor  of  powers  supposed  to  be  more  capricious,  or 
more  ambitious.  *  *  *  Friendly  nations  may,  for  a  little  time,  perhaps, 

suffer  some  inconvenience  from  the  blockade  of  the  ports  of  the  insurgent 
States,  which  this  Government  has  found  it  necessary  to  set  on  foot,  as  they 
will  justly  take  alarm  at  the  announcement  that  the  revolutionary  party  have 
proclaimed  their  purpose  to  employ  privateers  to  prey  upon  commerce. 

To  Holland,  he  wrote: 

The  Government  of  the  Netherlands  may  perhaps  have  forgotten  that  New 
York,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  prosperous  of  these  States,  was  colonized  by 
emigrants  from  that  country,  and  that  their  descendants  still  cherish  lively 
affection  for  the  land  of  their  ancestors.  *  *  *  The  Netherlands  lost  even 

their  independence,  for  a  time,  through  the  disastrous  operations  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1789.  They  are  slowly,  but  surely,  recovering  advantages  and 
prestige  which  they  enjoyed  before.  Their  policy  is  peace,  and  friendship, 
with  all  nations,  and  certainly  they  have  always  manifested  the  most  liberal 
sentiments  toward  the  United  States. 

To  Belgium,  he  said  : 

You  will  not  fail  to  represent  to  the  Government  of  the  King  of  the  Bel¬ 
gians  that  the  interests  of  European  manufacturers  and  commerce  are  identi¬ 
fied  with  the  promotion  of  peace  and  the  undisturbed  activity  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  people.  An  act  of  recognition  in  favor  of  a  now  discontented  party  would 
necessarily  tend  to  encourage  that  party  to  attempt  to  establish  their  separa¬ 
tion  by  civil  war,  the  consequences  of  which  would  be  disastrous  to  all  the 
existing  systems  of  industrial  activity  in  Europe;  and  when  once  begun,  those 
consequences  would  be  likely  to  continue  indefinitely. 

To  Rome,  he  wrote: 

The  United  States  are  on  the  verge  of  civil  war.  It  happens  to  them  now, 
as  it  happened  to  ancient  Rome,  and  has  happened  to  many  other  republics, 
that  they  must  make  the  trial  whether  liberty  can  be  preserved  while  dominion 
is  widely  extended.  What,  then,  shall  we  say  or  do  in  regard  to  Rome,  or 
what  ought  Rome  to  say  or  do  in  regard  to  us? 

Assure  the  Government  that  we  will  not  violate  friendship  by  any  interven¬ 
tion  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  State  or  of  the  Church.  Assure  his  Holi- 


1861.] 


RUSSIA,  SWEDEN",  PORTUGAL,  PRUSSIA. 


571 


ness  that  it  is  the  settled  habit  of  the  Government  to  leave  to  all  other  conn- 

% 

tries  the  unquestioned  regulation  of  their  own  internal  concerns.  *  *  * 

What  ought  Rome  to  do  in  regard  to  the  United  States?  Just  what  I  have  thus 
said  they  will  do  in  regard  to  Rome. 

To  Russia,  lie  said: 

Russia  was  an  early,  and  has  always  been  a  constant  friend.  This  relation¬ 
ship  between  two  nations  so  remote  and  so  unlike  has  excited  much  surprise, 
but  the  explanation  is  obvious. 

Russia,  like  the  United  States,  is  an  improving  and  expanding  empire.  Its 
track  is  eastward,  while  that  of  the  United  States  is  westward.  The  two  na¬ 
tions,  therefore,  never  come  into  rivalry  or  conflict.  Each  carries  civilization 
to  the  new  regions  it  enters,  and  each  finds  itself  occasionally  resisted  by  States 
jealous  of  its  prosperity,  or  alarmed  by  its  aggrandizement.  Russia  and  the 
United  States  may  remain  good  friends  until,  each  having  made  a  circuit  of 
half  the  globe  in  opposite  directions,  they  shall  meet  and  greet  each  other  in 
the  region  where  civilization  first  began;  and  where,  after  so  many  ages,  it  has 
become  now  lethargic  and  helpless.  It  will  be  your  pleasing  duty  to  confirm 
and  strengthen  these  traditional  relations  of  amity  and  friendship. 

To  Sweden,  he  wrote: 

We  notice,  with  much  pleasure,  the  willingness  of  military  gentlemen  of 
talent  and  experience  in  Sweden,  as  in  other  nations,  to  enter  the  army  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  a  proof  of  a  sympathy  with  our  great  cause,  of  inestima¬ 
ble  value.  We  wish,  indeed,  that  we  were  able  to  engage  to  accept  all  who 
should  come.  But  this  is  impossible,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  coming  in 
unknown  numbers  from  various  European  States,  while,  at  the  same  time,  a 
long-repressed  martial  spirit  has  broken  out  among  our  own  countrymen,  which 
gives  us  more  candidates  than  we  have  place  for.  Gradually  we  have  taken 
into  the  service  several  able  and  spirited  military  men  from  Prussia,  Italy, 
France,  and  Hungary.  I  shall  be  happy  to  recommend  any  the  Government 
of  Sweden  may  desire  us  to  accept. 

To  Portugal,  lie  wrote  expressing  doubts  that: 

Portugal  would  be  the  only,  or  even  the  first  power  to  permit  proceedings 
so  injurious  to  the  United  States  as  a  license  or  shelter  granted  to  pirates  en¬ 
gaged  in  preying  on  their  commerce  would  be.  Nevertheless,  we  shall  look 
not  without  some  solicitude  for  the  result. 

To  Prussia,  he  said: 

Baron  Gerolt  may  be  assured  that  the  Government  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  deliberately  and  carefully  surveyed  the  unhappy  disturb¬ 
ance  of  their  social  condition,  which  has  caused  so  much  anxiety  to  all  friendly 
commercial  nations,  and  have  adopted  the  necessary  means  for  its  removal,  so 
that  they  expect  to  be  able  to  prosecute  their  accustomed  career  of  enterprise; 
and  while  fulfilling  all  national  obligations,  to  cooperate  with  enlightened  na¬ 
tions  engaged,  like  Prussia,  in  enlarging  and  increasing  the  sway  of  commerce, 
and  in  promoting  and  advancing  civilization  and  humanity. 


572 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS. 


[1861. 


Addressing  the  Spanish- American  Republics,  lie  reminded  them 
that  the  rebels  were  the  very  party  who,  in  behalf  of  slavery,  had  set 
on  foot  the  various  filibustering  enterprises  which  had  occasioned  them 
such  expensive  annoyance.  He  said  to  Nicaragua: 

Our  own  Government  has  been  at  one  time  treating  that  republic  with 
neglect  and  indifference,  and  at  another  indirectly,  if  not  directly,  consenting 
to  the  conquest  and  desolation  of  the  country  by  our  own  citizens  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  reestablishing  the  institution  of  slavery.  It  may  be  doubtful  whether 
Nicaragua  has  not,  until  this  day,  been  a  loser  instead  of  a  gainer  by  her  inter¬ 
course  with  the  United  States.  Happily  this  condition  of  things  has  ceased  at 
last. 

Assure  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua  that  the  President  will  deal  justly,  fairly, 
and  in  the  most  friendly  spirit  ;  that  he  desires  only  its  welfare  and  prosperity. 
Cultivate  friendly  dispositions  there  toward  tire  United  States.  See  that  no 
partiality  arises  in  behalf  of  any  other  foreign  State  to  our  prejudice ;  and 
favor,  in  every  way  you  can,  the  improvement  of  the  transit  route,  seeking 
only  such  facilities  for  our  commerce  as  Nicaragua  can  afford  profitably  to 
herself. 


To  Mr.  Corwin,  he  wrote: 

Be  just,  liberal,  frank,  and  magnanimous  toward  Mexico.  In  all  your  nego¬ 
tiations,  fear  not  to  give  strength  to  that  republic.  It  can  never  be  an  enemy, 
it  ought  to  be  made  a  friend  of  the  United  States. 


Now  came  another  danger  to  be  checked.  Spies  and  rebel  sympa¬ 
thizers  were  freely  going  back  and  forth  between  the  loyal  and  the  re¬ 
volted  States.  The  mails  continued  to  go  into  the  Confederacy.  Tele¬ 
graph  lines  connecting  Richmond  with  Washington  and  the  Northern 
cities,  were  daily  carrying  a  stream  of  useful  information  to  the  rebel 
authorities.  By  its  aid,  and  that  of  the  Northern  newspapers,  they 
were  accurately  advised  as  to  the  amount  and  disposition  of  the  Fed¬ 
eral  forces.  Agents  of  the  Confederate  Government  wrere  buying  arms 
and  supplies,  at  Northern  manufactories  and  shops. 

A  single  incident  may  illustrate  the  anomalous  state  of  affairs.  A 
sentry  posted  on  the  picket  line,  outside  the  forts,  having  bought  his 
New  York  paper  from  a  newsboy,  remarked  that  the  little  fellow  was 
going  on  down  the  road.  • 

“Come  back,”  he  called,  “there’s  nobody  beyond  me.  If  you  go 
that  way  the  rebels  will  catch  you.” 

“Oh  no,  they  wont,”  answered  the  boy,  “there’s  fellows  just  over 
the  hill  that’ll  buy  papers,  and  give  me  twenty-five  cents  apiece  for 
’em  !  ” 

Nations,  between  whom  there  is  a  well-known  frontier,  do  not 
always  find  it  easy  to  break  off  commerce  and  intercourse,  and  submit  to 


18G1.J 


STOPPING  COMMUNICATION  WITH  THE  INSURGENTS. 


573 


the  restrictions  of  war.  It  was  worse  in  the  case  of  the  North  and 
South;  for  no  frontier  divided  them;  and  the  Northern  people,  im¬ 
bued  with  the  love  of  freedom,  chafed  at  every  restraint,  however 
necessary.  Yet  somebody  must  assume  responsibility  for  the  thank¬ 
less  duty;  and  no  one  else  in  the  Cabinet  offering  to  do  it,  Seward 
volunteered  to  take  the  ungracious  task  of  imposing  checks  on  travel, 
mails,  and  telegraph — until  the  laws  could  be  so  modified,  as  to  vest 
proper  powers  in  the  various  departments. 

He  began  by  instituting  a  system  of  passport  regulations, —  for 
all  travelers  to  and  from  foreign  countries,  one  feature  of  which  was 
the  requirement  of  an  oath  of  allegiance  from  all  Americans,  and 
proof  of  nationality  from  all  foreigners.  Orders  were  given  to  the 
military  commanders,  to  stop  all  passing,  to  and  fro,  between  the 
hostile  lines,  except  of  those  duly  provided  with  passes  by  the  Gov¬ 
ernment.  Putting  himself  in  communication  with  the  superintend¬ 
ents  of  police,  in  New  York  and  other  cities,  he  requested  them  to 
act  in  cooperation  with  United  States  marshals  and  their  deputies,  to 
prevent  rebel  purchases  and  plots.  The  mails  southward  were  stopped 
at  the  line  wrhere  the  Federal  authority  ceased.  Telegraph  offices  at 
Washington  were  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  Assistant  Secre- 
tary,  who  gave  instructions  to  prevent  the  sending  of  “  dispatches 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy.”  Similar  precautions  were 
taken  with  the  telegraph  offices  at  other  points. 

Of  course,  complaints  began  as  soon  as  the  restrictions  were  applied. 
Loyal  people  thought  it  a  hardship  to  be  denied  their  accustomed  in¬ 
tercourse  with  friends  or  relatives  in  the  South.  Merchants  thought 
they  ought  to  be  allowed  to  correspond  with  their  customers  or  debtors. 
Travelers  did  not  see  why  they  should  be  interfered  with  when  they 
were  going  on  their  own  business,  and  with  no  disloyal  intent.  Newspa¬ 
per  correspondents  thought  tt\e  interference  with  telegraphs  and  mails 
smacked  of  “infringing  the  liberty  of  the  press.”  Of  course,  all 
these  complaints  were  fomented  and  artfully  encouraged  by  those  who 
were  secretly  disloyal.  They  wanted  the  Confederacy  to  get  all  the 
information  and  all  the  supplies  that  were  possible.  Time  and  the 
progress  of  the  war,  however,  ultimately  educated  the  popular  feeling 
on  this  as  on  many  other  points;  and  a  year  or  two  later  the  complaints 
were  of  laxity,  rather  than  of  tyranny. 

The  restrictions  were  not  too  soon  imposed.  Before  many  weeks  it 
was  found  that  Confederate  agents  were  evincing  ingenuity  and  ad¬ 
dress  in  evading  or  defeating  them.  It  became  necessary  to  exercise 
greater  severity.  Dispatches  and  arms  were  seized,  and  rebel  emissa¬ 
ries  were  arrested  “in flagrante  delictu  ”  and  summarily  consigned  to 


574 


SUSPENSION  OF  THE  HABEAS  CORPUS. 


[18Q1. 


confinement  in  the  nearest  fort.  There  was  a  great  outcry  at  these 
“  arbitrary  arrests  ”  without  “due  process  of  law.”  The  Secretary 
of  State’s  orders  were  compared  to  the  French  lettres  de  cachet  and 
the  military  prisons  to  the  Bastile,  the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition 
and  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  proved  useful,  however,  both  in  coun- 
teractingand  in  preventing  proceedings  that,  if  unchecked,  would  have 
rendered  military  success  hopeless. 

Fortunately  there  was  at  least  an  implied  authority  in  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  case  of  rebellion  or  inva¬ 
sion.  This  was  first  exercised  in  April,  when  it  was  found  that  the 
courts  in  Florida  were  being  used  to  reduce  the  little  garrison  of  United 
States  troops  by  bringing  the  soldiers,  one  by  one,  before  the  local 
judge  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  then  taking  care  that  they  did 
not  get  back  to  the  fort  again.  In  the  formal  proclamation,  sent  down 
bv'the  expedition  to  reinforce  Fort  Pickens,  the  commander  of  the 
United  States  forces  in  Florida  was  directed  to  “permit  no  person  to 
crercise  any  office  or  authority  upon  the  islands  of  Key  West,  Tortil¬ 
las,  and  Santa  Rosa,  which  may  be  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the 
United  States;  ”  authorizing  him  at  the  same  time,  “  if  he  shall  find  it 
necessary,  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  to  remove  from 
the  vicinity  of  the  United  States  fortresses  all  dangerous  and  suspected 
persons.” 

This  form  of  suspension  was  afterward  made  general,  and  proved 
adequate  to  its  purpose  during  the  war.  Applying  the  suspension 
merely  to  exposed  points  and  actual  cases  of  disloyalty,  it  did  not  in¬ 
terfere  with  the  rights  of  the  general  public  in  the  courts. 

The  attempt  to  unite  all  the  slave-holding  States  in  the  Confederacy 
had  not  been  entirely  successful.  There  was  still  a  warm  Union  senti¬ 
ment  in  various  localities  in  the  border  States.  In  East  Tennessee  the 
mountaineers  were  holding  Union  meetings,  but  they  were  practically 
hemmed  in  and  powerless.  In  Kentucky  the  popular  election  showed 
that  there  was  a  decided  Union  preponderance,  but  the  Legislature 
evinced  a  disposition  to  avoid  taking  up  arms  on  either  side,  and  a 
“  Peace  Convention”  was  in  progress.  After  the  advent  of  the  Fed¬ 
eral  troops,  the  Union  sentiment  in  Baltimore  and  northern  Maryland 
had  found  active  expression,  and  Governor  Hicks  had  called  for  four 
regiments  of  Union  volunteers,  in  compliance  with  the  President’s  proc¬ 
lamation.  Missouri  had  decided  not  to  secede,  but  her  Governor  and 
Legislature  were  making  strenuous  efforts  to  draw  her  into  the  Con¬ 
federacy.  He  had  refused  compliance  with  the  President’s  call  for 
volunteers,  but  the  Union  men,  nevertheless,  were  raising  them.  He 
had  formed  a  “State  camp”  in  the  interest  of  secession,  but  by  the 


EXAMINING  PASSES  AT  GEORGETOWN. 


i 

1  *fj|| 

ft 

B 

1  '  ^a| 

fft  1 

THE  OLD  CAPITOL  PRISON 


LlBSiAKY 
Of  THE 

JK1VEKSITY  Of  ILL1 


or 


I 


1861. J 


CAMPS  AND  CABINETS. 


575 


energy  and  address  of  Captain  Lyon,  the  Federal  Arsenal  at  St.  Louis 
was  saved,  and  the  “State  camp”  captured.  Subsequently  Lyon 
had  been  made  a  brigadier-general,  and  put  in  command  of  the 
Union  forces,  while  the  Governor  had  called  out  fifty  thousand  State 
militia  to  “repel  Federal  invasion.”  So  the  campaign  had  actively 
begun  on  the  Mississippi  as  well  as  on  the  Potomac. 

Most  encouraging  of  all  was  the  news  of  the  action  of  the  Union 
men  of  western  Virginia.  Dispersing  the  Confederate  militia,  they 
were,  organizing  Union  regiments,  and  holding  conventions,  to  for¬ 
mally  separate  from  the  “  Old  Dominion,”  and  adhere  to  the  Union. 
Later  came  the  brilliant  Union  successes  at  Grafton,  Phillippi, 
Beverly,  and  the  Kanawha  Valley,  under  the  lead  of  McClellan,  Kelly, 
and  Bosecrans. 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  his  daughter,  he  said: 

Your  letter  was  very  welcome.  I  feared  very  much  that  your  mother  and  your¬ 
self  would  be  deeply  alarmed,  when  the  shades  gathered  here;  and  shut  us  out 
of  sight  and  hearing.  It  seemed  a  critical  moment.  I  could  not  safely  write 
about  it,  at  large,  because  I  knew  that  my  letters  might  fall  into  hostile  hands. 

We  work  very  hard  here,  to  organize,  direct,  and  employ  the  vast  military 
and  naval  forces  that  present  themselves,  at  our  call,  for  the  rescue  of  the 
nation.  I  write  every  day  now  to  Ministers,  Kings,  Queens,  and  Emperors, 
as  well  as  generals.  But  I  value  a  letter  from  you,  more  than  one  from  any  of 
them. 

A  letter  to  Mrs.  Seward  said : 

May  17. 

I  received  your  letter,  last  evening,  on  my  birthday. 

It  seemed  to  me  a  matter  of  regret  that  I  had  lived  to  reach  it,  under  cir¬ 
cumstances  so  trying  and  painful.  A  country  so  largely  relying  on  my  poor 
efforts  to  save  it,  had  refused  me  the  full  measure  of  its  confidence,  needful 
to  that  end.  I  am  a  chief  reduced  to  a  subordinate  position,  and  surrounded 
with  a  guard,  to  see  that  I  do  not  do  too  much  for  my  country,  lest  some  ad¬ 
vantage  may  revert  indirectly  to  my  own  fame.  My  labor  yesterday  was  to 
counteract  the  designs  of  those  who  think  I  am  organizing  too  great  an  army 
for  the  occasion,  although  it  is  only  from  an  army  so  strong  as  to  dishearten 
the  traitors,  that  we  can  hope  for  peace  or  union.  It  is  due  to  the  President 
to  say,  that  his  magnanimity  is  almost  superhuman.  His  confidence  and  sym¬ 
pathy  increase  every  day.  But,  but  —  let  all  this  pass. 

The  tide,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  begins  to  turn  in  our  favor.  I  am 
anxious,  yet  hopeful,  as  to  the  other.  They  have  misunderstood  things  fear¬ 
fully,  in  Europe.  Great  Britain  is  in  great  danger  of  sympathizing  so  much 
with  the  South,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  cotton,  as  to  drive  us  to  make  war 
against  her,  as  the  ally  of  the  traitors.  If  that  comes,  it  will  be  the  strife 
of  the  vounger  branch  of  the  British  stock,  for  freedom,  against  the  older,  for 
slavery.  It  will  be  dreadful,  but  the  end  will  be  sure  and  swift.  My  last  dis¬ 
patches  from  Great  Britain  and  France  have  showed  that  they  were  almost 


576 


“  A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF. 


[1861. 


ready,  on  some  pretext,  to  try  and  save  cotton,  at  the  cost  of  the  Union.  I 
am  trying  to  get  a  bold  remonstrance  through  the  Cabinet,  before  it  is  too  late. 

And  to  Weed,  he  wrote: 

May  23. 

I  wrote  to  you,  at  Albany,  yesterday,  on  consulting  with  the  P. 

The  Union  Defense  Committee  were  introduced  to  me,  by  yourself,  with  a 
committee  of  three,  to  urge  bolder  and  more  energetic  measures.  Up  to  this 
hour,  with  twro  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  called  out,  we  have  not  got  a 
force  here  sufficient  to  spare  a  detachment  to  fortify  heights  that  overlook  the 
town.  A  week  ago,  the  committee  came  here  to  offer  and  urge  upon  us  four¬ 
teen  regiments. 

“  Why  not  take  them?  ” 

“Because  the  Governor  had  called  for  thirty-eight.5’ 

“Well,”  we  said,  “we’ll  take  the  fifty-two.” 

It  was  agreed,  and  ordered,  by  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War.  We 
wrote  and  telegraphed  both  the  Governor  and  the  committee,  to  come. 
Neither  comes.  How  and  whom  am  I  to  reconcile  ?  You  ought  to  be  able  to 
reconcile  the  parties,  for  you  are  near  both  of  them.  I  see  neither.  But  I  do 
see  disgrace  before  us,  and  if  not  disaster,  certainly  disappointment.  Let  the 
Governor,  in  God’s  name,  send  on  the  whole  quota!  I’ll  take  care  of  it,  here. 
The  President  is  all  right. 

The  European  phase  is  bad.  But  your  apprehension  that  I  may  be  too  de¬ 
cisive  alarms  me  more.  Will  you  consent,  or  advise  us  to  consent,  that  Adams 
and  Dayton  have  audiences  and  compliments  in  the  Minister’s  Audience  Cham¬ 
ber,  and  Toombs’  emissaries  have  access  to  his  bed-room  ?  Shall  there  be 
no  compromise  at  home,  and  shall  we  compromise  every  thing  in  Europe  ? 
Private  recognition  gives  currency  to  Southern  bonds. 

Do  you  still  think  that  Raymond  should  go  to  Paris,  If  not,  w7ho? 

If  the  newspapers  could,  they  would  find  out,  publish,  and  defeat  all  I 
am  doing.  When  they  can’t  find  it  out,  they  retaliate  by  charging  that  I  am 
doing  nothing.  But  -who  cares  ? 


CHAPTER  LXI„ 

1861. 

“A  House  Divided  Against  Itself.”  The  Panama  Route  in  Danger.  San  Domingo  Seized 
by  Spain.  British  Precipitancy.  The  Queen’s  Proclamation.  Manifestations  of  Un¬ 
friendly  Feeling.  Suspicions  about  Canada.  England  and  France  Acting  in  Concert. 
Refusal  to  Receive  their  Communications.  Project  of  Seizing  Lower  California  and 
Sonora.  The  Spanish-American  Republics.  Treasonable  Correspondence. 

“  Every  house  divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand.”  The  warn¬ 
ing  dispatches  on  Seward’s  table  daily  attested  the  fact.  Since  the 


1861.] 


UNFRIENDLY  FOREIGN  GOVERNMENTS. 


577 

great  American  Republic  had  chosen  to  divide,  it  no  longer  inspired 
fear,  and  hardly  commanded  respect,  from  foreign  powers.  Its  flag 
might  be  flouted;  its  remonstrances  ignored,  or  despised.  Kings, 
statesmen,  and  adventurers  were  watching  for  its  downfall,  and  pre¬ 
paring  to  profit  by  it. 

Menaces  of  disaster  seemed  to  start  up  on  every  side.  One  day 
came  a  note  from  Senor  Rafael  Pombo,  the  New  Grenadian  Charge, 
expressing  fears  of  serious  disaster  from  lawless  outbreaks  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  threatening  the  loss  of  that  line  of  inter-oceanic 
communication,  and  the  destruction  of  American  interests  there. 
Seward  advised  the  sending  there  of  such  naval  vessels  as  could  be 
spared  for  their  protection.  Weeks  elapsed  before  the  danger  was 
fully  averted.  Meanwhile,  came  confirmation  of  the  intelligence  that 
Spain,  having  taken  possession  of  San  Domingo,  had  garrisoned  its 
capital,  and  was  apparently  intending  to  subvert  that  republic,  and 
make  it  again  a  Spanish  province.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Schurz,  the  Min¬ 
ister  to  Spain,  instructing  him,  to  make  protest  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States.  He  reminded  the  Spanish  Government  that  the 
United  States  had  been  content  to  leave  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  in  the 
possession  of  Spain,  adding: 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  forbearance  on  our  part  has  always 
proceeded  on  the  ground  that  Spain  is  not  an  aggressive  power;  and  that  she 
is  content  to  leave  the  Spanish- American  independent  states  free  from  her 
intervention.  I  have  called  the  attention  of  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of 
Her  Catholic  Majesty  at  this  place  to  these  very  extraordinary  facts,  and  asked 
for  an  explanation  thereof.  You  are  furnished  with  a  copy  of  that  communi¬ 
cation,  and  also  of  Mr.  Tassara’s  reply,  he  having  promised  to  communicate 
further,  after  having  consulted  his  Government. 

To  Mr.  Perry,  the  charge  at  Madrid,  he  wrote: 

It  has  been  by  no  means  a  pleasant  experience  to  learn  that  in  Madrid,  as  in 
other  European  capitals,  there  has  been  a  disposition  to  consider  the  insurrec¬ 
tion  which  has  arisen  in  the  United  States  as  certain  to  result  in  the  dissolu¬ 
tion  of  the  Union;  and,  possibly,  to  build  hopes  of  advantage  upon  the  great 
calamity  thus  deemed  so  certain  to  befall  us. 

You  cannot  be  too  decided  in  exacting  for  the  United  States  all  the  consid¬ 
eration,  now,  that  they  have  uniformly  received  heretofore;  making  no  abate¬ 
ment  in  the  firmness  with  which  you  have  been  enjoined  to  insist  on  all  our 
national  rights. 

Before  the  arrival  in  London  of  the  newly-appointed  Minister  from 
the  United  States,  and  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  foreclosing  discussion 
with  him,  the  British  Government,  in  concert  with  that  of  France, 
determined  to  recognize  the  rebels  as  a  belligerent  power.  The 
37 


578 


THE  QUEERS  PROCLAMATION. 


[1861. 


Queen's  proclamation  to  that  effect  was  issued;  and  first  met  Mr. 
Adams’  eye,  in  the  morning  paper,  the  day  before  his  presentation. 
He  said  in  his  dispatch,  that  it  excited  general  surprise  among  those 
friendly  to  the  United  States: 

There  seemed  to  be  not  a  little  precipitation  in  at  once  raising  the  dis¬ 
affected  States  up  to  the  level  of  a  belligerent  power,  before  it  had  developed 
a  single  one  of  the  real  elements  which  constitute  military  efficiency,  outside 
of  its  geographical  limits. 

He  remarked  upon  “  the  illusions  industriously  elaborated  during 
the  period  of  isolation  of  the  city  of  Washington,”  and  the  prevalent 
doubts  in  England  whether  all  government  in  the  United  States  was 
of  anymore  cohesiveness  than  a  “rope  of  sand.”  His  predecessor, 
Mr.  Dallas,  had,  in  accordance  with  Seward’s  instructions,  made  an 
earnest  protest  against  any  recognition,  but  the  protest  was  disre¬ 
garded.  It  was  a  fresh  illustration  of  “the  little  wisdom  with 
which  the  world  is  governed,”  even  by  its  wisest  heads.  The  British 
statesmen  who  adopted  this  course  undoubtedly  supposed  that  they 
were  acting  for  the  good  of  England.  They  could  hardly  have  taken 
a  step  more  injurious  to  her.  They  protracted  a  war  that  they  wanted 
to  stop,  laid  the  foundations  for  years  of  ill-feeling,  and  got  nothing 
in  return  except  the  short-lived  friendship  of  a  short-lived  Confed¬ 
eracy.  Lord  John  Russell,  with  earnest  sincerity,  said  in  Parliament: 
“  We  have  not  been  involved  in  any  way  in  that  contest.  For  God’s 
sake  let  us,  if  possible,  keep  out  of  it.”  And  thereupon  they  plunged 
headlong  into  it,  making  the  British  Government  the  chief  partici¬ 
pant,  next  to  the  two  “  belligerents  ”  themselves. 

“Every  instruction  you  have  received,”  wrote  Seward  when  the  news  reached 
Washington,  “is  full  of  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  principal  danger  in  the 
present  insurrection  was  that  of  foreign  intervention,  aid,  or  sympathy,  and 
especially  of  such  intervention,  aid,  or  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  Great  Britain.  The  Queen’s  proclamation  is  remarkable.  First,  for 
the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  made  without  affording  you  the  inter¬ 
view  promised  before  decisive  action  should  be  adopted;  secondly,  the  tenor 
of  the  proclamation  itself,  which  seems  to  recognize,  in  a  vague  manner  in¬ 
deed,  but  does  seem  to  recognize  the  insurgents  as  a  belligerent  national 
power." 

“  A  year  ago  the  differences  which  had  partially  estranged  the  British  and  the 
American  people  from  each  other  seemed  to  have  been  removed  forever.  It  is 
painful  to  reflect  that  that  ancient  alienation  has  risen  up  again  under  circum¬ 
stances  which  portend  great  social  evils,  if  not  disaster  to  both  countries.” 

Throughout  the  rebellious  States  the  Queen’s  proclamation  was  re¬ 
ceived  with  an  outburst  of  rejoicing.  It  was  seen  that  it  would  put 


1861. J 


OLD  WORLD  DISLIKE  FOR  AMERICA. 


579 


new  life  into  their  cause.  Throughout  the  loyal  States,  as  at  Wash¬ 
ington,  it  was  received  like  a  reverse  in  the  field,  but  with  the  added 
soreness  that  the  blow  was  struck,  not  by  the  avowed  enemy,  but  by  a 
supposed  friend.  In  England  its  immediate  effects  were  seen  in  the 
exultant  expressions  of  Secession  sympathizers,  in  the  press,  in  Par¬ 
liament,  and  in  society. 

Similar  manifestations  of  unfriendly  feeling  in  other  countries  came 
by  every  foreign  mail.  Rancor  and  contempt  for  the  unhappy  Re¬ 
public  were  freely  expressed  in  her  hour  of  misfortune.  It  was  a  dis¬ 
agreeable  surprise  at  the  North  to  find  the  depth  and  fervor  of  the 
anti-American  prejudices  which  seemed  to  prevail  in  the  Old  World. 
But  the  explanation  was  not  far  to  seek.  Those  who  believed  monar¬ 
chy  the  only  safe  and  strong  government,  saw  in  the  coming  fall  of 
the  Republic  a  confirmation  of  their  theories  and  predictions.  The 
United  States  had  kept  aloof  from  the  controversies  of  Old  World 
monarchies,  but  had  usually  evinced  a  readiness  to  recognize  young 
republics  in  their  stead.  It  could  now'be  paid  in  its  own  coin.  Fur¬ 
thermore,  the  smaller  the  fragments  into  which  the  great  American 
Republic  might  choose  to  shatter  itself,  the  less  likely  any  of  them 
would  be  to  disturb  the  “  balance  of  power  99  elsewhere.  Americans 
in  Europe,  of  Secession  proclivities,  had  done  much  to  foment  these 
prejudices,  for  their  assurance  that  the  Union  “was  going  to 
smash  ”  was  naturally  regarded  as  the  opinion  of  experts.  Seward 
perceived  that  European  statesmen  were  deluding  themselves  with  the 
belief  that,  whatever  the  outcome,  they,  themselves,  were  in  no  danger. 
He  endeavored  to  show  them  that  they  were  drifting  into  a  policy 
which  would  inevitably  bring  them  into  commercial  disaster  and  war. 

To  Paris,  he  wrote: 

This  Government  understands  equally  the  interest  of  friendly  nations,  and 
its  own,  in  the  present  emergency.  If  they  shall  not  interfere,  the  attempt  at 
revolution  here  will  cease,  without  inflicting  serious  evils  upon  foreign  nations. 
All  that  they  can  do  byway  of  interference,  with  a  view  to  modify  our  action, 
will  only  serve  to  prolong  the  present  unpleasant  condition  of  things;  and 
possibly  to  produce  results  that  would  be  as  universally  calamitous  as  they 
would  be  irretrievable.  Down  deep  in  the  heart  of  the  American  people  — 
deeper  than  the  love  of  trade,  or  of  freedom  —  deeper  than  the  attachment  to 
any  local  or  sectional  interest,  or  partisan  pride,  or  individual  ambition  — 
deeper  than  any  other  sentiment  —  is  that  one  out  of  which  the  Constitution 
of  this  Union  arose — namely,  American  independence  —  independence  of  all 
foreign  control,  alliance,  or  influence.  Those  who  in  a  frenzy  of  passion  are 
building  expectations  on  other  principles  do  not  know  what  they  are  doing. 
Whenever  one  part  of  this  Union  shall  be  found  assuming  bonds  of  dependence 
toward  any  foreign  people,  then,  even  if  not  before,  that  spirit  will  be  re- 


580 


AN  ATTEMPT  AT'  JOINT  INTERVENTION. 


[1861. 


awakened  which  brought  the  States  of  the  Republic  into  existence,  and  which 
will  preserve  them  united. 


Northern  people,  accustomed  for  years  to  read  English  denunciations 
of  slavery,  and  to  find  themselves  arraigned  for  even  tolerating  it,  had 
expected  that  British  sympathies  would  be  with  the  anti-slavery  side 
of  the  contest,  instead  of  the  pro-slavery  one.  There  was  an  incon¬ 
gruity  in  it,  at  first  inexplicable.  But  many  of  the  statesmen  of  Great 
Britain  had  accepted  the  mistaken  idea,  that  the  disruption  of  the 
American  Union  would  be  a  benefit  to  England.  Sympathy  with  those 
who  were  trying  to  disrupt  it  was  a  logical  consequence. 

One  of  the  notions  that  found  credence  in  Great  Britain  was  a  be¬ 
lief  that  the  Washington  Government  was  planning  to  invade  and 
“annex”  Canada.  It  showed  the  distrust  of  the  United  States,  then 
prevalent  —  a  distrust  which  Confederate  presses  and  agents  did  their 
best  to  promote.  When,  in  April,  Seward  had  sent  George  Ashmun 
to  Canada  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  rumors  in  regard  to  fitting  out 
“  Confederate”  privateers  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  so  that  due  precautions 
might  be  taken,  if  necessary,  Ashmun  was  at  once  suspected  of  being 
an  emissary  to  foment  “  annexation”  plots. 

Writing  to  Mr.  Adams,  Seward  said: 

Tills  Government  has  not  been  disturbed  by  the  action  of  the  British  author¬ 
ities  in  sending  three  regiments  into  Canada;  nor  by  the  announcement  of  the 
coming  of  British  armed  vessels  into  American  waters.  These  movements  are 
certainly  not  very  formidable  in  their  proportions;  and  we  willingly  accept 
the  explanation  that  they  proceed  from  merely  prudential  motives.  Doubtless 
it  had  been  better  if  they  had  not  been  made.  But  what  Government  can  say 
that  it  never  acts  precipitately,  or  even  capriciously  ?  On  our  part,  the  possi¬ 
bility  of  foreign  intervention,  sooner  or  later,  in  this  domestic  disturbance,  is 
never  absent  from  the  thoughts  of  this  Government.  We  are,  therefore,  not 
likely  to  exaggerate  indications  of  an  emergency,  for  which  we  hold  ourselves 
bound  to  be,  in  a  measure,  always  prepared. 


That  graver  danger  was  now  imminent.  Early  in  the  war,  Seward 
learned,  through  the  legation  at  St.  Petersburg,  that  an  understand¬ 
ing  had  been  effected  between,  the  Governments  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  that  they  should  take  one  and  the  same  course  on  the  subject 
of  the  American  war;  including  the  possible  recognition  of  the  rebels. 
Later,  this  understanding  was  distinctly  avowed  by  M.  Thouvenel,  to 
Mr.  Sanford,  at  Paris.  This  alliance,  for  joint  action,  might  dictate 
its  own  terms.  From  a  joint  announcement  of  neutrality,  it  would  be 
only  a  step  to  joint  mediation,  or  intervention;  and  it  was  hardly  to 
be  anticipated,  that  the  Washington  Government,  struggling  with  an 
insurrection  which  had  rent  the  country  asunder,  would  be  willing  to 


1861.] 


A  SCENE  AT  THE  DEPARTMENT. 


581 


face,  also,  the  combined  power  of  the  two  great  Empires  of  Western 
Europe.  To  the  mind  of  the  French  and  English  statesmen  the  pro- . 
ject  was  even  praiseworthy.  It  would  stop  the  effusion  of  blood  and 
increase  the  supply  of  cotton.  It  would  leave  the  American  Union 
permanently  divided,  but  that  was  a  consummation  that  European 
statesmen,  in  general,  would  not  grieve  over. 

On  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  June,  a  scene  occurred  at  the  State 
Department,  which,  though  it  has  attracted  but  cursory  attention  from 
the  historian,  had  more  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  the  Union  than 
a  pitched  battle. 

Seward  was  sitting  at  his  table  reading  dispatches,  when  the  mes¬ 
senger  announced,  “  The  British  Minister  is  here  to  see  you,  sir,  and 
the  French  Minister,  also/’ 

“  Which  came  first  ?  ” 

“  Lord  Lyons,  sir;  but  they  say  they  both  want  to  see  you  together.” 

Seward  instinctively  guessed  the  motive  for  so  unusual  a  diplomatic 
proceeding.  He  paused  a  moment,  and  then  said: 

“  Show  them  both  into  the  Assistant  Secretary’s  room,  and  I  will 
come  in  presently.” 

A  few  minutes  later,  as  the  two  Ministers  were  seated,  side  by  side, 
on  the  sofa,  the  door  opened,  and  Seward  entered.  Smiling  and  shak¬ 
ing  his  head,  he  said: 

“No, —  no, —  no.  This  will  never  do.  I  cannot  see  you  in  that 
way.” 

The  Ministers  rose  to  greet  him. 

“  True,”  said  one  of  them,  “it  is  unusual;  but  we  are  obeying  our 
instructions.” 

“And,  at  least,”  said  the  other,  “you  will  allow  us  to  state  the 
object  of  our  visit  ?  ” 

“No,”  said  Seward,  “we  must  start  right  about  it,  whatever  it  is. 
M.  Mercier,  will  vou  do  me  the  favor  to  come  to  dine  with  me  this 
evening  ?  There  we  can  talk  over  your  business  at  leisure.  And  if 
Lord  Lyons  will  step  into  my  room  with  me,  now,  we  will  discuss 
what  he  has  to  say  to  me.” 

“If  you  refuse  to  see  us  together, - ”  began  the  French  Envoy 

with  a  courteous  smile,  and  shrug. 

“  Certainly,  I  do  refuse  to  see  you  together,  though  I  will  see  either 
of  you  separately,  with  pleasure,  here,  or  elsewhere.” 

So  the  interviews  were  held  severally,  not  jointly,  and  the  papers 
which  they  had  been  instructed  to  jointly  present,  and  formally  read 
to  him,  were  left  for  his  informal  inspection.  A  brief  examination 
of  them  only,  was  necessary  to  enable  him  to  say,  courteously,  but 


582 


REFUSAL  TO  RECEIVE  THE  COMMUNICATION. 


[1861. 


with  decision,  that  he  declined  to  hear  them  read,  or  to  receive  of¬ 
ficial  notice  of  them. 

To  Mr.  Dayton,  he  wrote: 

The  concert  thus  avowed  has  been  carried  out.  The  Ministers  came  to  me 
together;  the  instructions  they  proposed  to  read  to  me  differ  in  form,  but  are 
counterpart  in  effect.  *  *  *  France  proposes  to  take  cognizance  of  both 

parties  as  belligerents,  and  for  some  purposes  to  hold  communication  with 
each.  The  instructions  would  advise  us,  indeed,  that  we  must  not  be  surprised 
if  France  shall  address  herself  to  a  Government,  which,  she  says,  is  to  be  in¬ 
stalled  at  Montgomery,  for  certain  explanations.  This  intimation  is  conclu¬ 
sive,  in  determining  this  Government  not  to  allow  the  instruction  to  be  read 
to  it. 

The  United  States,  rightly  jealous,  as  we  think,  of  their  sovereignty,  cannot 
suffer  themselves  to  debate  any  abridgment  of  that  sovereignty  with  France  or 
with  any  other  nation.  *  *  *  This  Government  insists  that  the  United  States 
are  one  whole  undivided  nation,  especially  so  far  as  foreign  nations  are  con¬ 
cerned;  and  that  France  is,  by  the  law  of  nations  and  by  treaties,  not  a  neutral 
power  between  two  imaginary  parties  here,  but  a  friend  of  the  United  States. 
This  Government  is  sensible  of  the  importance  of  the  step  it  takes  in  declin¬ 
ing  to  hear  the  communication,  the  tender  of  which  has  drawn  out  these  ex¬ 
planations. 

He  wrote  to  Mr.  Adams; 

When  we  received  official  information  that  an  understanding  was  existing 
between  the  British  and  French  Governments  that  they  would  take  one  and 
the  same  course  concerning  the  insurrection,  involving  the  question  of  recog¬ 
nizing  the  independence  of  a  revolutionary  organization,  we  instructed  you  to 
inform  the  British  Government  that  we  had  expected  from  both  of  those 
powers  a  different  course  of  proceeding. 

We  added,  that  we  should  insist  in  this  case,  as  in  all  others,  on  dealing  -with 
each  of  those  powers  alone,  and  that  their  agreement  to  act  together  would  not 
at  all  affect  the  course  we  should  pursue. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  correspondence  between  the  Governments,  I 
deemed  it  my  duty  to  know  the  character  and  effect  of  the  instructions  re¬ 
spectively  before  I  could  consent  that  they  should  be  officially  communicated 
to  this  department.  The  Ministers,  therefore,  confidentially  and  very  frankly 
submitted  the  papers  to  me  foY  preliminary  inspection.  After  having  examined 
them  so  far  as  to  understand  their  purport,  I  declined  to  hear  them  read  or  to 
receive  official  notice  of  them. 

This  Government  could  not,  consistently  with  a  just  regard  for  the  sover¬ 
eignty  of  the  United  States,  permit  itself  to  debate  these  novel  and  extraordi¬ 
nary  positions  with  the  Government  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty;  much  less  can 
consent  that  that  Government  shall  announce  to  us  a  decision  derogating  from 
that  sovereignty.  This  Government  is  sensible  of  the  importance  of  the  step  it 
takes  in  declining  to  receive  the  communication  in  question. 

In  another  quarter  of  the  globe  there  was  a  distrust  of  the  Ameri- 


1861.] 


THE  SPANISII-A  MERIC  AN  REPUBLICS. 


583 


can  Goverment  which  had  some  foundation.  The  Spanish-Ameri- 
can  Governments  had  found,  during  preceding  Administrations,  when 
prO'Slavery  influences  were  dominant  at  Washington,  that  “filibuster¬ 
ing  expeditions  ”  frequently  succeeded  in  escaping  official  vigilance, 
and  in  coming  to  rob  them  of  their  territory.  Seward  set  himself  to 
work  at  once  to  show  them  that  this  period  was  past,  and  to  cultivate 
a  spirit  of  amity  among  the  republics  of  the  Western  Continent. 

lie  wrote  to  Mr.  Corwin  at  Mexico: 

Information  which  wears  an  air  of  authenticity  leads  us  to  apprehend  that 
a  design  exists,  on  the  part  of  the  insurgents  of  this  country,  to  gain  pos¬ 
session  of  the  Peninsula  of  Lower  California  to  cut  off  our  commerce  with 
Mexico,  to  seize  the  Panama  steamers,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  treasure  so 
acquired,  extend  their  conquests  to  Sonora  and  Chihuahua.  The  design  is 
understood  to  embrace  an  ultimate  absorption  of  all  Mexico.  We  shall  im¬ 
mediately  take  care  to  have  the  commanders  of  our  land  and  naval  forces  on 
the  Pacific  instructed  to  prevent  this  threatened  violation  of  the  territory  of 
Mexico.  You  will  invoke  its  energetic  and  vigorous  efforts  to  the  defense 
of  its  own  sovereignty  iu  the  Peninsula. 

To  Mr.  Dickinson,  at  Nicaragua,  be  said: 

The  United  States  no  longer  think  that  they  want  slavery  reestablished 
in  that  State,  nor  do  they  desire  any  thing  at  the  hands  of  its  Government, 
but  that  it  may  so  conduct  its  affairs  as  to  permit  and  favor  the  opening 
of  an  inter-oceanic  navigation,  which  shall  be  profitable  to  Nicaragua  and 
equally  open  to  the  United  States  and  to  all  other  maritime  nations. 

Ilis  communications  to  the  other  Spanish- American  countiies  neie 
in  the  same  spirit.  “Confidence  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth.  The 
Governments  and  people  of  those  countries  hesitated,  at  fiist,  about 
putting  too  implicit  a  trust  in  the  change  of  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
Great  Republic.  Their  Ministers  at  Washington,  however,  were  quick 
to  perceive  its  genuineness  and  sincerity.  Their  reports,  and  Seward  s 
continuance  in  the  same  line  of  action,  in  a  few  months  developed  a 
spirit  of  international  accord  between  the  Governments  of  the  Western 

Hemisphere  that  had  not  existed  for  forty  years. 

To  Mr.  Riotti,  who  was  going  out  as  Minister  to  Costa  Rica,  he 

wrote: 

Let  the  memories  of  the  past  annoyances  endured  by  Costa  Rica,  as  well  as 
by  neighboring  States,  from  lawless  bands  of  invaders  from  oui  shores,  be 
buried;  and  let  her  rely  upon  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  United  States, 
if  at  any  time  she  shall  need  them. 

Colonel  Amory,  his  former  aide-de-camp  at  Albany,  was  now  the 
United  States  Dispatch  Agent  at  Boston;  and  was  also  zealously  at 
work  in  thwarting  the  schemes  of  rebel  emissaries  to  obtain  informa- 


584 


TREASONABLE  CORRESPONDENCE. 


[1861. 


tion  and  arms.  Colonel  Bowen,  who  had  been  another  of  his  old  staff 
officers,  was  now  Commissioner  of  Police  in  New  York.  To  him  he 
wrote: 

Will  you  institute  means  to  prevent  the  transmission  of  treasonable  corre¬ 
spondence,  by  the  channel  there  indicated  ?  Can  you  concert  similar  arrange¬ 
ments  in  Boston,  if  necessary  ?  Shall  you  want  any  military  authority  to 
secure  that  end  ? 

And  a  few  days  later  he  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  and  Post¬ 
master-General: 

You  will  find  herewith  a  letter  from  the  Commissioner  of  Police  at  New 
York;  and  if  you  approve  the  subject,  you  will  please  give  directions  to  him 
to  break  up  the  channel  of  communication  between  the  disunionists  in  Europe, 
and  the  North,  with  their  party  in  the  Southern  States. 

These  suggestions  were  promptly  complied  with  by  both  Cabinet 
officers.  The  New  York  Police  rendered  effective  aid,  in  this  way, 
to  the  Union  cause,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  war. 

He  wrote  to  his  daughter : 

The  last  three  weeks  have  brought  me  very  oppressive  labor. 

Besides  the  ordinary  details  of  the  department,  and  the  almost  daily,  and 
sometimes  hourly  consultations  with  other  departments  and  the  commanding 
generals,  I  have  had  voluminous  dispatches  to  write  to  foreign  countries. 
Great  Britain  and  France  have  lost  their  fear,  and  with  it  their  respect  for  this 
country,  in  a  good  degree.  They  have  been  favoring  disunion,  without  any 
regard  to  principles  of  morality  or  honor.  I  have,  on  the  contran^  taken  de¬ 
cided  ground  with  them.  If  we  should  unfortunately  become  demoralized 
again  at  home,  those  great  nations  will  become  practically  allies  of  the  disunion 
Confederacy.  If  we  retain  our  virtue,  and  meet  with  no  great  disaster,  the 
world  will  exult.  I  am  not  sorry  that  you  come  upon  the  stage  at  such  an 
important  crisis  in  your  country’s  history.  It  will  be  instructive  for  all  your 
future  life. 


CHAPTER  LXII. 

1861. 

Troops  Gathering  at  Washington.  Camps,  Drills,  and  Skirmishes.  “  The  Old  Club-House.’* 
Daily  Life  and  Occupation.  Correspondence  with  Home.  The  Conduct  of  the  War. 
European  Friends  and  Opponents.  Popular  Impatience. 


Tents  now  began  to  dot  the  hills  round  about  Washington;  and  on 
every  road  the  Union  flag  was  flying.  A  chain  of  camps  was  gradually 
growing  up  around  the  city;  those  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  river 
being  intrenched,  and  armed  with  heavy  artillery.  During  June,  the 


i  .  n’riP  Y 

Of  Si  £ 

jNlvtrtw.iY  Of  ILLINOIS 


t 


THE  DURYEA  ZOUAVES. 


FORTRESS  MONROE 


1861. J 


RENCOUNTERS  AND  SKIRMISHES. 


585 


Army  was  by  degrees  consolidated  and  strengthened.  With  all  its 
enthusiasm,  it  was  but  a  raw  force 5  most  of  whose  members  were  un¬ 
familiar  with  the  simplest  field  manoeuvres,  or  with  the  ordinary 
details  of  camp  life.  But  all  were  ready  and  willing  to  learn;  and 
the  genial  summer  days  were  favorable  to  camp  instruction.  General 
Mansfield  had  been  put  in  command  of  the  city  and  its  defenses. 
General  McDowell  had  been  assigned  to  command  the  Army  for  its 
operations  in  Virginia.  General  Dix  had  been  commissioned,  and 
assigned  to  duty  at  Baltimore;  and  *General  Butler  at  Fortress  Mon¬ 
roe.  Troops  continued  to  arrive  from  the  North.  Regiments  were 
coming  in  from  Wisconsin,  Vermont,  Ohio,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania, 
New  York,  and  Minnesota.  General  Sanford  of  the  First  Division  of 
the  New  York  Militia,  was  received  into  the  United  States  service, 
and  placed  in  command  of  New  York  troops,  and  of  Arlington 
Heights. 

As  the  Union  forces  were  gradually  pushed  out,  to  occupy  localities 
hitherto  held  by  the  rebels,  frequent  skirmishes  occurred  between  de¬ 
tached  bodies,  attended  with  varying  fortune;  though  with  the  gen¬ 
eral  result  that  the  Federal  forces  were  slowly  extending  their  area  of 
occupation.  General  Patterson  advanced  and  took  possession  of 
Hagerstown.  Colonel  Wallace  captured  Cumberland  and  Romney. 
Reconnoissances  were  made  on  the  roads  and  railways  leading  into  Vir¬ 
ginia.  The  Confederate  force,  under  Johnston,  burned  the  railway 
bridges,  evacuated  Harper’s  Ferry,  and  retreated  to  Winchester. 
Beauregard  was  reported  to  be  in  command  at  Manassas,  and  to  be 
rapidly  massing  the  rebel  troops  there. 

Then  followed  the  skirmish  at  Edward’s  Ferry,  the  disastrous  en¬ 
gagement  at  Big  Bethel,  the  “masked  battery  ”  at  Vienna  —  events 
whose  casualties  showed  that  the  Federal  advance  would  be  contested 
at  every  step.  Rebel  batteries  were  springing  up  on  the  banks  of  the 
lower  Potomac,  threatening  to  obstruct  the  passage  of  Union  vessels. 
The  naval  expeditions  sent  to  dislodge  and  destroy  them,  did  not  ac¬ 
complish  that  work  without  serious  loss.  There  were  daily  reports 
from  the  West,  of  encounters  between  rebel  and  Union  forces,  those 
in  West  Virginia  usually  favorable  to  the  Union  men,  while  in  Ten¬ 
nessee  and  Missouri  success  seemed  to  alternate  between  the  two.  I11 
Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  and  New  York,  arms  and  munitions,  secreted  for 
rebel  use,  were  found  and  seized  in  large  quantities. 

Offers  of  troops  continued  to  come  in  from  all  the  Northern 
States.  Seward  wrote  to  Governor  Fairbanks  of  Vermont: 

Requisitions  for  seventy-five  thousand  militia,  for  three  months,  and  forty 
thousand  volunteers,  for  three  years,  are  already  full;  and  there  is  still  a 


■586 


FAMILY  LIFE. 


[1861. 


pressure  upon  us  to  accept  twice  as  many  of  each.  The  War  Department,  I 
will  undertake  to  say,  will  accept  your  additional  regiments,  if  they  will  en- 

0 

gage  for  three  years,  as  they  doubtless  will. 

To  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  wrote: 

Mr.  Williams  reports  to  me,  that  when  the  proceedings  at  Boston  were 
taken,  of  which  he  comes  to  advise  you,  it  was  only  known  then  that  twro 
steamers  were  bought  in  Boston,  and  it  was  not  known  that  we  were  purchas¬ 
ing  eighteen  more.  Captain  Meigs  reports  that  the  Collins  steamers  can  be 
bought  now  at  half  price,  and  that  they  ought  all  to  be  bought  at  once.  I 
hope  it  may  be  done. 

Iii  a  letter  to  his  daughter,  he  said: 

I  am  especially  pleased  that  you  are  doing  what  you  can  for  the  increase  of 
the  comfort  of  the  brave  volunteers  who  are  moving  for  the  defense  of  the 
Union,  and  the  rescue  of  the  country.  I  often  wish  that  you  and  your  mother 
could  be’ here;  but  you  are  safer  where  you  are,  and  you  can  do  more  good 
there  than  you  could  here. 

The  newspapers  say  that  we  are  safe  here;  but  we  are  far  down  in  an  enemy’s 
country.  That  enemy  can  rapidly  gather  fifty  thousand  or  more  impetuous, 
though  undisciplined  troops.  We  gather  defenders  here,  so  far  from  their 
homes,  much  slower  than  is  generally  supposed.  There  are  enough  coming, 
but  many  of  them  stop  by  the  way,  to  keep  it  open.  Circumstances  indicate 
a  conviction,  on  the  part  of  the  insurgents,  that  they  must  strike  a  sudden 
blow,  and  gain  an  immediate  advantage.  On  our  side,  the  policy  is  “  a  Fabian 
one,”  of  hazarding  nothing,  until  we  are  ready. 

Of  one  thing  I  feel  assured:  the  country  and  freedom  will  be  saved.  It 
matters  little  what  becomes  of  us.  My  occupations  are  very  various.  I  keep 
on  writing  dispatches  to  foreign  nations,  for  my  regular  occupation.  But  the 
war  brings  labors,  cares,  and  duties  of  a  domestic  nature  upon  us  all.  I  am 
counseling  with  the  Cabinet  one  hour,  with  the  Army  officers  the  next,  the 
Navy  next,  and  I  visit  all  the  troops  as  fast  as  they  come. 

The  “  Old  Club  House,”  on  La  Fayette  Square,  where  Seward  was 
now  living,  remained  his  residence  during  the  rest  of  his  stay  in 
Washington.  The  books  and  furniture  brought  from  Auburn,  and 
from  F  street,  gave  it  the  look  of  home.  .  His  son  and  daughter-in- 
law  were  living  with  him.  Mrs.  Seward  and  Fanny  were  at  Auburn 
for  the  summer.  His  youngest  son  was  in  business  there.  His 
eldest  one  was  in  the  Army,  having  just  returned  from  a  frontier  post 
in  the  South-west,  narrowly  escaping  capture  on  the  way.  The  do¬ 
mestic  establishment  had  been  slightly  enlarged.  The  old  servants 
remained,  and  Gustav  Forsberg,  a  capable  Swede,  was  installed  as 
butler  and  steward. 

Seward’s  daily  life  at  this  period  was  necessarily  a  laborious  one. 
He  used  to  rise  between  six  and  seven,  dress  and  shave  with  his 


1861.] 


A  day’s  occupations. 


587 


own  hand,  and  when  the  family  assembled  in  the  breakfast  room,  he 
would  be  found  hastily  running  over  the  morning  papers,  throwing 
each  aside  as  soon  as  dispatched.  “You  do  not  stop  to  read  details 
of  news,  Governor,”  said  a  friend.  “  I  have  only  time  to  see  whether 
there  is  any  thing  that  concerns  us  in  the  Government.  The  rest  is 
for  others  to  read.” 

Breakfast  was  soon  over,  unless,  as  often  happened,  friends  had  come 
from  New  York  by  the  night  train,  and  availed  themselves  of  the  brief 
opportunity  of  seeing  him  before  going  to  the  department.  Walking 
,  thither,  he  was  ensconced  in  his  chair  generally  before  the  throng  of 
morning  visitors  began  to  assemble.  A  huge  pile  of  opened  letters 
and  dispatches,  that  had  come  by  the  morning  mail,  lay  in  a  mahogany 
box  at  his  right  hand.  A  similar  box,  empty,  at  his  left,  was  ready  to 
receive  them,  as  he  marked  upon  each  the  disposition  he  desired  to 
have  made  of  it.  Of  course,  the  bushel  of  communications  addressed 
“  to  the  Secretary  of  State”  had  been  already  sifted  out  by  the  Chief 
Clerk.  The  letters  and  dispatches  relating  to  matters  of  routine  and 
ordinary  department  work  had  been  distributed  among  the  respective 
bureaus.  Only  those  having  a  political  importance,  or  involving  some 
new  question  for  decision,  needed  to  be  laid  before  the  Secretary. 
When  once  a  subject  had  been  passed  upon,  the  department  could 
deal  with  it  in  its  subsequent  stages.  But  in  this  period  of  civil  war 
the  number  of  new  questions  coming  up  for  the  Secretary’s  decision 
increased  every  day.  Nearly  every  old  question  appeared  in  a  new 
light,  for  it  involved  the  decision  whether  the  present  emergency  re¬ 
quired  adherence  to  precedents  or  departure  from  them.  And  the 
worst  of  it  was,  that  a  wrong  decision  would  not  be  merely  an  ordi¬ 
nary  blunder,  but  an  act  that  would  bring  a  foreign  war  and  imperil 
the  national  life. 

Before  half  the  contents  of  the  box  could  be  disposed  of,  cards  of 
visitors  would  be  brought  in.  Those  who  came  in  pursuit  of  place  and 
patronage  were  referred  (with  as  much  courtesy  and  as  little  waste  of 
time  as  possible)  to  the  Assistant  Secretary,  who  was  instructed  to 
listen  to  their  statements  and  present  the  pith  and  kernel  of  them  to 
the  Secretary  at  some  convenient  season.  Those  who  came  to  confer 
on  public  affairs  found  ready  hearing  and  advice.  Those  who  came 
as  a  matter  of  ceremony  or  friendship  received  pleasant  greeting,  and 
frequently  an  invitation  to  dine  or  drive  later  in  the  day.  Those  who 
came  with  startling  news  and  false  reports,  always  abundant  in  war 
time,  met  a  cheerful  incredulity.  But  he  always  grudged  the  time 
thus  lost.  I  never  appreciated  till  now,”  he  used  to  say,  “  the  Scrip¬ 
tural  expression  ‘rumors  of  wars.’  See  what  time  we  waste  in  chas- 


5S8 


THE  BLACK  BOTTLE. 


[1861. 


<( 


» 


ing  up  these  false  rumors  only  to  find  that  they  are  false,  when  every 
minute  is  needed  for  our  actual  work.” 

Toward  noon  the  foreign  Ministers  would  begin  to  arrive.  Each  of 
them  was  finding  the  work  of  his  legation  suddenly  increased,  for 
nearly  every  Government  in  the  world  was  sending,  by  every  mail,  in¬ 
structions  to  its  representatives  to  have  an  interview  with  the  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State  about  some  ship  or  subject,  or  treaty  or  policy,  that  was 
interfered  with  by  the  war.  Almost  every  day  some  question  would 
arise,  about  which  it  was  necessary  to  confer  with  some  other  member 
of  the  Cabinet  or  with  the  President.  These,  usually  of  a  confiden¬ 
tial  character  and  requiring  prompt  action,  he  preferred  not  to  write 
notes  about.  So  he  would  call  his  carriage  and  drive  to  the  War  or 
Navy  Department,  or  step  over  to  the  White  House  or  Treasury  to  hold 
the  necessary  conference.  Sometimes  he  could  send  the  Assistant 
Secretary  or  the  Chief  of  a  Bureau.  In  any  case  his  communications 
had  to  be  rapid  and  his  conclusions  prompt.  A  vast  amount  of  busi¬ 
ness  thus  passed  under  his  eye  and  through  his  hands  every  day,  but  he 
never  seemed  worried,  or  anxious,  or  flustered  by  it. 

There  was  no  time  for  lunch  except  four  or  five  minutes  snatched 
from  other  occupations.  Mrs.  Seward  used  to  send  over  to  the  de¬ 
partment  a  small  basket,  containing  some  crackers  and  cheese,  with  a 
cup  of  cold  tea.  Before  long,  the  teapot  and  cup  were  broken  in  the 
transit;  and  Forsberg  bethought  himself  that  the  tea  would  go  as 
safely  in  a  corked  bottle,  and  could  be  drank  from  tumblers.  This 
was  a  good  idea;  but  it  led  to  consequences  that  no  one  had  antici¬ 
pated.  Before  long,  innuendoes  began  to  appear  in  unfriendly  news¬ 
papers,  about  the  habits  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  By  the  time  the 
story  came  back  from  Boston  and  St.  Louis,  it  was  in  the  shape  that 
“Seward,  despairing  of  the  Union,  is  drowning  his  cares  in  drink.” — 
“  The  Secretary  is  drunk  every  night,”  etc. 

Seward  was  too  much  accustomed  to  malicious  newspaper  criticism, 
to  attach  much  importance  to  this.  But  presently  letters  began  to 
come  from  old  acquaintances,  political  associates,  and  clergymen,  re¬ 
monstrating,  more  or  less  kindly,  against  his  fall  into  intemperance; 
but  all  assuming  the  accusation  to  be  true.  At  first,  he  was  puzzled 
to  account  for  the  wide-spread  gossip,  but  finding  in  one  paper  a 
specific  allusion  to  “  the  black  bottle,”  he  burst  into  a  laugh,  and  sent 
it  over  to  Mrs.  Seward.  One  morning  some  friends  from  Boston 
called ;  among  them  A.  H.  Rice,  then  in  Congress,  and  afterward 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  One  of  the  party  was  cautiously  approach¬ 
ing  the  subject  of  temperance,  when  Seward,  interrupting  him,  called 
out:  “  Donaldson,  bring  my  bottle  here,  and  some  glasses.” 


1861.] 


‘‘THE  BLACK  BOTTLE.”  589 

A  grave  expression  came  over  the  countenances  of  the  visitors,  as 
Donaldson  solemnly  uncorked  the  bottle,  and  poured  the  fluid  into  the 
glasses. 

“  Why,”  said  one,  after  a  sniff  and  a  taste,  “why,  it  is  tea !  ” 

“  Of  course  it  is,”  said  Seward,  “  what  else  did  you  think  it  was  ?” 

Rice  laughed,  and  drew  out  of  his  pocket  a  marked  copy  of  the 
Boston  Post,  saying:  “I  was  not  quite  sure  whether  I  would  show  this 
to  you;  but  I  am  going  to  send  it  back  to  Schouler,  now,  and  tell  him 
how  to  answer  it.” 

I 

The  doors  of  the  department  were  closed  against  the  public  at  four 
o’clock.  But  it  seldom  happened  that  officers  or  clerks  got  away  at 
that  hour.  When  any  time  remained  before  the  dinner  hour  at  seven, 
Seward  would  take  his  carriage,  and  drive  with  some  of  his  family  or 
friends,  to  Rock  Creek,  the  Soldiers’  Home,  Arlington  Heights,  Brent¬ 
wood,  Anacostia,  or  some  other  of  the  many  beautiful  suburbs  of  the 
city.  When  he  came,  as  he  was  sure  to  do,  in  any  of  these  directions, 
upon  a  camp  or  a  fort,  he  would  stop  to  chat  with  the  officers  or  men, 
often  finding  old  friends  among  them. 

His  dinner  table  was  rarely  without  one  or  more  guests.  It  was  the 
only  time  of  day  when  he  would  have  leisure  to  converse  with  friends 
on  ordinary  topics;  and  even  the  dinner  table  soon  became  a  place 
where  questions  of  state  or  diplomacy  were  informally  discussed,  and 
satisfactorily  settled.  Forsberg  was  always  ready  for  whatever  number 
might  come,  with  his  dinner  of  three,  or  at  most  four,  simple  courses. 
After  dinner  Seward  used  to  like  to  continue  the  conversation,  over  a 
cigar  on  the  piazza,  or  in  the  library.  Whist  was  the  only  game  of 
cards  he  cared  for.  The  game  would  begin  in  the  parlor,  as  soon  as  the 
cigars  were  finished,  but  it  was  usually  interrupted  by  the  coming  in 
of  visitors.  If  not,  he  stopped  at  the  end  of  the  rubber.  It  had 
always  been  his  habit  to  read,  for  an  hour  or  so,  before  retiring.  But 
at  this  period,  there  was  no  time  for  that.  Visitors  and  letters  con¬ 
tinued  to  come  in  until  midnight,  and  for  several  months  in  the  early 
part  of  the  war  the  telegrams  continued  to  come  at  all  hours  of  the 
night  —  sometimes  requiring  immediate  attention,  to  prevent  mischief 
or  disaster. 

He  was  obliged  to  give  up  a  favorite  habit  of  his  senatorial  days, 
that  of  a  walk  in  the  early  morning,  to  market  and  back.  There  was 
no  time  to  spare  even  for  needed  exercise.  Occasionally  he  would 
vary  his  afternoon  drive  by  getting  out  of  the  carriage  and  climbing  a 
hill,  or  strolling  through  a  bit  of  wood.  He  was  obliged  also  to  give 
up  his  old  custom  of  sitting  on  the  front  porch  before  breakfast  to 
enjoy  the  cool  of  the  morning,  or  the  refreshing  shade  after  a  hot 


590 


LETTERS  HOME. 


[1861 


day.  Applicants,  claimants,  and  visitors  soon  found  this  out,  and 
presently  their  numbers  and  importunities  increased  so  as  to  oblige 
him  to  content  himself  with  the  back  piazza.  Another  habit  that 
was  in  a  great  degree  pretermitted,  was  that  of  the  long  letters  to 
Mrs.  Seward,  describing  his  daily  life.  The  changed  conditions  of 
war  time  rendered  it  unsafe  to  trust  important  secrets  to  the  mails. 
His  letters,  while  as  frequent  as  ever,  were  now  brief  and  more  cau¬ 
tions  in  referring  to  public  events  and  personages,  —  the  latter  being 
often  mentioned  by  an  initial  only,  and  the  letter  itself  frequently 
unsigned.  Among  those  written  in  June  were  the  following: 

June  5. 

I  am  sorry  to  hear  of  Fanny’s  illness.  Distance  and  war  are  making  stran¬ 
gers  of  us.  God  grant  that  you  and  she  and  the  other  children  and  friends 
keep  alive  until  we  cau  meet  somewhere !  I  find  it  impossible  to  get  away. 
My  own  anxieties  and  occupations  in  the  State  Department  do  not  allow  me 
to  rest. 

It  is  now  clear  that  all  Europe  was  prepared  to  divide  our  noble  political 
and  commercial  estate  when  our  new  Ministers  reached  its  unfriendly  shores. 
The  decision  and  the  demonstration  here  needful  to  roll  back  the  demoralizing 
tide  there,  are  not  maintained  without  so  much  of  question,  in  the  councils  of 
the  Administration,  as  to  render  my  place  unpleasant  enough.  The  factious 
press  indicates  the  difference.  It  wanted  gasconade  for  our  deluded  country¬ 
men  who  are  disaffected  or  forced,  like  Governor  ITicks,  into  a  false  attitude; 
and  it  quails,  and  requires  us  to  quail  before  Europe. 

The  war  is  ostensibly  prosecuted  with  vigor.  But  you  have  no  idea  how 
incessant  my  labors  are  to  keep  the  conduct  of  it  up  to  the  line  of  necessity 
and  public  expectation.  Executive  skill  and  vigor  are  rare  qualities.  The 
President  is  the  best  of  us;  but  he  needs  constant  and  assiduous  cooperation. 
But  I  have  said  too  much  already.  Burn  this,  and  believe  that  I  am  doing 
what  man  can  do.  It  is  only  by  degrees  that  I  win  freedom  and  power. 

June  13. 

After  a  week’s  hard  work  upon  foreign  questions,  I  am  able,  I  think  now, 
to  see  a  pacific  solution  of  our  affairs  in  Europe.  Great  Britain  has  put  her¬ 
self  and  led  France  into  a  very  unenviable  position.  But  our  star  is  as¬ 
cendant. 

My  heart  bleeds  for  the  suffering  of  our  noble  men  at  Bethel;  and  none  the 
less,  because  my  apprehensions  of  disaster  were  scouted  and  rejected  in 
council. 

I  would  go  home  to-morrow  if  it  were  prudent,  but  decisive  movements  are 
expected  in  Virginia,  and  my  absence  at  such  a  time  would,  perhaps,  be  held 
inexcusable. 

June  25. 

The  enemy  don’t  come,  and  I  think  does  not  mean  to.  It  follows  that 
the  Federal  forces  must  go  out  toward  him.  This  is  just  now  being  consid¬ 
ered.  A  week  or  two  will  develop  it. 


1861.] 


POPULAR  IMPATIENCE. 


591 


(  Confidential.) 

June  27. 

Twelve  or  fourteen  clays  ago  I  knew  that  the  Disunionists  ought,  for  their 
own  sake,  to  attack  our  line,  and,  therefore,  I  thought  they  would  do  so. 
Now  I  know  that  they  will  not  come  against  us.  It  would  not  be  prudent  to 
say  what  I  know  our  forces  will  do. 

Of  course,  I  have  no  fear  that  in  any  case  the  insurgents  will  reach  Wash¬ 
ington  or  disturb  our  communications.  But  battles  fought  within  twelve  to 
fifty  miles  from  this  place  would  make  it  desirable  that  women  and  children 
should  not  be  so  near  the  scene  as  Washington.  We  will  watch  the  tide  and 
I  will  let  you  know  when  Fanny  can  come. 

The  Star  of  this  afternoon  unriddles  the  compromise  that  the  newspapers 
have  been  scaring  the  people  with,  very  happily. 

To  WTeed,  he  wrote: 

June  25. 

I  should  despair,  and  give  up,  if  I  thought  it  needful  to  be  vexed  with  the 
complaints  that  come  to  me,  all  the  time,  from  all  sides.  I  know,  and  every 
one  connected  with  the  Government  knows,  that  *  *  *  was  loyal,  and 

faithful,  and  saved  and  restored  his  men  to  the  country.  It  would  be  mean 
to  punish  him  more  than  he  is  punished,  for  the  temporary  weakness  so  nobly 
atoned  for.  It  would  be  mean  to  punish  *  *  *  for  a  piece  of  folly  that 

did  no  harm,  and  intended  no  disloyalty.  The  public  is  impatient,  and  wants 
activity,  and  in  the  absence  of  activity  it  wants  cruelty.  Forty  letters  a  day 
come,  complaining  that  we  don’t  kill  prisoners  taken  in  war.  If  wTe  should 
yield  every  one  of  these  points  to  the  public  impatience,  it  would  not  stifle 
complaints,  or  prevent  new  ones.  Yesterday,  reports  came  that  Lord  Lyons 
was  guaranteeing  free  communication  with  Charleston.  I  sent  the  complaint 
to  him.  The  complainant  came  back,  and  said  :  “  There’s  not  a  word  of  truth 
in  it.”  To-day  Henry  Wilson  tells  me  that  there  are  loud  and  deep  com¬ 
plaints  because  Weed  is  getting  all  the  profitable  contracts.  Wilson  went  to 
Meigs,  and  found  that  was  false.  Then  I  told  Wilson  that  he  was  reported 
to  me  as  “very  hostile”  to  me!  The  secret  cause  is,  that  the  country  is  im¬ 
patient,  because  the  Army  don’t  do  up  its  dreadful  work  faster.  I  confess  that 
I  fear  to  crowd  it  too  fast.  Think  of  Big  Bethel,  of  Vienna,  and  of  the 
militia  troops  on  the  upper  Potomac! 


592 


CONGRESS  ASSEMBLES. 


[1861. 


CHAPTER  LXIII. 

1861. 

Congress  Assembles.  The  Extra  Session.  The  Message.  Its  Story  of  Sumter  and 
Pickens.  Congressional  Enthusiasm.  The  Extra  Constitutional  Acts  Approved. 
Ample  Powers  and  Appropriations  Given.  Urging  “  Vigorous  Prosecution  of  the 
War.”  Replies  to  Seward’s  Dispatches.  His  First  Treaty.  An  Advance  Movement 
of  the  Army.  Popular  Impatience.  The  Battle  of  “  Bull  Run.”  A  Great  Disaster. 
Attempts  to  Retrieve  it. 


The  coming  of  Congress  is  an  event  which  always  inspires  Execu¬ 
tive  Departments  with  mingled  hopes  and  apprehensions.  The  pres¬ 
ence  of  the  National  Legislature  is  essential  to  give  validity  to  Execu¬ 
tive  action  in  the  past,  and  to  make  provision  for  it  in  the  future.  At 
the  same  time,  a  great  deliberative  body  of  three  hundred  men  will 
usually  contain  rash  men,  as  well  as  prudent  ones;  self-seekers,  as  well  as 
patriots;  impracticable  theorists,  as  well  as  practical  statesmen;  foes, 
as  well  as  friends.  To  what  new  or  needless  issue  its  debates  may  give 
rise,  is  a  problem  that  cannot  be  solved  in  advance.  In  the  present 
crisis,  prompt  decision  and  patriotic  purpose  were  of  vital  conse¬ 
quence  to  the  defense  of  the  Union. 

Seward  wrote  to  Carl  Schurz,  at  Madrid: 


Congress  meets  in  special  session  on  the  4th  of  July,  but  we  do  not  think  it 
xvould  be  expedient  to  divert  its  attention  from  the  domestic  subjects  for 
which  it  is  convened.  It  is  hoped  that  our  protest  (about  San  Domingo)  has 
been  made  in  pursuance  of  the  instructions  to  Mr.  Perry.  If  not,  you  will  do 
it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  indicate  our  firm  denial  of  the  rightfulness  of  the 
annexation. 


On  the  day  before  the  meeting  of  Congress,  came  this  note  from  the 
President : 


Executive  Mansion,  / 
July  3,  1861.  j 

General  Scott  has  sent  me  a  copy  of  the  dispatch  which  you  kindly  sent  me. 
Thanks  to  both  him  and  you.  Please  assemble  the  Cabinet  at  twelve  to-day, 
to  look  over  the  message,  and  reports.  And,  now,  suppose  you  step  over,  and 
let  us  see  General  Scott,  and  General  Cameron,  about  assigning  a  position  to 
General  Fremont. 

Yours,  as  ever, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


Various  portions  of  the  message  had  been  the  subject  of  several  con¬ 
ferences.  It  was  now  complete.  At  this  meeting  it  was  read  and 
carefully  considered  in  extenso,  and  had  the  hearty  concurrence  of 
every  member  of  the  Cabinet.  At  noon,  on  the  4th  of  July,  Congress 
opened  its  session,  in  accordance  with  the  President’s  call.  It  was  a 


1861.] 


THE  EXTRA  SESSION  AND  MESSAGE. 


593 


body  in  strong  contrast  with  those  which  had  preceded  it.  Fresh 
from  the  people,  and  reflecting  the  intense  popular  feeling  that  per¬ 
vaded  the  North,  it  was,  in  the  main,  not  only  loyal,  but  ready  to  vote 
troops  and  supplies,  and  to  support  whatever  measures  would  best  con¬ 
duce  to  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  disun ionists  were 
“gone  with  their  States.”  The  Republicans  had  a  strong  majority  in 
both  Houses. 

Among  the  “War  Democrats”  were  some  of  the  most  earnest  sup¬ 
porters  of  the  measures  of  the  Administration.  A  few  of  the  opposi¬ 
tion  members,  who,  at  this  stage  of  the  war,  affected  the  virtue  of 
loyalty,  soon  afterward  manifested  sympathies  with  the  Secessionists, 
and  became  “copper-heads”  or  open  “rebels.”  Senator  Andrew 
Johnson  remained  “faithful  among  the  faithless”  of  the  “seceding” 
States;  and  Representatives  were  sent  by  the  Union  men  of  West  Vir¬ 
ginia  and  the  mountaineers  of  East  Tennessee.  The  border  States  of 
Maryland,  Missouri,  Kentucky,  and  Delaware  were  fully  represented. 
The  House  elected  Galusha  A.  Grow  to  be  its  Speaker,  and  Emerson 
Etheridge,  a  Tennessee  loyalist,  its  Clerk.  The  brief  session  of  the 
first  day  was  devoted  to  organization.  Afterward  followed  an  inter¬ 
change  of  Union  sentiments,  quickened  by  the  inspiring  military  pa¬ 
rades  in  honor  of  the  4th.  There  were  twenty-five  thousand  men 
under  arms  —  a  greater  army  than  the  streets  of  Washington  had  be¬ 
fore  witnessed.  On  the  following  day  President  Lincoln’s  message 
was  sent  in,  an  able  State  paper  now  become  historical.  Its  statement 
of  the  proceedings  in  regard  to  Fort  Sumter  and  Fort  Pickens  was 
clear  and  full.  After  adverting  to  the  reports  from  military  authori¬ 
ties  that  no  sufficient  force  was  then  at  the  control  of  the  Government, 
or  could  be  raised  and  brought  to  the  harbor  within  the  time  when  the 
provisions  in  Fort  Sumter  would  be  exhausted,  he  continued: 

In  a  purely  military  point  of  view,  this  reduced  the  duty  of  the  Adminis¬ 
tration,  in  the  case,  to  the  mere  matter  of  getting  the  garrison  safely  out  of 
the  fort.  It  was  believed,  however,  that  to  so  abandon  that  position,  under 
the  circumstances,  would  be  utterly  ruinous ;  that  the  necessity  under  which 
it  was  to  be  done  would  not  be  fully  understood;  that  by  many  it  would  be 
construed  as  a  part  of  a  voluntary  policy ;  that  at  home  it  would  discourage 
the  friends  of  the  Union,  embolden  its  adversaries,  and  go  far  to  insure  to  the 
latter  a  recognition  abroad;  that,  in  fact,  it  would  be  our  national  destruction 
consummated.  This  could  not  be  allowed.  Starvation  was  not  yet  upon  the 
garrison,  and  ere  it  would  be  reached,  Fort  Pickens  might  be  reinforced.  This 
would  be  a  clear  indication  of  policy,  and  would  better  enable  the  country  to 
accept  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  as  a  military  necessity.  An  order  was 
at  once  directed  to  be  sent  for  the  landing  of  the  troops  from  the  steamship 
Brooklyn  into  Fort  Pickens.  This  order  could  not  go  by  land,  but  must  take 
38 


594 


THE  PRESIDENT’S  MESSAGE. 


[1861. 


the  longer  and  slower  route  by  sea.  The  first  return  news  from  the  order  was 
received  just  one  week  before  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter.  The  news  itself  was 
that  the  officer  commanding  the  Sabine,  to  which  vessel  the  troops  had  been 
transferred  from  the  Brooklyn ,  acting  upon  some  <?vasGarmistices  of  the  late  Ad¬ 
ministration  (and  of  the  existence  of  which  the  present  Administration,  up  to 
the  time  the  order  was  dispatched,  had  only  too  vague  and  uncertain  rumors 
to  fix  attention),  had  refused  to  land  the  troops.  To  now  reinforce  Fort 
Pickens,  before  a  crisis  would  be  reached  at  Fort  Sumter,  was  impossible  — 
rendered  so  by  the  near  exhaustion  of  provisions  in  the  latter-named  fort.  In 
precaution  against  such  a  conjuncture,  the  Government  had  a  few  days  before 
commenced  preparing  an  expedition,  as  well  adapted  as  might  be,  to  relieve 
Fort  Sumter,  which  expedition  was  intended  to  be  ultimately  used  or  not,  ac¬ 
cording  to  circumstances.  The  strongest  anticipated  case  for  using  it  was  now 
presented,  and  it  was  resolved  to  send  it  forward.  As  had  been  intended  in 
this  contingency,  it  w7as  also  resolved  to  notify  the  Governor  of  South  Caro¬ 
lina  that  he  might  expect  an  attempt  would  be  made  to  provision  the  fort;  and 
that,  if  the  attempt  should  not  be  resisted,  there  would  be  no  effort  to  throw  in 
men,  arms,  or  ammunition  without  further  notice,  or  in  case  of  an  attack  upon 
the  fort.  This  notice  was  accordingly  given;  whereupon  the  fort  vTas  attacked 
and  bombarded  to  its  fall,  without  even  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  provision¬ 
ing  expedition.  *  *  *  They  assailed  and  reduced  the  fort  to  drive  out  the 

visible  authority  of  the  Federal  Union,  and  thus  force  it  to  immediate  disso¬ 
lution.  The  Executive  having  said  to  them  in  the  Inaugural  Address,  “  You 
can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors,  ”  he  took  pains  to 
keep  this  declaration  good.  By  the  affair  at  Fort  Sumter,  writh  its  surrounding 
circumstances,  that  point  was  reached.  Then  and  thereby,  the  assailants  of 
the  Government  began  the  conflict  of  arms,  without  a  gun  in  sight,  or  in  ex¬ 
pectancy,  to  return  their  fire;  save  only  the  few7  in  the  fort,  sent  to,  that  harbor 
years  before  for  their  owrn  protection,  and  still  ready  to  give  that  protection  in 
whatever  was  lawful.  In  this  act,  discarding  all  else,  they  have  forced  upon 
the  country  the  distinct  issue,  “immediate  dissolution  or  blood.” 

And  this  issue  embraces  more  than  the  fate  of  these  United  States.  It  pre¬ 
sents  to  the  wffiole  family  of  man  the  question,  whether  a  constitutional  republic 
or  democracy  —  a  government  of  the  people  —  can  or  cannot  maintain  its  ter¬ 
ritorial  integrity  against  its  own  domestic  foes. 

Describing  then  the  call  for  volunteers,  and  the  subsequent  action 
taken,  he  remarked: 

These  measures,  whether  strictly  legal  or  not,  were  ventured  upon  under 
what  appeared  to  be  a  popular  demand,  and  a  public  necessity;  trusting  then, 
as  now7,  that  Congress  would  readily  ratify  them.  *  *  *  It  was  with  the 

deepest  regret  that  the  Executive  found  the  duty,  of  employing  the  wrar  pow7er 
in  defense  of  the  Government,  forced  upon  him.  He  could  but  perform  this 
duty,  or  surrender  the  existence  of  the  Government. 

He  added,  as  if  there  was  a  prescience  of  the  future  in  his  mind: 

He  felt  that  he  had  no  moral  right  to  shrink,  or  even  to  count  the  chances 


1S61.] 


CONGRESS  SUSTAINS  THE  EXECUTIVE. 


595 


of  his  own  life,  in  what  might  follow.  In  full  view  of  his  great  responsibility, 
he  has  so  far  done  what  he  has  deemed  his  duty.  You  will  now,  according  to 
your  own  judgment,  perform  yours.  *  *  *  And  having  thus  chosen  our 

course,  without  guile,  and  with  pure  purpose,  let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God, 
and  go  forward  without  fear,  and  with  manly  hearts. 


This  message  was  listened  to  at  both  ends  of  the  Capitol  with  deep 
attention;  and  welcomed  with  enthusiastic  approval.  The  extra  ses¬ 
sion  lasted  about  a  month.  Like  other  sessions  of  other  Congresses, 
it  had  its  useless  days  of  wordy  encounter.  Some  of  its  members  were 
bus^  with  questions  of  patronage  for  their  constituents,  and  some  were 
moved,  by  disloyal  sympathies,  to  throw  obstacles  in  the  path  of  the 
Government,  and  extend  encouragement  to  the  rebels.  But  in  the 
main,  it  was  characterized  by  an  earnest  desire  to  do  its  whole  duty; 
and  to  cooperate  with  the  Executive  in  the  effort  to  maintain  the 
Union.  The  House  resolved  to  consider  only  the  military,  naval, 
and  financial  measures  necessary  for  the  war.  The  President  had 
asked  for  authority  to  raise  four  hundred  thousand  men,  and  an  ap¬ 
propriation  of  $400,000,000.  It  was  voted  to  give  him  five  hundred 
thousand  men  and  five  hundred  millions  of  money;  and  afterward  the 
Senate  pledged  “  the  entire  resources  of  the  Government  and  people,' ” 
and  the  House  pledged  “any  amount  of  money,  and  any  number  of 
men  necessary  to  put  down  the  rebellion. ”  Authority  was  given  to 
negotiate  a  Government  loan;  duties  on  imports  were  raised  to  in¬ 
crease  the  revenue;  bills  were  passed  to  close  the  Southern  ports 
against  commerce;  and  to  punish  conspiracy  against  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  formally  expelled  those  of  its  members  who  had  left 
their  seats  to  participate  in  the  rebellion;  and  both  Houses  voted  down 
proposals  to  send  Commissioners  to  treat  for  peace.  The  Executive 
acts  and  proclamations  calling  out  volunteers,  organizing  the  Army 
and  Navy,  suspending  the  habeas  corpus,  and  establishing  the  block¬ 
ade,  were  legalized;  and  under  the  chairmanship  of  Henry  Wilson, 
the  Military  Committee  pushed  the  necessary  war  legislation.  There 
was  some  feeling  adverse  to  the  increase  of  the  regular  army,  growing 
out  of  the  fact  that  so  many  West  Pointers  had  gone  into  the  rebel 
ranks  ;  but  the  increase  was  finally  sanctioned.  In  one  respect,  zealous 
Congressmen  hindered  the  work  they  wanted  to  help — using  their 
official  prestige  to  urge  “speedy  movements/’  and  a  “more  active 
campaign,”  on  the  ground  that  “the  people”  wanted  “results.” 

The  record  of  a  Foreign  Secretary  has,  always,  for  its  salient  points, 
the  treaties  negotiated  by  him.  Seward,  in  July,  made  his  first 
treaty.  It  was  with  Denmark;  and  added  some  new  provisions  to 
those  already  in  force,  for  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  the 


596 


AN  APPROACHING  CONFLICT. 


[1861. 


commerce  between  the  two  countries.  Colonel  Raasloff,  the  Danish 
Minister  at  Washington,  was  the  Plenipotentiary  on  the  part  of  Den¬ 
mark,  and  Seward  the  Plenipotentiary  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.  On  the  day  they  were  appending  their  signatures  to  it  in 
Washington,  Mr.  Wood,  the  newly-appointed  American  Minister  at 
Copenhagen,  was  writing  of  his  reception  by  Mr.  Hall,  the  Danish 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs:  “He  was  frank  and  cordial,  and  while 
he  alluded  to  the  opinions  held  by  my  predecessor  as  different  from 
mine,  he  expressed  himself  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Administration 
and  against  the  so-called  Confederates.” 

The  answers  to  Seward’s  dispatches  were  now  coming.  They  showed 
that  the  threatened  cloud  of  European  intervention  was  relieved,  here 
and  there,  by  a  ray  of  sunshine.  Sweden,  like  Denmark,  sent  words 
of  sympathy.  Switzerland  and  Italy  expressed  the  friendship  which 
had  been  expected  from  them.  Prussia  sent  assurances  of  just  and 
generous  feeling.  Russia  had  faith  in  the  Union,  and  would  enter  into 
no  combination  for  its  overthrow. 

Early  in  July  he  wrote  to  his  daughter  in  Auburn: 

It  has  been  a  very  earnest  wish  of  mine  to  have  you  come  here  and  spend  a 
part  of  the  summer.  It  would  have  been  pleasant  for  you.  You  would  have 
seen,  if  you  had  been  here,  the  pomp,  pride,  and  circumstance  of  war  —  very 
attractive  to  young  persons  —  without  its  horrors.  But  I  suffered  that  time  to 
pass  because  I  could  not  certainly  know  that  some  disaster  might  not  bring 
the  conflict  suddenly  on  and  near  to  this  place.  - 

Now  I  do  not  think  it  wise  that  you  should  come.  The  enemy  yet  remains 
in  force  within  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  of  the  opposite  shore  of  the  river 
and  gives  no  sign  of  either  advancing  or  retiring.  So  it  is  likely  that  we  shall 
have  conflict  there  soon.  My  own  nature  makes  war  painful  to  me,  even 
though  duty  requires  me  to  prepare  and  direct  it.  Civil  war  is  especially  sad¬ 
dening  to  me.  It  is  contest,  on  my  part,  without  anger  or  revenge  —  contest 
for  self-defense,  for  the  country  is  part  of  one’s  self.  I  would  fain  keep  you 
aloof  from  sight  of  the  inhumanity  that  I  contemplate  with  so  much  regret, 
and  participate  in  only  because  it  is  a  duty  which  I  cannot  decline. 

» 

News  from  the  seceded  States  now  began  to  be  clouded  with  more 
or  less  of  uncertainty.  Published  announcements  were  made  there, 
perhaps  intended  for  Northern  reading,  but  the  actual  military  move¬ 
ments  in  progress  were  judiciously  kept  as  secret  as  possible.  One 
Governor  announced  that  he  should  prevent  any  more  goods  from 
being  shipped  North;  another  declared  that  it  would  be  considered 
treasonable  for  Southern  citizens  to  pay  debts  due  Northern  creditors. 
A  considerable  force  wras  known  to  be  massing  at  Manassas  Junction, 
and  other  hostile  bodies  were  organizing  along  the  line  of  the  Ohio 
and  the  Missouri. 


1861.] 


ON  TO  RICHMOND. 


597 


« ( 


Cheering  reports  continued  to  come  from  West  Virginia.  Victories 
at  Buckhannon,  Rich  Mountain,  and  Barbours ville,  and  skirmishes  in 
the  Kanawha  Valley  were  daily  raising,  in  the  public  esteem,  the  names 
of  McClellan,  Rosecrans,  and  Cox.  The  proposed  new  State  had  organ¬ 
ized  and  chosen  Pierpont  for  Governor,  and  Carlisle  and  Willey  for 
United  States  Senators.  In  Missouri  a  kindred  movement  was  in 
progress,  the  State  Convention  having  formally  deposed  the  Governor 
and  other  officials  for  treason,  and  chosen  loval  men  in  their  stead. 
The  deposed  officials  had  thereupon  allied  themselves  to  the  rebels, 
and  claimed  that  Missouri  had  thereby  joined  the  Confederacy.  Its 
citizens  divided  according  to  their  feelings;  some  adhering  to  the  re¬ 
bellion,  others  to  the  Union. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Washington  the  Union  Army  was 
steadily  growing  in  numbers.  General  Sanford  was  sent  with  New 
York  troops  to  strengthen  General  Patterson’s  command  at  Williams¬ 
port.  Skirmishes  occurred  at  and  near  Harper’s  Ferry,  at  Great 
Falls,  and  Martinsburg.  Batteries  were  repeatedly  erected  at  various 
points  on  the  Potomac,  and  were  destroyed  or  dislodged  by  the  naval 
vessels,  though  not  without  serious  loss  of  life. 

And  now,  after  so  many  weeks  devoted  to  preparation,  the  public 
grew  impatient  for  an  advance  movement.  The  Army,  greater  than 
those  which  had  invaded  Mexico,  or  fought  Great  Britain  in  1812, 
seemed  an  enormous  force,  that  must  be  irresistible.  General  Scott,  by 
whose  advice  the  Administration  jiad  been  guided  in  strategic  matters, 
thought  it  better  to  defend  the  capital  and  its  communications,  and 
to  push  the  West  Virginia  campaign;  but  not  to  take  the  field,  with 
the  three  months  men,  whose  term  of  service  was  so  near  its  expira¬ 
tion.  When  enough  of  the  three  years  men  had  been  mustered  and 
drilled,  a  movement  on  Manassas  might  be  wise.  But  this  very  con¬ 
sideration  increased  the  popular  impatience.  The  three  months  men 
were  going  home,  when  they  might  have  “  crushed  the  rebellion." 
Scott  was  ridiculed  as  tl  Old  Fuss  and  Feathers/’  denounced  as  an 
“old  fool,”  for  keeping  the  Army  “cooped  up”  in  his  “useless 
earthworks”  around  Washington;  when  they  ought  to  be  marching 
to  capture  Richmond.  “  On  to  Richmond,”  soon  became  a  popular 
watchword.  The  feeling  found  expression  through  the  press,  and  the 
members  of  Congress;  the  urgent  appeals  for  an  advance  being  occa¬ 
sionally  coupled  with  hints  about  the  “imbecility”  of  the  Adminis¬ 
tration,  and  the  “disloyalty”  of  the  military  commanders.  Finally 
it  was  deemed  no  longer  prudent  to  oppose  it.  An  advance  was 
ordered,  of  the  troops  under  command  of  McDowell,  which  were  gen¬ 
erally  understood  to  be  about  fifty  thousand  men. 


598 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BULL  RUN. 


[1861. 


Seward,  in  a  hasty  note  to  Mrs.  Seward,  wrote: 

(Private.) 

July. 

I  snatch  a  moment  to  write  a  few  words. 

We  are  on  the  eve  of  a  conflict  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  Potomac,  prob¬ 
ably  some  day  this  week.  It  will  be  v'ery  important. 

Clarence  has  gone,  with  reinforcements,  to  General  Patterson,  at  Martins- 
burg,  and  there  may  be  a  conflict  there.  So  in  Western  Virginia,  a  battle  is 
looked  for  daily.  We  are  past  danger  in  Europe,  if  we  meet  with  no  disaster. 

The  story  of  the  battle  of  Ball  Bun  has  been  told  too  often  to 
need  repetition  here.  Those  who  witnessed  and  took  part  in  it  have 
described  its  incidents  and  results. 

During  that  eventful  Sunday,  Seward  was  receiving,  at  the  depart¬ 
ment,  and  at  his  house,  frequent  news  of  the  progress  of  the  battle. 
The  Army,  equipped  with  the  latest  inventions  of  modern  warfare, 
had  a  field  telegraph,  whose  chief  station  was  at  Fairfax  Court  House. 
Every  twenty  minutes,  a  mounted  orderly  would  dash  up  to  the  door 
with  a  copy  of  a  telegram  from  the  field,  just  received  at  the  War 
Department,  and  sent  round  to  the  President  and  Cabinet.  These 
telegrams  reported  the  successive  phases  of  the  battle:  “Heavy 
firing  on  the  left/’  “  Rebels  driven  back  on  the  Sudley  road,”  “  Gen¬ 
eral  Hunter  wounded,”  “Union  advance  on- the  right  temporarily 
checked  by  artillery,”  “  Now  regaining  lost  ground,”  etc.,  etc.  Oc¬ 
casional  visitors,  coming  in,  reported  that  the  sound  of  cannon  was 
distinctly  heard  at  high  and  exposed  points  like  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol,  and  on  Georgetown  Heights.  Finally,  between  four  and  five 
o’clock,  came  an  exultant  dispatch,  in  which  the  operator  announced 
that  “the  Union  Army  had  achieved  a  glorious  victory.”  Seward 
was  just  sitting  down  to  dinner,  after  this  news,  when  Secretary  Chase 
came  in,  saying  that  later  dispatches  gave  less  favorable  intelligence. 
Not  long  after  that  came  the  startling  dispatch:  “  General  McDowell’s 
army  in  full  retreat  through  Centerville.  The  day  is  lost.  Save 
Washington  and  the  remnants  of  the  Army.”  And  then  the  telegraph 
suddenly  stopped. 

Manifestly,  a  great  disaster  had  occurred.  Seward  spent  the  even¬ 
ing  with  the  President,  at  the  War  Department,  and  General  Scott’s 
head-quarters,  where  every  effort  was  made  to  retrieve  the  unlooked- 
for  misfortune.  Troops  were  sent  out  to  the  relief  of  the  returning 
fugitives.  Reinforcements  were  called  in  from  New  York  and  Penn¬ 
sylvania.  Orders  were  sent  to  Baltimore  and  along  the  railway  line 
for  redoubled  vigilance  in  guarding  Northern  communications.  When 
he  returned  after  midnight,  he  told  his  family:  “Every  thing  is 


1861.] 


AFTER  BULL  RUN. 


599 


being  done  that  mortal  man  can  do.  Scott  is  grieved  and  disap¬ 
pointed,  but  is  working  steadily  and  saying  little.  Mansfield  (in 
command  of  the  defenses  of  the  city)  is  dispatching  orders  with 
marvelous  speed,  coupled  with  an  occasional  outburst  of  wrath  at 
the  unnecessary  panic.  He  is  sending  forward  detachments  from  the 
troops  left  in  the  forts,  and  from  the  camps  of  the  new  regiments 
arrived  since  McDowell’s  march.  He  says  his  detachments  have  gone 
out  to,  and  into,  and  through,  and  beyond  the  mass  of  fugitives,  and 
they  report  there  is  nobody  in  pursuit.  What  went  out  an  army  is 
surging  back  toward  Washington  as  a  disorganized  mob.  They 
fought  well,  did  nobly,  and  apparently  had  gained  the  day,  when  some 
unreasonable  alarm  started  a  retreat.  If  the  officers  had  experience 
and  the  men  discipline,  they  could  be  rallied,  and  could  be  marched 
clear  back  to  the  field  without  meeting  an  enemy.  But  as  it  is,  he 
thinks  they  will  not  be  rallied  until  they  reach  the  Potomac.  And 
now  I  shall  go  up  and  get  a  night’s  sleep,  for  I  foresee  there  is  going 
to  be  work  for  me  to  do  to-morrow.” 

Meanwhile,  horsemen  and  ambulances  with  the  wounded  began  to 
arrive.  All  through  the  night  and  the  next  day  the  stream  of  weary, 
disbanded,  and  fagged-out  soldiers  came  pouring  over  the  bridges  into 
the  city  and  spread  through  the  streets.  When  they  had  marched  to 
the  field  a  few  days  before,  their  camps  were  broken  up,  and  now  they 
were  literally  houseless  and  homeless.  Most  of  them  had  thrown 
away  their  rations,  many  their  arms  and  accoutrements.  A  steady 
drizzling  rain  set  in,  adding  to  their  discomfort,  and  it  continued  two 
days.  But  all  the  inhabitants  of  Washington  were  eager  to  hear  the 
details  of  the  battle,  and  all  were  either  hospitable  and  kind-hearted 
enough,  or  patriotic  and  grateful  enough,  to  receive  the  soldiers  and 
give  them  shelter  and  refreshment  in  their  houses.  In  return  they 
got  such  accounts  as  each  wanderer  could  give  of  his  own  share  in  the 
incidents  of  the  day. 

Early  Monday  morning  Seward  went  over  to  the  department  to  go 
to  work.  Everybody  was  eagerly  speculating  as  to  the  chances  of  a 
rebel  attack  on  the  city.  He  felt  no  apprehension  on  that  score,  but 
he  knew  that  this  defeat  would  be  a  source  of  fresh  complications 
abroad  —  where  the  news  of  it  would  be  hailed  as  presaging  the  suc¬ 
cess  of  the  rebellion  and  the  inability  of  the  Government  to  check  it. 
Looking  from  the  department  windows,  a  motley  array  of  soldiers,  in 
every  kind  of  militia  uniform,  mingled  with  teamsters,  laborers,  and 
towns-people,  were  seen  scattered  through  Fifteenth  street,  and  up 
and  down  the  avenue.  The  only  group  that  seemed  to  have  any 
regularity  or  cohesion  was  one  of  about  a  dozen  Zouaves,  in  blue 


000 


AFTER  BULL  RUN". 


[1861. 


blouses  and  red  trowsers,  drawn  up  in  a  line  in  front  of  the  Treasury 
Department.  A  messenger  sent  out  to  make  inquiries  returned  with 
the  statement:  “  They  say  they  are  all  that  is  left  of  the  New  York 
Fire  Zouaves.  All  the  rest  of  the  regiment  is  cut  to  pieces!”  But 
presently  a  visitor  came  in  who  had  seen  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
more  of  the  Zouaves  in  another  part  of  the  town.  So  it  was  with 
other  regiments.  The  various  squads  were  hopelessly  intermixed,  and 
each  squad  had  the  impression  it  was  “  all  that  was  left.” 

It  was  not  an  easy  day  to  write  diplomatic  dispatches,  for  every  . 
minute  brought  some  visitors  who  wanted  news  or  encouragement,  or 
who  came  to  impart  news  of  some  fresh  disaster.  Nevertheless,  he 
found  time  to  prepare  communications,  instructing  Ministers  abroad 
as  to  the  new  responsibilities  which  the  great  defeat  would  impose 
upon  them.  He  closed  an  elaborate  dispatch  to  Mr.  Adams,  by 
saying  : 

The  policy  of  the  Government  is  in  no  case  likely  to  be  changed  whatever 
may  be  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  war  at  home,  or  the  action  of  foreign  na¬ 
tions.  The  policy  of  these  United  States  is  not  a  creature  of  the  Government, 
but  an  inspiration  of  the  people;  while  the  policy  of  foreign  States  are  at  the 
choice,  mainly,  of  the  Governments  presiding  over  them. 

If,  through  error,  on  whatever  side,  this  civil  contention  shall  transcend  the 
natioual  bounds  and  involve  foreign  States,  the  energies  of  all  commercial 
nations,  including  our  own,  will  necessarily  be  turned  to  war,  and  a  general 
carnival  of  the  adventurous  and  the  reckless  of  all  countries,  at  the  cost  of  the 
existing  commerce  of  the  world,  must  ensue. 

Writing  home,  he  said  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

July  22. 

I  am  sorry  that  the  danger  of  publicity  obliges  me  to  be  content  with  writ¬ 
ing  instead  of  telegraphing. 

One  great  battle  has  been  disastrously  lost,  and  nothing  remains  but  to  re¬ 
organize  and  begin  again.  It  was  an  accidental  panic,  I  think,  but  the  dread 
inspired  by  supposed  superior  numbers  rendered  it  uncontrollable.  We  do 
not  fear  for  the  safety  of  the  city,  or  of  course  for  our  own.  Be  not  alarmed. 


1861.] 


GENERAL  OFFICERS  FOR  THE  ARMY. 


601 


CHAPTER  LXIV. 

1861. 

After  “  Bull  Run."  “  Beginning  Again.”  Quelling  a  Mutiny.  Reorganizing  the  Army. 
Judge  Wayne’s  Decision.  Great  Britain  and  “Paper  Blockades.”  “Three 
Months  Men  ”  and  “Three  Years  Men.”  Growth  of  the  “Army  of  the  Potomac.”  Visit 
of  Prince  Napoleon.  Arrest  of  Spies  and  Blockade-Runners.  “Seward’s  Little 
Bell.”  Garibaldi.  Battles  and  Skirmishes  in  Missouri  and  Virginia.  The  llatteras 
Expedition.  Washington  in  War  Time.  The  Maryland  Legislature. 


Nothing  remained,  as  Seward  had  said,  but  to  “  reorganize  and 
begin  again.”  The  reorganization  was  prompt  and  vigorous.  A  pro¬ 
vost  guard  was  sent  through  the  streets  to  gather  up  the  multitude  of 
stragglers  and  distribute  them  to  their  respective  forts  and  camps. 
Rations  and  camp  equipage,  arms  and  accoutrements  were  issued  to 
supply  the  place  of  those  lost.  The  wounded  were  placed  in  hos¬ 
pitals.  Very  soon  the  city  and  its  surrounding  defenses  had  resumed 
the  aspect  they  wore  before  the  battle.  Drills  and  parades  began 
again,  the  sentries  paced' their  rounds,  and  the  long  trains  of  army 
wagons  rumbled  through  the  streets. 

The  question  of  general  officers  for  the  Army  was  a  subject  of  fre¬ 
quent  discussion  and  anxiety.  One  of  the  memoranda  prepared  by 
Seward,  to  submit  to  the  President,  and  based  on  suggestions  of  Gen¬ 
eral  Scott,  was  this: 

Men  Jit  to  be  Generals. 

McClellan,  Halleck,  McDowell,  Richardson,  Keyes,  Sherman,  Wright, 
Woodbury,  Kearney,  Stone. 

General  McClellan,  under  whose  command  victories  had  been  gained 
in  West  Virginia,  was  called  to  the  command  of  the  “Army  of  the 
Potomac.”  General  Rosecrans  succeeded  him  in  West  Virginia. 
General  McDowell  remained  in  charge  of  the  defenses  at  Arlington 
and  Alexandria.  General  Banks  succeeded  General  Patterson  at  Har¬ 
per’s  Ferry.  General  Butler  was  continued  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and 
General  Dix  placed  in  command  at  Baltimore.  General  Andrew  Por¬ 
ter  was  made  Provost-Marshal  of  Washington.  The  Army  was  di¬ 
vided  into  brigades  and  divisions,  and  Generals  Thomas,  Heintzleman, 
Keyes,  Franklin,  Sherman,  Buell,  Burnside,  Fitz-John  Porter,  An¬ 
derson,  and  others  were  assigned  to  commands.  The  officers  that 
were  with  Anderson  at  Fort  Sumter,  and  with  Slemmer  at  Fort  Pick¬ 
ens,  as  well  as  those  who  had  won  credit  at  “Bull  Run”  and  in  the 
West,  received  promotions  and  commissions. 

Thomas  A.  Scott,  whose  management  of  the  Government  railways 


602 


A  MUTINY  QUELLED. 


[1861. 


and  telegraphs  had  shown  rare  capacity  and  vigor,  was  now  made  As¬ 
sistant  Secretary  of  War. 

Congress  devoted  the  closing  days  of  its  session  with  commendable 
energy,  to  “  war  legislation,”  granting  whatever  powers,  men,  and 
money  the  crisis  called  for.  The  people  of  the  loyal  States,  though 
surprised,  disappointed,  and  shocked  by  the  defeat,  set  themselves 
only  the  more  sternly  to  work  to  retrieve  it.  Offers  of  volunteer  regi¬ 
ments  came  by  mail  and  telegraph;  and  for  a  while  none  were  refused. 
Throughout  the  Northern  cities  the  business  of  recruiting  was  renewed 
with  less  enthusiasm,  but  with  dogged  persistence  and  determination. 

Yet  signs  of  demoralization  and  discord  were  not  lacking  in  Wash¬ 
ington.  Many  employes  and  citizens  now  hastened  to  quit  town  and 
join  the  Confederates,  who  were  celebrating  their  victory  with  salutes, 
thanksgivings,  and  proclamations  throughout  the  South.  Sympathizers 
with  secession  were  emboldened,  and  hardly  concealed  their  exultation. 
Journals  of  doubtful  loyalty  found  readers  and  were  encouraged  to 
renewed  attacks  on  the  Administration.  Discontents  and  mutinous 
demonstrations  were  reported  in  some  of  the  camps. 

Seward  suggested  to  the  President  that  visits  by  him  to  some  of  the 
regiments  would  stimulate  the  soldiers’  zeal  and  patriotism.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  they  went  together,  on  two  successive  days  —  devoting  one 
to  the  camps  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  river,  and  the  other  to  those 
in  Virginia.  Their  presence  and  words  of  encouragement  seemed  to 
have  good  effect. 

At  one  fort  there  was  an  angry  feeling  which  threatened  mutiny. 
The  Government  had  reckoned  the  term  of  the  “three  months  men  ” 
to  be  from  the  day  they  were  mustered  into  the  United  States  service. 
Some  of  them  now  said  it  was  three  months  since  they  left  their 
homes,  and  they  were  going  back.  One  officer,  who  was  a  lawyer, 
had  rather  defiantly  announced  to  his  colonel,  that  he  was  going  to 
New  York  that  day,  and  told  those  around  him  they  had  the  same 
right.  It  happened,  however,  that  the  colonel  was  William  T.  Sher¬ 
man,  who,  with  prompt  decision,  informed  him  that  if  he  attempted 
to  leave  without  orders,  he  would  be  shot.  When  the  carriage  con¬ 
taining  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State  entered  the  fort,  and 
the  men  gathered  round  it  to  see  and  listen,  the  officer,  pale  and 
angry, forced  his  way  through  the  crowd,  and.  said:  “Mr.  President, 
I  have  a  cause  of  grievance.  This  morning  I  went  to  speak  to  Col¬ 
onel  Sherman,  and  he  threatened  to  shoot  me.” 

Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  standing  up,  looked  gravely  down,  first  at 
him,  and  then  at  Sherman,  who  was  sitting  quietly  in  the  carriage, 
and  said:  “Did  he!  did  he  threaten  to  shoot  you  ?” 


1861.] 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  DEFEAT. 


003 


“  Yes,  sir;  he  threatened  to  shoot  me  like  a  dog!” 

Lincoln  leaned  over,  and  in  a  loud  whisper  that  all  around  could 
hear,  said:  “  If  I  were  you,  and  he  threatened  to  shoot,  I  would  not 
trust  him,  for  I  verily  believe  he  would  do  it.” 

The  burst  of  laughter  that  greeted  the  President's  unexpected  re¬ 
sponse  showed  that  that  mutiny  was  over.  To  Sherman's  explana¬ 
tion  of  the  facts  of  the  case,  the  President  replied: 

“Of  course,  I  didn’t  know  any  thing  about  it;  but  I  thought  you 
knew  your  own  business  best.” 

Seward's  dispatches  by  the  next  outgoing  mail  said  to  Mr.  Adams: 

Our  “Army  of  the  Potomac,”  on  Saturday  last,  met  a  reverse,  equally  severe 
and  unexpected.  For  a  day  or  two,  the  panic  which  had  produced  the  result 
was  followed  by  a  panic  which  threatened  to  demoralize  the  country.  But 
that  evil  has  ceased.  1  he  result  is  already  seen  in  a  vigorous  reconstruction, 
on  a  scale  of  greater  magnitude.  The  exaggerations  of  the  result  have  been 
as  great  as  the  public  impatience,  perhaps,  which  brought  it  about.  The 
vigor  of  the  Government  will  be  increased.  Do  not  be  misled  by  reports  of 
dangers  apprehended  for  the  capital. 

To  Mr.  Marsh,  at  Turin,  he  wrote: 

1  ou  will  be  pained  by  the  intelligence  of  a  reverse  of  our  arms  near  Ma¬ 
nassas  Junction,  and  I  fear  it  will,  for  a  time,  operate  to  excite  apprehensions, 
and  encourage  the  enemies  of  the  Union  in  Europe;  but  the  blow  has  already 
spent  its  force  here,  without  producing  other  effect  than  renewed  resolution 
and  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  Government,  The  lesson,  that  war  cannot 
be  waged  successfully  without  wisdom  as  well  as  patriotism,  has  been  re¬ 
ceived,  at  a  severe  cost,  but,  perhaps,  it  was  necessary.  It  is  certain  that  wTe 
are  improving  upon  it. 

To  Mr.  Davton,  at  Paris,  he  said : 

•>  7  7  . 

For  a  week  or  two,  that  event  will  elate  the  friends  of  the  insurgents  in 
Europe,  as  it  confounded  and  bewildered  the  friends  of  the  Union  here,  for 
two  or  three  days.  The  shock,  however,  has  passed  away,  producing  no  other 
results  than  a  resolution,  stronger  and  deeper  than  ever,  to  maintain  the 
Union,  and  a  prompt  and  effective  augmentation  of  the  forces  for  that  end, 
exceeding  what  would  otherwise  have  been  possible.  The  heart  of  the  coun¬ 
try  is  sound. 

A  week  later,  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Seward  said: 

July  28. 

You  can  imagine  the  sadness,  the  labors,  and  the  anxieties  of  the  past  week, 
if  you  can  conceive  how  that  terrible  reverse  of  our  arms  demoralized  the 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Army,  bewildered  all  the  civilians,  and  disheartened 
the  community  around  me.  But  you  will  need  after — 

(He  is  interrupted  here,  by  visitors,  who  will  not  go  before  the  mail  does,  so 
I  send  it  as  it  is.  F.  W.  S.) 


[1861. 


604  “  CIRCULARS  ON  THE  MILITARY  SITUATION. ” 


July  29. 

I  tried  last  night  to  write  you,  but  my  letter  was  cut  off  at  the  beginning  of 
a  second  paragraph. 

Do  not  be  discouraged  or  alarmed  by  the  sad  disaster  of  last  week.  We 
shall  now  have  an  opportunity,  as  well  as  a  right,  to  be  wise.  Who  could  ex¬ 
pect  a  war  to  be  successful  conducted  without  wisdom?  There  are  a  thousand 
rumors  of  attacks,  in  none  of  which  I  put  any  belief. 

Fred  has  gone  to  New  York  to  meet  the  Bonapartes. 


*  {Private.) 


July  31. 

If  there  were  vigor  and  resources  enough  in  the  disunion  army  to  attack 
Washington  at  all,  we  should  now  be  seeing  an  attempt  to  rise  in  Maryland, 
and  to  invade  the  city  on  all  sides.  This  is  not  now  contemplated.  We  shall 
probably  have  no  new  military  operations  right  here.  I  do  not  foresee  a  bet¬ 
ter  time  for  you  to  come  to  the  capital.  It  is  August,  indeed,  but  our  house 
is  shaded  and  cool. 


He  now  began  sending  each  week  a  concise  resume  of  the  progress 
made  by  the  military  and  naval  forces.  Intended,  at  first,  to  give  the 
American  Ministers  abroad  such  exact  information  of  the  state  of 
affairs  at  home  as  they  would  need,  and  could  not  otherwise  obtain, 
the  “  Circular  on  the  Military  Situation,”  as  it  was  called,  soon  came 
to  have  still  greater  usefulness.  It  enabled  the  Ministers  to  authori¬ 
tatively  contradict  the  adverse  rumors  set  afloat  by  the  rebels.  Minis¬ 
ters  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Cabinets  and  Courts  soon  found  that  the  state¬ 
ments  of  the  American  Minister  were  the  only  ones  that  were  always 
reliable.  Their  own  agents  in  the  United  States  had  no  such  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  ascertaining  the  precise  facts:  and  the  newspapers  had  a 
maze  of  conflicting  reports.  In  cases  of  doubt  the  American  Minister 
was  referred  to  for  the  facts;  and,  during  the  progress  of  the  war,  the 
information  he  gave  had  its  influence  in  determining  their  course. 

The  “  Circulars  on  the  Military  Situation  ”  were  continued  as  long 
as  the  war  lasted.  In  Mr.  Baker’s  edition  of  “  Seward’s  Works”  he 
has  gathered  them  together  under  the  title  of  “  Notes  on  the  War.” 

One  day,  information  was  brought  to  General  Scott  of  a  legal  pro¬ 
ceeding,  which,  though  trivial  in  itself,  was  fraught  with  grave  conse¬ 
quences.  A  soldier  in  a  regiment  at  the  Point  of  Rocks,  tired  of  ser¬ 
vice,  had  employed  a  lawyer,  who  made  application  to  Judge  Wayne 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  for  his  discharge,  on  the  ground 
that  his  enlistment  was  illegal,  having  been  made  under  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  call,  which  had  no  sanction  of  law,  and  its  subsequent  sanction 
by  Congress  was  ex  post  facto ,  and,  therefore,  void.  Thereupon  the 
colonel,  in  obedience  to  the  summons  of  the  court,  had  brought  the 
soldier  to  town. 


1861.] 


ENLISTMENTS  VALID  Oil  VOID  ? 


G05 

“What,  sir!”  said  the  General,  in  his  sternest  tones,  “do  you  tell 
me  that  a  colonel  of  the  Army  leaves  his  post,  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  to  go  to  town  —  to  answer  a  writ  in  a  lawsuit?” 

His  first  impulse  was  to  send  them  back  again,  but  realizing  that 
the  question  was  an  important  one,  he  advised  the  Administration. 
The  President  sent  for  Seward,  and  the  result  of  the  conference  was 
that  the  ex-Attorney-General,  Mr.  Stanton,  was  employed  to  argue 
the  case  in  behalf  of  the  Government.  Judge  Wayne  was  an  eminent, 
upright  jurist,  loyal  to  the  Union,  but  he  was  known  to  be  a  firm  de¬ 
fender  of  constitutional  rights  and  privileges.  Furthermore,  he  was 
from  Georgia,  and  had  relatives  in  both  armies.  So  the  complainant 
hoped  for  a  favorable  decision  from  him.  The  argument  was  duly 
made. 

Stanton  came  to  Seward,  saying  he  did  not  know  what  the  decision 
would  be,  though  it  was  very  important  that  it  should  be  right,  for  if 
one  soldier’s  enlistment  was  illegal  all  were,  and  that  doctrine  would 
dissolve  the  Army. 

Seward  said,  “Stanton,  we  must  not  have  a  wrong  decision.  A 
right  one  will  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Government.” 

“But,”  said  Stanton,  “you  can’t  ‘ coerce’  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  to  make  a  right  decision;  nor  even  to  tell 
you  how  lie  is  going  to  decide.” 

“  Uo,”  said  Seward,  “but  we  can  prevent  a  wrong  decision  from 
being  carried  into  execution.  The  nation’s  life  is  greater  than  the 
dignity  of  the  nation’s  court.” 

The  Judge  took  the  papers,  and  reserved  his  decision.  But  the 
general  tone  of  his  remarks  showed  what  kind  of  opinions  he  held 
upon  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  different  branches  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment. 

“It  is  all  right,”  said  Stanton,  when  they  next  met,  “with  those 
opinions  he  could  not  make  a  wrong  decision  if  he  tried.” 

The  decision  was  made;  and  it  sustained  the  Government,  and 
ended  all  similar  controversies.  Enlistments  were  binding,  and  the 
Army  legally  assembled.  It  was  published,  and  scattered  broadcast; 
and  rendered  its  share  of  good  service  in  maintaining  the  Union.  It 
mav  be  of  interest  to  note  here,  that  eight  years  later,  on  the  death  of 
Judge  Wayne,  Mr.  Stanton  was  nominated  as  his  successor  on  the 
Bench. 

Dispatches  from  Mr.  Adams  foreshadowed  trouble  about  the  new 
law  closing  the  ports  of  the  insurrectionary  States.  The  Ministry 
were  saying  they  would  respect  an  actual  blockade;  but  they  would 
not  recognize  the  closing  of  the  ports  by  law.  They  likened  it  to  the 


606 


THE  BLOCKADE. 


[1861. 


case  of  New  Grenada,  where  British  ships,  under  the  protection  of 
British  cruisers,  continued  to  trade,  in  defiance  of  such  a  prohibition. 
The  cases  were  hardly  parallel;  New  Grenada  relying  solely  on  her 
“paper  blockade,”  and  having  no  competent  navy;  while  the  United 
States  had  naval  vessels  already  off  the  Southern  harbors,  and  others 
hurrying  forward  as  fast  as  equipped,  to  make  the  blockade  effective. 
But  the  allusion  showed  the  thought,  not  unnatural  in  the  European 
mind,  that  the  United  States  were  following  the  example  of  their 
Spanish-American  neighbors,  becoming  first  a  prey  to  internal  dis¬ 
cords,  and  then  incapable  of  resisting  foreign  dictation. 

Seward  replied: 

The  United  States  and  Great  Britain  have  assumed  incompatible,  and  thus 
far  irreconcilable  positions,  on  the  subject  of  the  existing  insurrection.  The 
United  States  claim,  and  insist  that  the  integrity  of  the  Republic  is  unbroken. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  British  Government,  without  waiting  to 
hear  from  the  United  States,  had,  at  the  very  outset,  hastened  to  issue 
a  proclamation  implying  that  the  disloyal  citizens  in  the  rebellion 
were  regarded  as  on  equal  footing  with  the  Federal  Government 
itself,  and  that  Great  Britain  was  to  stand  in  the  attitude  of  “  neu¬ 
trality”  between  them  as  “belligerents.”  Giving  then  a  history  of 
the  law  under  discussion,  he  said: 

Congress  has  employed  itself  less  in  directing  how,  and  in  what  wray  the 
Union  shall  be  maintained,  than  in  confirming  what  the  President  has  already 
done;  and  in  putting  into  his  hands  more  ample  means  and  greater  power. 
The  law  in  question  was  passed  in  this  generous  and  patriotic  spirit.  Whether 
it  shall  be  put  in  execution  to-day,  or  to-morrow,  or  at  what  time,  will  depend 
on  the  condition  of  affairs  at  home  and  abroad. 

Then  after  showing  that  an  active  blockade  existed,  and  was  grow¬ 
ing  more  effective,  he  remarked: 

O  "  ' 

He  will  put  into  execution,  and  maintain  it  with  all  the  means  at  his  com¬ 
mand,  at  the  hazard  of  whatever  consequences,  whenever  it  shall  appear  that 
the  safety  of  the  nation  requires  it. 

The  Army  was  now  quietly  but  rapidly  disintegrating  and  recom¬ 
bining.  Nearly  every  day,  one  or  more  of  the  “three  months”  regi¬ 
ments  were  starting  for  home;  while  the  trains  from  the  North  were 
bringing  the  new  “three  years”  men.  Many  who  had  served  during 
the  brief  term,  immediately  reenlisted,  and  returned  either  as  privates, 
or  officers  for  the  longer  one.  So  the  “  Army  of  the  Potomac  ”  grad¬ 
ually  took  on  the  character  of  a  permanent  force. 

At  first  there  was  some  expectation  that  its  popular  and  capable 
young  commander  would,  after  a  few  weeks  of  preparation,  lead  it  at 


1 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIC 


PRINCE  NAPOLEON. 


GORTSCHAKOFF 


1861.] 


PRINCE  NAPOLEON  IN  WASHINGTON. 


607 


once  to  the  field  and  by  a  new  victory  eclipse  his  West  Virginia  record 
and  retrieve  Bull  Run.  It  was  soon  found  that  he  was  organizing  and 
perfecting  the  Army  with  skill  and  success,  but  that  another  advance 
need  not  at  present  be  looked  for.  “  All  quiet  along  the  Potomac,” 
was  the  telegraphic  announcement  of  each  morning’s,  papers. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  inaction,  that  Prince  Napoleon  (Jerome) 
visited  the  United  States.  Arrived  off  the  Battery  in  his  steam  yacht, 
accompanied  by  the  Princess  Clotilde  and  his  suite,  he  spent  a  day  or 
two  in  New  York  harbor.  The  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  was  sent 
to  welcome  him  and  invite  him  to  visit  Washington.  Reaching  there 
a  few  days  later,  Seward  received  him  and  presented  him  to  the  Presi¬ 
dent,  who  gave  a  State  dinner  in  his  honor.  Another  at  the  French 
Legation  was  followed  by  one  at  the  Secretary  of  State’s,  and  that  by 
an  evening  reception  at  which  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  Cabinet  officers 
and  military  commanders  were  present.  As  he  stood  that  evening  by 
the  mantel,  wearing  white  vest,  red  ribbon  and  decoration,  and  with 
his  hands  behind  his  back,  his  features,  air,  and  attitude  showed  a 
resemblance  to  the  pictures  of  the  first  Napoleon  that  was  startling. 

During  the  dinner  at  the  White  House,  the  Marine  Band  was  sta¬ 
tioned  in  the  vestibule.  The  band-master  was  desirous  of  giving 
something  appropriately  French,  but  was  not  versed  in  the  mutations 
of  Parisian  politics.  So,  in  one  of  the  solemn  pauses  incident  to 
every  State  dinner,  he  struck  up  “The  Marseillaise.”  As  that  revo¬ 
lutionary  lyric  was  tabooed  iu  Paris  during  the  Empire  —  a  smile  ap¬ 
peared  on  the  faces  of  the  guests.  “  Mais  oui,”  the  Prince  was 
reported  to  say,  “  id  je  suis  Republicain .” 

Republican  he  certainly  was  as  regarded  the  war.  His  outspoken 
belief  in  the  Union,  and  his  cheerful  faith  in  its  triumph,  were  in  a 
strong  contrast  to  the  undertone  of  despondency  in  the  talk  of  many 
around  him.  His  friendly  opinions,  his  easy  manner,  and  perfect 
command  of  English  made  him  very  welcome  in  Washington.  He 
was  much  interested  in  army  matters  and  drove  out  with  Seward  to 
visit  several  of  the  camps  and  study  the  character  of  this  novel  organ¬ 
ization  of  citizen  soldiers.  Subsequently,  accompanied  by  the  French 
Minister,  he  visited  the  Confederate  head-quarters,  both  armies  allow¬ 
ing  him  to  pass  through  their  lines.  When  he  returned,  he  said  he 
had  been  treated  with  much  courtesy  and  hospitality.  He,  of  course, 
refrained  from  speaking  of  any  thing  he  had  seen  or  heard  within 
the  rebel  lines.  But  it  was  manifest,  from  his  general  conversation, 
that  his  opinions  on  the  outcome  of  the  war  had  undergone  no  change. 

The  Union  defeat  not  only  stimulated  blockade  runners,  spies,  and 
rebel  agents  to  fresh  activity,  but  inspired  new  and  louder  complaints 


608 


ARBITRARY  ARRESTS. 


[1861. 


<( 


fj 


about  “  arbitrary  arrests.”  Every  one,  it  was  claimed,  was  entitled  to 
habeas  corpus  and  jury  trial  as  much  in  war  time  as  in  peace.  As 
Seward  had  assumed  this  unpleasant  duty  he  became  the  especial  target 
of  abuse.  The  story  was  circulated  that  he  boasted  of  his  power,  say¬ 
ing  that  he  had  “  but  to  ring  his  little  bell  ”  to  consign  any  citizen  to 
prison.  He  was  a  “tyrant,”  a  “  despot,”  a  “  subverter  of  Republi- 
can  Government,”  and  a  perpetrator  of  “black  crimes”  and  “out¬ 
rageous  villanies.” 

The  local  authorities  at  the  North,  and  the  military  officers,  how¬ 
ever,  lent  all  needed  help;  and  in  New  York,  where  disloyalists  con¬ 
gregated,  the  names  of  the  Board  of  Police,  Superintendent  Kennedy, 
Marshal  Murray,  and  Oapt.  Martin  Burke  of  Fort  Lafayette,  soon  be¬ 
came  a  terror  to  this  class  of  evil-doers. 

Yet  no  nation  in  history  ever  dealt  with  its  spies  and  conspirators 
so  leniently.  Instead  of  being  sent  to  galleys  or  chain-gang,  hanged 
or  shot,  they  were  locked  up  in  the  forts  to  prevent  their  doing  fur¬ 
ther  mischief;  and,  meanwhile,  they  fared  as  well  as  the  officers.  It 
was  not  “  trial”  that  they  really  wanted,  but  the  immunity  which  the 
“  law’s  delay  ”  would  give  them  to  continue  their  treasonable  prac¬ 
tices. 

A  free  people  are  naturally  jealous  of  individual  rights,  and  at  first 
there  was  a  popular  inclination  to  listen  with  some  patience  to  these 
complaints  of  injustice.  But  when  it  was  found  that  the  habeas  cor¬ 
pus  and  jury  trial  were  still  open  to  all  except  those  caught  in  flagrant 
treason,  and  when  plot  after  plot  came  to  light  for  sending  arms  and 
information  to  the  enemy,  for  stopping  enlistments,  wrecking  ships, 
destroying  buildings  and  supplies,  as  well  as  for  arson,  robbery,  and 
murder,  a  revulsion  of  feeling  took  place,  and  it  came  to  be  the  popu¬ 
lar  belief  that  of  “  arbitrary  arrests  ”  there  were  not  too  many,  but 
too  few.  The  President’s  Message  had  stated  the  dilemma  with  clear¬ 
ness:' 

Are  all  the  laws  but  one  to  go  unexecuted,  and  the  Government  itself  to  go 
to  pieces,  lest  that  one  be  violated? 

In  regard  to  some  cases  arising  at  Rochester,  Seward  wrote  to  his 
old  friend,  S.  G.  Andrews: 

Every  civil  magistrate  who  is  anxious  to  see  the  Constitution  and  the  Union 
rescued  from  imminent  danger  may  wisely  and  patriotically  refuse  to  favor  dis¬ 
charges  of  volunteers  from  the  Army  on  any  ground  whatsoever.  Such  dis¬ 
charges  embarrass  the  efforts  to  effect  a  military  organization,  and  also  tend  to 
demoralize  the  forces,  and  render  them  unfit  for  action. 

Let  us  save  the  country,  and  then  cast  ourselves  upon  the  judgment  of  the 
people,  if  we  have,  in  any  case,  acted  without  legal  authority.  The  habeas 


SUSPENSION  OF  THE  HABEAS  CORPUS. 


609 


corpus  will  be  suspended  anywhere,  on  its  being  shown  that  it  is  necessary  to 
prevent  disorganization  or  demoralization  of  the  national  forces. 

It  was  found  necessary  now  to  extend  the  suspension  of  the  habeas 
corpus  to  other  States  besides  those  which  were  the  held  of  military 
conflict,  for  agents  and  spies  of  the  rebellion  were  at  work  throughout 
the  North.  He  wrote: 

To  Lieutenant-General  Winfield  Scott: 

The  military  line  of  the  United  States  for  the  suppression  of  the  insurrec¬ 
tion  having  been  extended  as  far  as  Bangor,  in  Maine,  you  and  any  officers  act¬ 
ing  under  your  authority  are  hereby  authorized  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  in  any  place  between  that  place  and  the  city  of  Washington. 

Oct,  14,  1861. 

An  intimation  had  come  through  Mr.  Sanford,  the  American  Minis¬ 
ter  at  Brussels,  that  General  Garibaldi  would  probably  be  willing  to 
come  over  to  fight  for  the  Union,  if  invited  to  do  so.  Seward,  in 
reply,  said: 

Say  to  him  that  his  services  in  the  present  contest  for  the  unity  and  liberty 
of  the  American  people  would  be  exceedingly  useful,  and  that,  therefore,  they 
are  earnestly  desired  and  invited.  Tell  him  that  the  fall  of  the  American 
LTnion  would  be  a  disastrous  blow  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom,  equally 
here,  in  Europe,  and  throughout  the  world.  Tell  him  that  he  will  receive  a 
major-general’s  commission  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  with  the  hearty 
welcome  of  the  American  people.  Tell  him  that  we  have  abundant  resources 
and  numbers  unlimited  at  our  command,  and  a  nation  resolved  to  remain  united 
and  free.  General  Garibaldi  will  recognize  in  me  not  merely  an  organ  of  the 
Government,  but  an  old  and  sincere  personal  friend. 

Garibaldi  found  it  impossible  to  come,  however,  his  presence  being 
required  by  enterprises  at  home  incident  to  the  struggle  for  national 
unity  in  Italy. 

While  quiet  reigned  along  the  Potomac,  news  was  coming  of  bat¬ 
tles  at  distant  points,  in  which  good  and  adverse  fortune  were  min¬ 
gled, —  the  expedition  to  Bird’s  Point,  the  battle  of  Wilson’s  Creek, 
and  death  of  General  Lyon,  the  march  of  Sigel  and  Sturgis,  the  cap¬ 
ture  of  the  camp  at  Fredrickton,  the  skirmish  at  Lexington,  the 
burning  of  Hampton,  the  engagements  at  Carnifex  Ferry  and  Grafton, 
and  various  minor  reconnoissances  and  engagements. 

The  Potomac  itself,  below  Mount  Vernon,  was  nearly  closed,  at  one 
time,  by  the  various  rebel  batteries.  The  Navy  succeeded  in  dislodg¬ 
ing  them;  and  as  a  final  precaution,  took  possession  of  all  the  vessels 
on‘ the  river,  for  government  use. 

Captain  Foote  was  sent  out  to  take  command  of  naval  operations  on 
39 


610 


THE  HATTERAS  EXPEDITION. 


[1861. 


the  Mississippi;  and  the  blockading  squadrons  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
were  rapidly  reinforced  with  new  vessels. 

Most  gratifying  news  of  all,  was  the  intelligence  of  the  success  of  the 
Hatteras  expedition,  under  command  of  General  Butler  and  Commo¬ 
dore  Stringham,  resulting  in  the  capture  of  the  Confederate  forts  and 
garrisons;  and  effecting  a  lodgment  of  the  Union  troops  on  the  North 
Carolina  coast. 

Seward  wrote  home: 

August  8. 

Congress  has  adjourned.  The  fiery  fever  of  political  impatience  has  cooled 
off.  Henceforth  the  struggle  begins  under  the  guidance  of  calmer  counsels. 
A  Government  prepared  for  war,  with  ample  means,  may  be  allowed  to  con¬ 
duct  operations,  with  a  view  to  ends,  not  the  indulgence  of  passions. 

August  10. 

You  will  see  that  the  disappointment  with  the  result  of  the  battle  at  Bull’s 
Bun  has  been  increasing,  until  it  has  condensed  into  despondency;  which  is 
shared  by  some  here,  and  is  apparently  by  many  elsewhere.  The  effect  is  to 
hinder  the  recruiting  of  volunteers,  now  very  necessary.  I  do  not  share  in 
any  of  these  fears.  I  see  only  a  reaction,  as  unreasonable  as  the  blind  confi¬ 
dence  which  preceded  the  great  battle  was  unreasoning.  But  I  am  willing 
to  let  the  despondency  work  out  its  cure,  and  bring  about  a  more  vigorous 
effort  than  before.  Every  day  the  enemy  is  pressed  by  the  necessity  for  mak¬ 
ing  a  demonstration  against  this  capital;  while  every  day  exhausts  his  strength 
and  increases  our  own. 

I  have  your  kind  and  affectionate  letter  of  Sunday  last,  but  not  at  this  mo¬ 
ment  the  leisure  to  write  at  large.  The  truth  is.  that  war  is  the  business  of 
the  Government;  I  am  necessarily  occupied  in  war  and  in  police.  I  look 
back,  and  see  that  there  has  not  been  a  day  since  last  January,  that  I  could, 
safely  for  the  Government,  have  been  absent. 

Soon  after  this,  Mrs.  Seward  came  down  from  Auburn,  for  a  brief 
visit.  In  her  letters  to  her  sister,  she  gave  a  picture  of  Washington 
life  at  this  period: 

Saturday ,  2  o'clock ,  P.  M. 

When  we  came  into  New  York  last  night,  the  first  thing  we  met  was  a 
recruiting  company.  When  we  crossed  the  river  this  morning,  a  company  of 
regulars,  and  another  of  Garibaldi  Guards,  came  with  us.  This  side  of  Wil¬ 
mington  there  was  a  large  depository  of  army  wagons  and  mules.  At  Havre- 
de-Grace,  we  found  the  first  encampment,  tents,  soldiers  and  all  their  appen¬ 
dages.  Henry  says  the  remainder  of  the  journey  will  be  a  continuation  of 
encampments  at  every  place  which  requires  guarding.  We  are  now  crossing 
an  arm  of  the  Bay,  and  will  be  in  Washington  at  six  o’clock,  when  I  will  finish 
my  letter. 

7  o'clock,  P.  M. 

Well,  we  are  safe  in  Washington.  I  will  send  my  notes  by  the  way,  trust¬ 
ing  to  your  ingenuity  to  read  them;  though  I  doubt  whether  any  one  else 


ubrary 

OF  THE 

JNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


I 


THE  HOUSE  IN  LAFAYETTE  SQUARE, 


IN  THE  GARDEN 


1861.] 


WASHINGTON  LIFE  IN  WAR  TIME. 


Gil 


could.  Our  journey  to-day  in  that  luxurious  car  has  not  fatigued  us  at  all. 
We  have  taken  possession  of  the  “Old  Club  House.”  *  *  *  The  first 

floor  has  a  large  hall,  wide  easy  stairs,  on  one  side  of  the  hall  a  library  and 
a  retired  office,  which  looks  upon  the  pretty  little  garden,  from  which  it  is 
°nlv  sepai ated  by  a  piazza.  This  room  is  lighted  from  the  east  and  partic¬ 
ularly  pleasant  in  the  morning.  A  pretty  climber  and  two  pendant  moss 
baskets  of  flowers  grace  the  piazza.  The  walks  in  the  little  garden  are  cov¬ 
ered  with  yellow  gravel.  The  background  is  planted  with  evergreens  to  shut 
off  the  stable-yard.  Through  these  evergreens  I  saw  Nicholas  showering  a  fine 
bay  horse,  with  the  water  from  the  aqueduct.  The  horse  seemed,  from  his 
perfect  quietness,  to  enjoy  the  operation.  I  called  to  Nicholas,  who  met  me 
in  the  passage-way  which  leads,  I  believe,  to  the  kitchen.  I  have  not  explored 
it  yet.  On  the  other  side  of  the  hall  is  a  large  dining-room,  back  of  which  is 
a  large  pantry,  and  small  closets. 

Last  evening  dinner  was  served  at  seven  o’clock.  After  dinner,  Henry  took 
Jennie  and  Fanny  to  see  the  President. 

At  the  Treasury  Department  to-day,  meeting  a  gentleman  in  one  of  the  pas¬ 
sages,  I  thought  his  face  familiar.  “Is  it  Mr.  Chase?”  said  I.  We  then 
shook  hands  cordially.  To  my  question:  “Why  did  you  pass  me  without 
recognition?”  he  made  no  answer.  Taking  off  his  large  straw  hat  he  looked 
quite  natural.  I  said:  “  You  look  well !  ”  He  replied:  “  I  have  to  work  too 
hard.” 

Henry  sleeps  and  eats  'well;  I  know  lie  works  too  hard;  yet  I  think  his 
situation  now  is  more  congenial  to  his  taste  than  his  position  in  the  Senate.  I 
will  give  you  the  occupation  of  one  day,  which,  with  the  addition  of  Cabinet 
meetings,  will  answer  for  others.  He  rises  at  seven,  sometimes  earlier,  goes 
to  the  library  or  piazza,  where  he  reads  the  morning  papers,  breakfast  at 
eight.  After  breakfast  a  cigar,  the  papers  or  visitors  until  nine,  when  he  and 
Fred  go  to  the  State  Department,  where  they  remain  until  five  o’clock.  When 
they  come  home  some  of  the  family  go  for  a  drive  with  Henry,  and  the  Presi¬ 
dent  goes  at  the  same  time,  with  his  carriage.  This  occupies  the  time  until 
seven,  the  hour  for  dining.  Always  two  or  three  or  four  gentlemen  to  dinner, 
which  is  always  well-cooked  and  handsomely  served.  After  dinner  the  time 
is  occupied  with  visitors  until  he  is  allowed  to  go  to  bed. 

When  there  are  Cabinet  meetings,  other  matters  yield  to  them.  I  did  not 
drive  last  evening.  Henry  went  with  the  President  to  visit  General  King’s 
Brigade.  Preston  King  and  two  other  gentlemen  were  at  dinner. 

Wednesday . 

There  were  rumors  of  an  engagement  on  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac 
yesterday,  but  nothing  serious  resulted.  The  day  was  very  warm.  At  five 
we  all  went  to  drive.  I  was  not  very  well,  and  preferred  our  own  carriage 
with  Fred  and  Anna.  The  others  went  with  the  President  in  his.  We  visited 
five  different  encampments,  but  did  not  get  out  of  the  carriage.  They  were 
all  in  the  direction  of  Silver  Spring  —  some  infantry,  some  cavalry.  The 
grooms  were  just  watering  the  horses  at  the  brook,  which  you  will  remember 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  What  a  multitude  there  were,  chiefly  bay,  and  all  well 


612 


WASHINGTON  IN  WAR  TIME. 


[1861- 


in  appearance.  One  or  two  regiments  were  drawn  up  for  evening  parade,  one 
going  through  some  evolutions,  others  wTere  cooking  their  suppers;  the  odor 
of  coffee  was  very  perceptible  in  the  vicinity  of  the  French  camp.  Picket 
guards  were  stationed  all  along  the  road.  Do  you  remember  the  brick  church 
on  the  hill?  A  fortification  lias  been  raised  in  front  of  it.  I  presume  the 
church  will  be  occupied  as  a  barrack.  The  white  tents  and  the  camp  fires 
were  very  pretty  to  look  upon;  but  war  is  terrible  in  its  consequences. 

There  were  guests  at  dinner,  but  I  was  too  tired  to  go  to  the  table.  I  went 
into  the  parlor,  however,  in  the  evening,  to  see  General  Scott,  who  compli¬ 
mented  me  with  a  visit.  Anna  says  it  is  the  first  he  has  made  since  the  war 
commenced.  He  looks  considerably  older,  is  a  little  lame,  but  his  memory 
astonished  me.  He  never  hesitated  in  calling  the  name  of  the  numberless 
officers  he  had  occasion  to  mention.  One  of  his  aides  was  with  him.  We 
talked  about  every  thing  but  the  war.  He  said  I  was  very  brave  to  come  at 
this  time.  It  was  rather  ignorance  than  bravery,  for  I  doubt  whether  I  should 
have  come,  had  I  known  how  imminent  an  engagement  was  at  an  early  day. 
The  General  said  it  was  a  month  too  soon  for  health,  but  so  far  the  season  here 
is  not  sickly.  I  came  to  my  room,  leaving  the  others  in  the  parlor.  I  wrent 
to  bed,  but  slept  little ;  I  was  up  many  times,  looking  at  the  long  line  of  army 
wagons  going,  going,  going  all  clay  and  all  night,  toward  the  Potomac. 

Citizens  were  not  allowed  to  cross  the  Long  Bridge  yesterday,  and  there 
wras  much  firing  across  the  river.  It  ceased  before  night.  I  could  hear  noth¬ 
ing  of  it  during  the  night. 

Henry  has  gone  to  Baltimore  on  a  secret  mission  to  General  Dix. 

Were  you  not  pleased  with  Fremont’s  proclamation?  I  hope  Mr.  Bates  may 
not  think  it  unlawful,  and  reprimand  him,  as  he  did  the  Marshal  in  Kansas, 
wffio  declined  to  execute  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  N.  B.— Take  notice,  this  is 
my  own  opinion,  for  which  no  one  is  responsible. 

Thursday  Afternoon. 

Henry  and  the  others  returned  in  safety  from  Baltimore,  for  which  I  am 
very  thankful.  Every  thing  seems  unsafe  in  this  latitude.  They  are  much 
pleased  with  their  visit  to  Fort  McHenry. 

The  rumbling  of  army  wagons  continued  all  night.  I  occasionally  heard  a 
cannon  from  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac.  About  eight,  a  regiment  of  cav¬ 
alry  passed,  going  across  the  river  at  the  Chain  Bridge,  which  is  some  three 
miles  above  Georgetown.  Between  ten  and  twelve,  a  whole  brigade  of  infan¬ 
try  went  in  the  same  direction.  They  stopped  in  front  of  the  house;  their 
music  was  beautiful,  and  they  in  excellent  spirits,  though  bound  for  a  post  of 
immediate  danger.  Henry  went  out  to  see  them.  I  felt  an  indescribable  op¬ 
pression  in  the  reflection  that  many  of  them  might  not  see  the  light  of  another 
day. 

Four  picket  guards  were  killed  night  before  last.  Still  we  hear  of  no  battle. 

On  one  of  those  nights,  the  residents  of  La  Fayette  Square  first 
heard  a  refrain,  destined  afterward  to  grow  familiar  to  their  ears. 
While  a  regiment  was  passing,  and  after  an  interval  of  silence,  broken 


1861.] 


DISPERSING  A  LEGISLATURE. 


613 


only  by  the  monotonous  tramp,  tramp,  tramp,  a  single,  clear  voice, 
chanted: 

“John  Brown’s  body  lies  a  mouldering  in  the  ground.” 

Answered  by  a  deep  chorus: 

“  But  his  soul  goes  marching  on !  ” 

One  after  another  in  the  long  line  took  up  the  words  until  it  seemed 
as  if  the  whole  column  were  chanting  the  solemn  measure,  to  which 
their  steady  tramp  kept  time.  As  they  turned  down  the  avenue,  pass¬ 
ing  the  Treasury  building  on  their  way  to  the  Long  Bridge,  and  the 
sound  of  their  footsteps  was  gradually  dying  away,  the  words  came 
echoing  back  through  the  darkness, 

“  But  his  soul  goes  marching  on.” 

Seward’s  visit  to  General  Dix  was  in  regard  to  a  measure  that  it  was 
thought  wise  not  to  trust  to  paper  or  to  subordinates.  The  Secessionists 
had  by  no  means  given  up  the  hope  of  dragging  Maryland  into  the  Con¬ 
federacy.  The  Legislature  was  to  meet  at  Frederick  city,  on  the  17th 
of  September.  There  was  a  disloyal  majority,  and  they  expected  and 
intended  to  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession.  This  would  be  regarded 
as  a  call  to  active  revolt  by  many  who  were  now  submitting  to  Federal 
rule,  and  in  Baltimore  and  throughout  Maryland,  the  bloody  expe¬ 
rience  of  Virginia  and  Missouri  would  probably  be  repeated.  The 
Administration,  therefore,  decided  to  prevent  the  assemblage  of  the 
Legislature.  To  forcibly  prevent  a  legislative  body  from  exercising  its 
legitimate  functions  is  a  bold  step.  But  when,  departing  from 
its  legitimate  functions,  it  invites  the  public  enemy  to  plunge  the 
State  into  anarchy,  its  dissolution  becomes  commendable.  So,  at 
least,  the  Administration  reasoned  and  decided.  Seward  went  over 
to  see  General  13ix.  A  similar  visit  was  made  to  General  Banks,  who 
had  command  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  the  President,  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State,  and  General  McClellan  driving  out  to  his  head-quarters 
at  Rockville,  where  conference  was  held  in  a  shady  grove.  The  two 
Generals,  thus  authorized,  put  a  quiet  but  effective  estoppel  on  the 
rebel  project.  Disloyal  members  on  the  way  to  Frederick  found  them¬ 
selves  under  military  arrest.  The  Legislature  did  not  assemble;  the 
secession  ordinance  was  not  adopted:  Baltimore  remained  quiet,  and 
Maryland  stayed  in  the  Union. 

Of  course,  the  Administration  were  prepared  for  the  storm  of  in¬ 
vective  hurled  at  them  through  the  press,  for  their  “high-handed 
usurpation,”  that  was  said  to  be  paralleled  only  by  “that  of  Crom¬ 
well  or  Napoleon.” 


G14 


PRIVATEERS  AFLOAT. 


[1861. 


Mrs.  Seward  wrote  from  home: 

We  are  safely  home  again.  The  telegraph  brought  nothing  important  last 
night.  I  was  anxious  to  hear  how  Baltimore  bore  the  arrests.  As  we -came 
along  the  road  between  Washington  and  Baltimore,  the  soldiers  at  the  camp 
were  very  importunate  for  newspapers,  having,  I  presume,  heard  rumors  of 
the  transactions  of  the  day  previous.  We  gave  them  such  as  we  had,  and  at 
Baltimore  purchased  more,  for  the  .purpose  of  distributing  them  as  we  went 
along,  leaving  the  last  at  Havre-de-Grace.  It  was  pleasant  to  hear  the  cheers 
which  they  gave,  when  one  read  aloud  to  the  others. 


CHAPTER  LXY 
1861. 

Confederate  Privateers.  The  “Sumter.”  Proposed  Accession  to  the  Congress  of  Paris. 
Prisoners  of  War.  Slaves.  “Contrabands”  and  “Freedmen.”  New  Phases  of  the- 
Slavery  Question.  Laws,  Orders,  and  Proclamations.  D.  A.  Hall.  European  Officers. 
The  Orleans  Princes.  Prince  de  Joinville.  The  Comte  de  Paris  and  Due  de  Chartres. 
Active  Operations  at  the  West.  A  General  Review.  Visiting  the  Camps  in  Virginia. 
General  Hancock.  Ericsson’s  Iron  Clad. 


Privateers  were  now  reported  to  be  afloat.  Coasting  vessels  had 
been  captured  at  sea,  by  armed  craft  putting  out  from  Southern  ports. 
Two  or  three  such  craft,  getting  under  the  guns  of  the  blockading 
squadron,  had  been  themselves  captured  in  turn.  On  the  15th  of 
August,  Seward  wrote: 

We  learn,  in  a  manner  which  obliges  us  to  give  unwilling  credit,  that  the 
Sumter ,  an  armed  steamer  well  known  to  be  a  privateer,  fitted  out  for,  and 
actually  engaged  in  depredations  upon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  command  of  an  officer  named  Semmes,  on,  or  about  the  17th  of  July, 
entered  the  port  of  Curacoa;  and  communicated  directly  with  the  local  au¬ 
thorities  of  that  island. 

He  had  instructed  the  Ministers  in  Europe,  as  early  as  April  24th 
to  propose  the  accession  of  the  United  States  to  the  agreement  of  the 
Paris  Congress  of  1856,  one  of  whose  provisions  was  that  “Privateer¬ 
ing  is  and  remains  abolished.”  If  France  and  England  should  agree 
to  receive  the  United  States  as  a  party  to  that  agreement,  the  other 
maritime  powers  would  doubtless  concur,  and  that  would  end  any 
danger  from  Confederate  privateers.  The  combination  between  the 
French  and  English  Cabinets  rendered  conferences  necessary  between 

Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Davton.  But  finallv  it  was  settled  that  conven- 

*/ 

tions,  identical  in  language,  should  be  signed  on  the  same  day,  at 


1861.] 


ENGLAND  REFUSES  TO  STOP  PRIVATEERING. 


615 


Paris  and  London,  formally  admitting  the  United  States  as  a  party  to 
the  international  agreement. 

Then  came  a  note  from  the  British  Foreign  Office,  closing  with  the 
remark:  “  I  need  scarcely  add  that,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  the 
engagement  will  be  prospective;  and  will  not  invalidate  any  thing 
already  done.”  Of  course  this  required  explanation,  and  the  expla¬ 
nation,  when  made,  proved  to  be,  that  the  agreement  should  not  “have 
any  bearing,  direct  or  indirect,  on  the  internal  differences  now  pre¬ 
vailing  in  the  United  States.”  This,  while  it  would  bind  the  United 
States  not  to  send  out  privateers,  in  any  future  war,  would  leave  Con¬ 
federate  cruisers  free  to  continue  their  depredations  in  this  one.  Of 
course,  Seward  promptly  replied  that  such  a  proviso  was  “inadmis¬ 
sible,  because  it  would  be  a  substantial  and  radical  departure  from  the 
declaration  of  the  Congress  at  Paris,”  and  “the  United  States  must 
accede  to  the  declaration  of  the  Congress  of  Paris  on  the  same  terms 
with  all  the  other  parties  to  it,  or  they  do  not  accede  to  it  at  all.” 

So,  Great  Britain  rejected  the  proffer  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
a  step,  doubtless  supposed,  by  those  who  took  it,  to  be  in  the  interests 
of  peace  and  commerce.  It  promoted  neither.  «It  protracted  the 
war,  and  inflicted  damage  that  Great  Britain  herself  subsequently 
admitted  and  regretted.  It  created  a  bitterness  of  feeling  that  lasted 
for  years.  In  return,  Great  Britain  got  some  Confederate  customers 
for  her  ships  and  arms  —  customers,  that,  in  the  long  run,  proved 
very  unprofitable  ones. 

At  the  outset  of  the  war,  there  was  a  popular  demand  that  privateers 
should  be  treated  as  pirates,  and  captured  rebels  as  criminals.  It  was 
a  logical  assumption  that  “they  should  not  be  regarded  as  prisoners 
of  war,”  if  the  rebellion  was  “not  a  war,  but  a  crime.”  But  when  the 
Government  came  to  act  upon  the  assumption,  practical  difficulties 
presented  themselves.  There  were  many  prisoners  taken  on  both 
sides,  and  the  number  was  increasing.  Not  only  soldiers  and  officers, 
but  civilians,  among  them  a  member  of  Congress,  had  been  captured 
at  Bull  Run.  Punishment,  on  the  one  side,  would  provoke  retaliation 
on  the  other.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  an  exchange  of  prisoners 
was  natural  and  desirable  for  both  sides.  Various  suggestions  were 
made.  One  that  was  adopted  led  to  this  note: 

To  Major-General  McClellan: 

The  President  is  disposed  to  try  whether  a  discharge  of  prisoners  of  war  on 
our  side  would  be  met  by  a  corresponding  course  on  the  part  of  the  insur¬ 
gents. 

lie,  therefore,  requests  you  to  take  measures  to  release  two  hundred  and  fifty 
of  such  prisoners,  including  those  who  are  most  sickly  and  destitute  —  send- 


616 


SLAVERY  AND  THE  WAR. 


[1861. 


in"  them  into  the  insurgents’  lines.  Thej  will,  of  course,  be  discharged  only 
on  oath  or  parole. 

Public  opinion  at  the  North  was  strongly  adverse,  at  first,  to  any 
exchange;  but  as  the  number  increased  of  those  who  had  friends  in 
captivity  the  feeling  changed,  and  before  the  year  was  out  exchange 
of  prisoners  was  as  loudly  called  for  as  it  had  been  protested  against. 

On  the  day  of  the  first  call  for  troops,  Seward  had  remarked,  “  We 
are  in  a  war,  and  wars  work  out  results  not  contemplated  by  either 
side.  It  is  a  war  for  and  against  the  Union,  but  no  man  can  foretell 
now  how  far  it  will  go.  or  how  far  it  will  affect  other  interests,  slavery 
among  the  rest/’  Before  the  first  campaign  was  over,  the  slavery 
cpiestion  began  to  loom  up  as  an  element  in  the  contest.  Prior  to  the 
war,  the  Republican  party,  while  resisting  the  extension  of  slavery  into 
the  Territories,  had  announced  their  purpose  not  to  interfere  with  it 
in  the  States.  All  anti-slavery  men,  however,  wrere  quick  to  perceive 
that  the  slave-holders,  in  making  war  against  the  Government,  for¬ 
feited  further  claim  for  governmental  help  to  hold  their  slaves.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Government  was  needing  and  relying  upon  soldiers 
of  all  parties  to  fight  its  battles.  In  the  North  it  must  have  the  help 
not  only  of  “Anti-Slavery  Republicans/’  but  of  all  “Union  men,” 
“Compromise  men,”  and  “War  Democrats;”  even  of  “Pro-Slavery 
men,”  and  in  the  “Border  States”  even  of  slave-holders  themselves. 
As  Wilson  states  it  in  his  “History  of  Slavery:  ” 

The  plain,  historic  truth  is,  that  the  pro-slavery  or  conservative  sentiments 
of  the  country  were  by  no  means  confined  to  the  slave  States.  They,  too 
largely  pervaded  not  only  the  North,  but  the  Republican  party  as  well.  The 
prejudices  against  the  negro  —  the  growth  of  two  generations  —  could  not  be 
easily  dispelled.  The  soldier  who  wished  it  to  be  understood  that  he  enlisted 
for  the  Union,  and  “  not  to  fight  for  the  nigger;  ”  the  Union -loving  but  con¬ 
servative  lady,  who  was  “willing”  the  slaves  should  be  freed  “if  that  was 
necessary,”  wTere  representatives  of  large  numbers  in  all  the  free  States. 

The  President,  anti-slavery  man  though  he  was,  faithfully  reflected 
the  only  universal  sentiment  in  the  Union  ranks,  when  he  said,  “  My 
paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy 
slavery.” 

The  debates  at  the  extra  session  illustrated  the  varying  opinions  that 
prevailed.  Their  final  outcome  was  a  law  confiscating  any  property 
and  freeing  any  slaves  “employed  against  the  United  States.”  Strictly 
construed,  this  would  only  free  the  slaves  actually  found  at  work  in 
the  rebel  camps  and  fortifications.  But  the  march  of  events  soon 
brought  other  phases  of  the  question  to  be  dealt  with.  Slaves  were 
found  at  work  on  plantations  whose  owners  had  gone  into  the  rebel 


1SG1.J 


THE  “CONTRABANDS.” 


617 


Army.  W  ere  not  they  to  be  freed?  Slaves,  men,  women,  and  chil¬ 
dren  came  into  the  Union  lines  as  to  a  city  of  refuge.  Were  they 
to  be  given  up?  Zealous  defenders  of  the  ‘‘compromises  of  the  Con¬ 
stitution”  in  military  or  civic  positions  were  apt  to  think  it  their  duty 
to  return  them.  But  how? 

At  Fortress  Monroe,  General  Butler  had  said,  “  You  are  using 
negroes  on  your  batteries.  I  shall  detain  them  as  contraband  of  war.” 

The  novel  application  of  the  term,  as  well  as  the  justice  of  the  de¬ 
cision,  pleased  the  public  ear,  and  thenceforth,  throughout  the  war, 
escaped  fugitives  were  spoken  of  as  “contrabands.” 

At  St.  Louis,  General  Fremont,  now  in  command  of  the  Western 
Army,  had  essayed  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  a  proclamation  freeing 
the  slaves  of  rebels.  This  the  President  regarded  as  transcend¬ 
ing  his  authority,  and  accordingly  modified  it  by  a  special  order. 
Other,  commanders  at  various  frontier  points  adopted  such  lines  of 
policy  as  suited  theft*  respective  views;  some  forbidding  fugitives  to 
enter  their  camps,  some  welcoming  them  in,  some  promising  to  return 
them  to  their  loyal  owners  if  such  appeared,  etc.,  etc.  Meanwhile, 
instinctively  discerning  the  road  to  freedom,  though  ignorant  of  the 
intricacies  of  constitutional  law,  escaping  negro  families,  by  hundreds, 
gathered  in  “contraband  camps”  wherever  the  Federal  guns  seemed 
likely  to  afford  probable  protection. 

For  the  guidance  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  the  following  Ex¬ 
ecutive  order  was  prepared: 


Department  of  State,  ) 
Washington,  Dec.  4,  1861.  f 

To  Major-General  George  B.  McClellan,  Washington: 

General — I  am  directed  by  the  President  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  subject: 

Persons  claimed  to  be  held  to  service  or  labor  under  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  Virginia,  and  actually  employed  in  hostile  service  against  the  United 
States,  frequently  escape  from  the  lines  of  the  enemy’s  forces  and  are  received 
within  the  fines  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  This  department  understands 
that  such  persons,  afterward  coming  to  the  city  of  Washington,  are  liable  to  be 
arrested  by  the  city  police  upon  the  presumption,  arising  from  color,  that  they 
are  fugitives  from  service  or  labor. 

By  the  fourth  section  of  the  act  of  Congress,  approved  August  G,  1861,  entitled 
“  An  act  to  confiscate  property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes,”  such  hostile 
employment  is  made  a  full  and  sufficient  answer  to  any  further  claim  to  service 
or  labor.  Persons  thus  employed  and  escaping  are  received  into  the  military 
protection  of  the  United  States,  and  their  arrest  as  fugitives  from  service 
should  be  immediately  followed  by  the  military  arrest  of  the  parties  making 
the  seizure.  Copies  of  this  communication  will  be  sent  to  the  Mayor  of  the 


618 


FOREIGN  OFFICERS  IN  THE  UNION  ARMY. 


[1861. 


city  of  Washingtou,  and  to  the  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  that  any 
collision  between  the  civil  and  military  authorities  may  be  avoided. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

David  A.  Hall,  one  of  Seward’s  earliest  friends  in*  Washington,  had 
once,  out  of  benevolence,  become  the  bondsman  in  a  fugitive  slave 
case,  about  ten  years  before.  The  local  courts  had  proved  as  merciless 
as  the  statute.  His  property  was  seized  to  satisfy  their  requirements; 
he  was  impoverished  and  nearly  ruined.  Seward  now  had  especial  sat-, 
isfaction  in  getting  him  released  from  his  long  duress,  the  President 
and  Attorney-General  cheerfully  exercising  their  power,  under  the  act 
of  1812,  authorizing  the  remission  of  forfeited  recognizances  within 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

To  young  European  officers  the  American  war  offered  an  attractive 
field  of  adventure  and  ambition.  Many  came  from  the  armies  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  German  States,  several  from  Italy  and  France,  some  from  Aus¬ 
tria  and  Hungary,  two  or  three  from  the  Papal  Army  of  Rome,  and  sev¬ 
eral  from  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark.  Their  knowledge  of  drill 
and  tactics  and  of  the  details  of  camp-life  rendered  them  useful  in¬ 
structors  for  raw  troops,  during  the  first  months  of  the  struggle. 
Some  who  entered  early,  and  remained  in  the  Army,  rose  from  subal¬ 
terns  to  be  colonels  and  brigadier-generals.  They  had  much  to 
learn  as  well  as  to  teach,  for  a  campaign  in  the  United  States  pre¬ 
sented  conditions  quite  different  from  those  of  European  strategy. 
Europe  has  been  so  thoroughly  fought  over  and  mapped  out,  that  dis¬ 
tances,  heights,  times  of  movement,  and  requirements  of  supply  can 
be  computed  with  a  degree  of  mathematical  accuracy.  Here,  great 
distances,  untried  routes,  fields  of  operation  neither  mapped  nor  even 
explored  by  topographical  engineers,  confounded  the  Federal  Army 
at  every  step.  Personal  familiarity  with  localities  gave  the  South¬ 
erners  much  advantage.  One  day,  some  of  the  European  officers 
were  discussing  military  methods  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New;  when 
one  inquired,  “But  a  military  frontier  like  this,  between  North  and 
South;  how  far  would  it  extend  ?”  Various  guesses  were  made,  and 
then  a  map  of  Europe  being  at  hand,  actual  measurement  was  made, 
when,  to  their  astonishment,  they  found  that  it  reached  not  only 
across  Europe,  but  over  into  Asia  ! 

These  officers  came  usually  with  letters  or  credentials,  addressed  to 
the  Secretary  of  State.  At  first,  Governors  Dennison,  Morgan,  Mor¬ 
ton,  Randall  and  Andrew  were  able  to  give  to  many  of  them  positions 
in  the  new  regiments;  and  Generals  McClellan,  McDowell,  and  Fre¬ 
mont  found  places  for  others  on  staff  duty.  Before  long,  however, 
their  number  so  greatly  increased,  as  to  make  this  impossible. 


1861.] 


TIIE  ORLEANS  PRINCES. 


619  ' 


In  reference  to  these  proffers,  Seward  wrote  to  Mr.  Marsh: 

In  regard  to  tenders  of!  military  service,  it  accords  with  our  views  of  public 
interest,  to  receive  foreigners,  friends  of  freedom  and  the  American  Republic, 
into  our  military  service  as  officers  and  soldiers.  We  have  thus  far  been  able 
to  assign  satisfactory  positions  to  all  who  have  offered.  I  cannot  of  course 
foresee  how  long  this  state  of  things  will  last.  The  Army  is  rapidly  filling  up. 

In  September,  three  Princes  of  the  Royal  House  of  Orleans  arrived 
in  Washington  —  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  son  of  King  Louis  Philippe, 
and  his  two  nephews,  the  Comte  dc  Paris  and  the  Due  de  Chartres — 
the  Comte  de  Paris  being  lineal  heir  of  the  throne  of  France.  Shar¬ 
ing  in  the  traditional  amity  of  their  house  for  the  American  Republic, 
they  had  come  to  proffer  their  services,  and  peril  their  lives  for  the 
Union.  They  were  welcomed  by  Seward.  After  arranging  the  pre¬ 
liminaries  for  the  entrance  of  the  young  Princes  into  the  Army,  he 
received  the  following  note: 

Washington,  le  26  Septembre ,  1861. 

Monsieur, 

Mon  frere  et  moi  nous  avons  recu,  liier  soil',  les  lettres  qui  nous  nomment 
aides-de-camp,  avec  le  rang  de  capitaines,  dans  V  armec  des  Etats  Unis;  et 
d’  apres  ce  que  vous  m’  avez  dit,  je  vous  renvoie  les  formules  de  serment,  qui  les 
accompagnent;  et  que  le  President  a  bien  vquIu  nous  dispenser  de  remplir. 
Je  me  permets  d’y  joindre  mes  lettres  d’  acceptation,  en  vous  priant  de  vouloir 
bien  les  transmettro  a  l’Adjutant-General  de  l’armee.  On  nous  a  recom- 
mende,  au  Quartier-General,  de  nous  addresser  a  vous,  pour  cela;  parce  que 
l’Adjutant-General  n’ayant  pas  connaissance  de  la  position  exceptionelle,  qui 
nous  est  faite,  n’aurait  pu  recevoir  notre  acceptation,  sans  la  formule  du  ser¬ 
ment,  que  Ton  doit  y  joindre  d’ordinaire. 

Je  ne  veux  pas  terminer,  Monsieur,  sans  vous  dire  combien  nous  sommes 
reconnaissants  de  ce  que  votre  government  vient  de  faire  pour  nous,  et  de  la 
mauiere  delicate  dont  il  P  a  fait.  Je  n1  oublierai  jamais  que  V  armee  Ameri- 
caine,  en  m’  ouvrant  ses  rangs,  m’  a  donne  V  occasion  de  faire  mes  premieres 
armes;  et  ce  souvenir  augmentera  encore  la  sympathie  que  les  traditions  de 
ma  famille,  et  de  ma  patrie,  aussi  bien  que  mes  convictions  liberates,  m’ont 
toujours  inspiree,  pour  votre  grand  pays. 

Je  vous  prie,  Monsieur,  de  croire  toujours,  aux  sentiments  bien  sinceres  de 

Yotre  affectionne, 

LOUIS  PHILIPPE  D’ORLEANS, 

Comte  de  Paris. 

Due  de  Chartres. 

Le  Prince  de  Joinville. 

How  well,  and  how  faithfully,  their  duties  were  performed,  has 
been  told  by  their  military  commander,  General  McClellan,  who  wrote 
that: 

Far  from  evincing  any  desire  to  avoid  irksome,  fatiguing,  or  dangerous 
duty,  they  always  sought  it,  and  were  never  so  happy  as  when  some  such  work 


620 


THE  MILITARY  SITUATION. 


[1861. 


devolved,  upon  them;  and  never  failed  to  display  the  high  qualities  of  a  race 
of  soldiers. 

While  the  Army  remained  at  Washington,  they  occupied  a  house  on 
I  street.  They  were  frequent  visitors  at  the  Secretary  of  State’s.  One 
day  at  lunch,  Seward  remarked,  “I  should  think  your  names  and 
titles  might  occasion  some  embarrassment.  How  do  your  brother 
officers  call  you?” 

“  Oh,”  said  the  Due  de  Chartres,  laughing,  “that  is  all  arranged. 
My  brother  is  ‘  Captain  Paris,’  and  I  am  ‘  Captain  Charters,’  and  we 
are  excellent  friends  with  all  our  comrades.” 

Still  another  member  of  the  family  came  over  to  enter  the  service, 
the  Prince  de  Joinville’s  young  son,  the  Due  de  Penthievre.  He  was 
placed  at  the  Naval  School,  which,  during  the  war,  was  moved  to 
Newport.  He  subsequently  entered  the  Navy,  serving  with  credit  and 
gaining  promotion. 

As  the  French  Legation  at  Washington  represented  the  Imperial 
Government,  the  members  of  the  exiled  royal  family  never  entered  it, 
and  had  no  intercourse  with  its  officials.  At  the  Brazilian  Legation, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  were  honored  and  welcomed  guests,  the  Prince 
de  Joinville  having  married  a  sister  of  the  reigning  Emperor  of  Brazil. 

Of  the  military  situation,  Seward  wrote  in  September: 

Steadily,  for  a  period  of  four  months,  our  forces  have  been  coming  into  the 
held,  at  the  rate  of  two  thousand  a  day,  and  the  same  augmentation  will  go 
on,  nearly  at  the  same  rate,  until  five  hundred  thousand  men  will  be  found  in 
the  service.  Our  supplies  of  arms  are  running  low.  The  enemy  is  directly 
before  us,  invigorated,  and  inspirited  by  a  victory,  which  it  is  not  the  part  of 
wisdom  for  us  to  undervalue.  But  that  victory  has  brought  with  it  the  ne¬ 
cessity  for  renewed  action.  The  demoralization  of  our  forces  has  jDassed  away. 
They  are  perfecting  themselves  in  discipline. 

Commodore  Stringham’s  and  General  Butler’s  success  at  Hatteras  was  not 
merely  a  brilliant  affair.  It  brings  nearly  the  whole  coast  of  North  Carolina 
under  the  surveillance  of  our  blockade. 

During  the  month  came  intelligence  of  active  operations  at  the  West, 
of  skirmishes  in  Missouri,  of  Price’s  retreat  and  Fremont’s  pursuit, 
of  Mulligan’s  surrender,  of  the  rebel  invasion  of  Kentucky,  and  the 
appeal  of  the  Legislature  for  aid,  of  Bishop  Polk’s  movements  at 
Columbus,  of  Anderson  in  command  at  Louisville,  and  of  Grant’s 
taking  possession  of  Paducah.  Skirmishes  on  the  upper  Potomac, 
and  shelling  of  rebel  batteries  on  the  lower  portion  of  the  river,  were 
frequent  incidents. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Washington,  the  camps  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  were  gradually  spreading  out,  crowding  the  rebel  out- 


1861.] 


CAMPS  AND  REVIEWS. 


G21 


posts  further  back  oil  the  A  irginia  side,  and  completely  environing 
the  city  with  earthworks. 

A  grand  review  of  seventy  thousand  troops  was  held  on  the  \  ir¬ 
ginia  side  of  the  river  in  September,  at  which  General  McClellan’s 
troops  showed  how  thoroughly  they  were  equipped,  and  how  much 
they  had  improved  in  discipline  and  drill.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
city  turned  out,  in  great  numbers,  to  witness  it.  The  bridges  were 
thronged,  all  day,  with  carriages  and  pedestrians.  So  large  an  army 
had  never  before  been  massed  and  manoeuvred  at  one  point  in  the 
United  States.  The  President  and  several  members  of  the  Cabinet 
drove  over  to  the  field.  Horses  were  brought  forward  for  their  use 
during  the  review.  Seward  mounted  one,  and  accompanied  the  Presi¬ 
dent  in  his  round.  It  was  the  last  time  he  was  in  the  saddle  at  a  mili¬ 
tary  parade,  though  he  did  not  entirely  give  up  horseback  exercise 
until  some  years  later. 

His  interest  in  the  troops,  and  his  frequent  visits  to  the  camps  and 
fortifications,  made  him  familiar  with  their  location  and  character. 
His  letters  contained  many  references  to  them: 

September  2. 

Of  the  camps  that  we  have  visited  the  last  were  of  the  brigade  of  General 
King;  they  were  the  Second  and  Fifth  Wisconsin  regiments.  As  we  looked 
at  the  long  line  of  the  Second  drawn  up  for  evening  parade,  the  General  said : 
“  This  regiment  is  smaller  than  the  rest ;  they  lost  one  hundred  and  fifty  at 
Bull  Run,  but  they  brought  their  colors  back.” 

September  24. 

I  rejoice  heartily  with  you  in  the  news  of  Augustus’  escape.  Treachery  is 
rife  in  all  that  South-western  clime,  and  it  seems  as  if  our  whole  regular  army 
were  to  fall  victims  to  it.  What  evil  next  is  in  store  for  him,  or  me,  or  any  of 
us,  in  these  disastrous  times,  I  know  not,  and  try  not  to  think  upon.  If  I  can 
only  leave  a  country  for  those  to  come  after  us,  I  care  for  nothing  else.  I  have 
lost  nearly  all  other  affections,  lest  I  might  lack  the  one  that  the  occasion  calls 
into  exercise. 

Maryland  seems  to  repose  with  content  on  the  deliverance  she  has  had.  It 
was,  indeed,  a  great  one.  How  singularly  the  Civil  War,  thus  fai,  disci imi- 
nates,  and  throws  all  its  evils  into  the  slave  States,  sulfering  not  one  to  escape ! 
Spite  of  all  we  can  wish  and  fear  and  will  and  do,  Missouri  and  Kentucky 
must  be  ravaged. 

My  fears  of  foreign  intervention  are  subsiding.  The  prestige  of  secession 
is  evidently  wearing  off  in  Europe.  How  the  conduct  of  England  and  France 
will  appear  in  history!  I  am  delighted  with  these  Orleanists.  They  aie  saga¬ 
cious  and  noble-spirited.  Their  accession  to  our  service  will  awaken  reflection 

in  Europe. 

The  enemv  in  front  of  us  is  supposed  to  be  about  one  hundred  thousand,  all 


622 


HABITS  OF  WORK. 


[1861. 


told.  I  mean  all  who  could  be  combined  against  us  here.  AYe  are  in  larger 
force;  and  now  we  shall  be  active  in  more  places  than  one. 

Remarking  upon  the  confident  expectations  in  Europe  as  to  the  suc¬ 
cess  of  the  “  Confederacy,”  he  used  to  say  that  it  was  a  common  mis¬ 
take  with  historians  and  statesmen  to  imagine  that  insurrections  were 
generally  successful.  On  the  contrary,  the  records  of  all  nations  show 
that  few  ever  succeed,  while  many  that  are  attempted  fail. 

Ilis  hours  and  habits  of  work  had  been  somewhat  changed  since  he 

entered  the  department.  During  his  senatorial  life  he  had  been  forced 

to  snatch  hours  for  study  at  random,  amid  the  press  of  visitors, 

who  felt  privileged  to  occupy  all  his  time  when  not  actually  in  his  seat 

at  the  Senate  Chamber.  Consequently  he  would  often  sit  up  late  at 

night  at  his  work.  As  the  department  had  its  fixed  and  regular  hours 

for  specific  business,  and  provided  trained  clerks  and  messengers  to 

assist  in  accomplishing  it,  he  was  enabled  to  work  more  systematically. 

He  used  to  sav  that  he  found  he  could  do  more  work  in  less  time,  and 
%/ 

now  usually  had  his  evenings  free  for  home  or  society.  He  remarked, 
too,  that  after  the  age  of  sixty,  while  advancing  years  curtailed  his 
powers  of  physical  endurance,  they  brought  experience,  enabling  him 
to  reach  conclusions  and  accomplish  labors  with  greater  ease. 

He  still  preferred  to  draft  the  more  important  letters  and  dispatches 
with  his  own  hand.  Many  of  less  importance  he  would  dispose  of  by 
a  penciled  direction  on  the  margin,  and  leave  details  of  execution  to 
his  subordinates.  It  was  not  until  a  later  period  that  he  began  to  dic¬ 
tate  to  a  stenographer. 

The  crowd  of  visitors,  too,  although  greater,  was  now  more  syste¬ 
matically  dealt  with.  The  diplomats  had  their  hours  for  conference; 
the  Congressmen  and  public  officers  their  privileged  entree,  and  the 
general  public,  though  chafing  sometimes  at  the  unwonted  restraint 
of  an  ante-room,  were  yet  more  rapidly  received  and  satisfactorily 
answered  in  due  order,  than  they  were  when  coming  all  at  once  and 
all  the  time. 

“1  am  sure  I  am  the  senior  of  some  of  my  colleagues,”  he  used  to 
say,  “  but  they  seem  to  think  I  am  the  youngest  member  of  the  Cabi¬ 
net.  When  there  is  some  one  to  be  seen,  some  place  to  be  visited,  or 
some  journey  to  be  made,  they  seem  to  think  it  easier  for  me  to  go 
than  for  anybody  else.”  “  And,”  he  added  after  a  pause,  “  I  am  of 
the  same  opinion  myself.” 

He  was  usually  a  sound  sleeper  when  in  health.  He  retired  gener¬ 
ally  about  half-past  ten  or  eleven,  and  rose  at  six  in  summer,  and 
seven  in  winter.  It  was  his  habit,  as  much  as  possible,  to  dismiss  all 
cares  and  anxieties  in  the  evening  and  divert  his  thoughts  from  them 


1861. J 


ERICSSON’S  IRON-CLAD. 


623 


by  some  book  before  bedtime.  Even  the  war  brought  him  few  or  no 
sleepless  nights.  Sometimes  after  a  day  of  harassing  work  or  disas¬ 
ter,  he  would  be  in  the  evening  at  the  War  Department  studying  the 
telegraphic  details,  but  the  morning  would  find  him  fresh  and  seldom 
jaded  with  watching. 

For  all  minor  ailments  induced  by  cold,  exposure,  indigestion,  and 
the  like,  he  found  “  sleep  and  starvation  ”  the  most  effective  reme¬ 
dies.  He  adopted  them,  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  they  usually  cured 
him  within  a  day  or  two. 

He  wrote  to  Mrs.  Seward: 

October  14. 

I  have  been  a  day  in  the  camps  in  Virginia,  on  our  outmost  line  at  Prospect 
Hill,  in  view  of  the  enemy.  Am  quite  refreshed  and  feeling  well. 

If  the  enemy  continues  to  retire  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  you  can  come  here 
with  safety  for  the  winter.  All  well. 

At  this  outpost  he  found  one  of  the  newly-appointed  brigadier- 
generals  in  command  —  a  tall,  slender,  fine-looking  young  man, 
busily  engaged  with  reports  and  orders.  His  prompt  dispatch  of 
military  business,  and  his  courteous  ease  in  receiving  his  guests, 
showed  him  to  be  equally  at  home  in  the  camp  and  in  the  drawing¬ 
room.  Greeting  Major  Seward  as  an  old  West  Point  acquaintance, 
the  latter  introduced  him  as  General  Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  who 
had,  a  few  weeks  previously,  been  promoted  from  a  captaincy. 

One  morning  Seward’s  old  friend,  John  F.  Winslow,  and  with  him 
John  A.  Griswold  of  Troy,  another  well-known,  iron  manufacturer, 
presented  themselves  at  his  door.  They  had  come  upon  a  patriotic 
errand.  They  said  that  Captain  Ericsson  had  devised  a  plan  for  an 
iron-clad  vessel,  but  it  was  so  daring  in  conception  and  novel  in  de¬ 
sign  that  the  Naval  Board  were  reluctant  even  to  give  it  a  trial.  So 
impressed  were  they  with  its  importance,  that  they  were  ready  to  as¬ 
sume  all  risks,  and,  if  need  be,  pay  the  cost  of  the  experiment  them¬ 
selves.  Seward  introduced  them  to  President  Lincoln,  and  lie,  on  the 
following  day,  went  with  them  to  the  Navy  Department.  Ericsson’s 
plans  and  arguments  were  listened  to,  and  the  experiment  was  au¬ 
thorized.  So  began  the  building  of  a  queer-looking  craft,  at  Green- 
point,  destined,  a  few  months  later,  to  achieve  world-wide  fame  as 
The  Monitor. 


624 


REPLIES  OF  FOREIGN  GOVERNMENTS. 


[1861. 


CHAPTER  LXVI. 

1861. 

Replies  From  Foreign  Governments.  Admission  of  Confederate  Vessels  into  British  Ports. 
A  Friendly  Italian  Hint.  A  British  one  to  the  Confederacy.  Differences  of  Opinion 
in  England.  Russia,  Switzerland,  and  Italy.  The  Blockade.  British  Subjects  and 
Vessels.  Lord  Lyons  and  Mr.  Archibald.  A  Captured  Bag  of  Letters.  Consul 
Bunch.  “A  First  Step  toward  Recognition.”  An  Exequatur  Revoked.  Advice  of 
Law-Officers  of  the  Crown  Respectfully  Declined.  Harbor  Defenses. 


The  dispatch  hag,  by  each  incoming  mail  steamer,  now  began  to 
bring  the  answers  of  the  European  governments.  As  most  of  the 
governments  had  already  adopted  the  Paris  declaration,  that  “priva¬ 
teering  is  abolished,”  and  as  all  of  them  professed  friendship  to  the 
United  States,  compliance  with  Seward’s  request,  not  to  permit  the 
Confederate  vessels  to  enter  their  ports,  seemed  natural  and  logical. 
Decrees  were  accordingly  issued,  but  coupled  with  more  or  less  of  ex¬ 
ceptions  and  conditions.  Prussia  announced  that  the  equipment  of 
privateers,  in  her  ports,  was  forbidden  by  law,  and  that  she  would 
not  “protect  any  of  her  subjects  against  losses  incurred  by  mixing 
up  in  these  conflicts.”  Belgium  gave  notice  that  privateers  would  not 
be  allowed  to  enter  her  ports,  “except  in  case  of  perils  df  the  sea,” 
and  Belgian  subjects  taking  part  in  such  enterprises  would  be 
liable  to  prosecution.  Spain  prohibited  the  equipment  or  furnish¬ 
ing  of  any  supplies  to  privateers,  and  forbade  vessels  of  war  or  pri¬ 
vateers  to  remain  in  port  more  than  twenty -four  hours,  “except  in 
case  of  stress  of  weather.”  Italy  declared  that  no  Confederate  agent 
would  be  recognized,  and  that  the  laws  against  privateers  would  be 
enforced,  adding  the  friendly  hint  that  it  “  would  be  difficult  to  ex¬ 
ercise  a  vigilant  supervision  over  all  the  remote  and  unfrequented 
ports  of  the  peninsula  and  islands,”  and  advising  the  appointment 
of  “American  Consuls  at  points  favorable  for  observation  along  the 
coasts,  as  a  good  means  of  detecting  and  preventing  such  move¬ 
ments,”  a  hint  that  Seward  at  once  acted  on.  Portugal  prohibited 
the  entrance  of  privateers  or  prizes,  except  “  in  case  of  overruling 
necessity.”  Venezuela  prohibited  the  entrance  of  vessels  under  the 
Confederate  flag,  except  in  cases  of  distress.  The  Hawaiian  Islands 
prohibited  the  entrance  of  privateers  or  their  prizes,  except  under 
stress  of  weather.  Holland  said  that  no  privateers  or  letters  of 
marque,  or  their  prizes,  should  be  admitted,  unless  in  case  of  marine 
disaster. 

Seward  wrote  to  Mr.  Adams: 

The  case  in  regard  to  pirates  engaged  by  the  insurgents  practically  stands 


1861. J 


CONFED  E RAT E  PHI  V  A  PEERS. 


625 


thus:  Every  naval  power,  and  every  commercial  power,  except  one,  practi¬ 
cally  excludes  them  from  their  ports,  except  in  distress,  or  for  a  visit  of  any 
kind  longer  than  twenty-four  hours;  and  from  supplies,  except  of  coals  for 
twenty-four  hours’  consumption.  Great  Britain,  as  we  are  given  to  under¬ 
stand  by  the  answer  of  Earl  Russell,  allows  these  pirates  to  visit  her  ports, 
and  stay  at  their  own  pleasure;  receiving  supplies  without  restriction. 


Soon  after,  news  came  that  the  Sumter  had  been  received  with 
enthusiasm  at  Trinidad,  the  flag  being  hoisted  on  the  government 
llag-staff,  in  her  honor.  She  had  remained  six  days,  and  obtained  all 
needed  supplies.  When  the  ease  was  brought  by  Mr.  Adams  to  the 
attention  of  the  Foreign  Office,  he  was  informed  in  reply  that  “  the 
Law  Officers  of  the  Crown  have  reported  that  the  conduct  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernor  was  in  accordance  with  Her  Majesty’s  proclamation.”  When 
like  complaint  was  made  to  the  Dutch  Government,  that  the  Sumter 
had  been  hospitably  received  at  Curacoa,  the  American  Minister  re¬ 
ceived  for  reply  that  the  Sumter  was  not  a  privateer,  but  ‘-'a  regular 
vessel  of  war,  duly  commissioned,”  belonging  to  a  State  possessing  bel¬ 
ligerent  rights,  with  the  remark  that  “not  only  has  the  British  Gov¬ 
ernment  treated  the  Sumter  exactly  as  was  done  at  Curacoa,  since  that 
vessel  sojourned  six  or  seven  days  at  the  island  of  Trinidad,  where  she 
was  received  amicably,  and  considered  as  a  vessel  of  war,  but  that  the 
Crown  lawyers  of  England,  having  been  consulted  on  the  matter,  have 
unanimously  declared  that  the  conduct  of  the  Governor  of  that  colony 
of  England  had  been,  in  all  points,  in  conformity  with  the  Queen’s 
proclamation  of  neutrality.” 

Of  course,  having  the  way  thus  obligingly  pointed  out  to  them  for 
the  evasion  of  royal  decrees,  the  Confederates  at  once  adopted  it. 
They  discarded  the  title  of  “'privateers”  and  “letters  of  marque,” 
and  thenceforward  their  cruisers  were  “.regular  vessels  of  war,”  to 
be  treated  as  such  by  “neutral  powers.”  Their  treatment,  after  this 
period,  depended  much  on  the  disposition  of  the  authorities,  or  the 
nation,  whose  ports  they  entered.  Those  desiring  to  follow  the  English 
lead,  did  so;  those  who  desired  the  success  of  the  Union,  enforced  their 
decrees  strictly,  and  excluded  all  vessels  wearing  the  Confederate  flag. 

There  was  general  disappointment  at  the  North,  and  general  exul¬ 
tation  at  the  South,  over  the  attitude  of  England.  Opinions  in  Great 
Britain,  however,  varied  almost  as  widely  as  in  the  United  States. 
There  were  many  shades  of  difference;  but  substantially  there  were  three 
classes  of  Englishmen.  There  was  one  class,  who  wished  for  Union 
success;  who  were  opposed  to  slavery,  and  earnestly  desired  that  the 
experiment  of  popular  government  might  not  fail.  To  this  class  be¬ 
longed  many  of  the  Liberals  and  Radicals,  many  of  those  having  busi- 

40 


626 


ENGLISH  OPINIONS. 


[1861. 


ness  or  family  connections  with  the  Northern  States,  many  of  the  manu¬ 
facturers,  and  sucli  of  the  workingmen  as  comprehended  the  struggle. 
It  was  a  class  that  grew  continually  stronger;  but  in  the  early  months 
of  the  war,  was  unable  to  shape  the  governmental  policy.  Then  there 
was  another  class,  of  pronounced  Southern  proclivities;  who  wanted 
the  South  to  succeed;  and  aided  id  so  far  as  lay  in  their  power.  To 
this  class  belonged  many  of  the  Tories  or  Conservatives.  It  comprised 
those  who  disliked  republics,  those  who  sympathized  with  the  South¬ 
erners,  as  a  people  struggling  for  independence,  and  those  who  fancied 
that  the  division  of  the  Union  would  relieve  England  from  a  trouble¬ 
some  rival.  But  the  great  mass  of  those  engaged  in  commerce,  man¬ 
ufactures,  and  government  hardly  fell  within  either  category.  They 
wanted  peace,  and,  especially,  they  wanted  trade.  They  had  little 
faith  that  the  American  Republic  could  ever  suppress  the  insurrection; 
and  believing  that  a  costly,  expensive,  bloody  war  could  only  end  in 
separation,  were  for  treating  the  separation  as  an  accomplished  fact, 
as  soon  as  it  could  be  done  without  danger  of  entanglement  in  the 
quarrel. 

The  Liberals  and  Whigs,  whose  political  views  were  supposed  to 
have  affinity  with  American  theories,  had  the  Ministry  and  the  Parlia¬ 
mentary  control.  But,  of  course,  they  were  not  desirous  to  risk  their 
power.  They  could  take  no  step,  without  considering  whether  it 
would  receive  the  support  of  Parliament  and  the  country.  Had  the 
Tories  been  in  power,  it  is  quite  possible  they  might  have  inaugurated 
a  policy  of  intervention.  The  Liberals  did  not  deem  themselves  safe 
in  going  farther  .than  a  pol icy  of  neutrality. 

Three  nations,  whose  sympathy  had  been  reckoned  upon,  did  not 
disappoint  the  expectation.  Prince  Gortschakoff  wrote  to  the  Russian 
Minister  at  Washington: 

This  Union  is  not  simply,  in  our  eyes,  an  element  essential  to  the  universal 
political  equilibrium.  It  constitutes,  besides,  a  nation  to  which  our  august 
master,  and  all  Russia,  have  pledged  the  most  friendly  interest;  for  the  two 
countries,  placed  at  the  extremities  of  the  two  worlds,  both  in  the  ascending 
period  of  their  development,  appear  called  to  a  natural  community  of  interests 
and  of  sympathies,  of  which  they  have  already  given  mutual  proofs  to  each 
other. 

Up  in  the  Swiss  mountains  a  plain  rural  President  saw  further  into 
the  question  than  the  learned  diplomatists  at  London  and  Paris.  He 
said : 

Switzerland,  from  the  sincere  sympathy  which  she  has  for  the  Union,  looks 
with  anxiety  upon  the  issue  of  the  events  which  now  shake  that  country. 
Switzerland  passed  through  a  similar  crisis  fourteen  years  ago,  which  threat- 


1861.] 


NEUTRALITY  AND  BLOCKADE-RUNNING. 


627 


ened  to  tear  asunder  the  then  loose  connection  of  the  twenty-two  cantons. 
But,  renewed,  rose  the  present  confederation  from  that  tempest;  strengthened 
internally  and  abroad,  she  now  stands  there  esteemed  by  the  nations.  May 
God  grant  that  the  United  States  of  America  may  also  emerge,  renewed  and 
'  strengthened,  out  of  this  crisis! 

Nor  was  there  any  hesitation  in  the  tone  of  Italy.  Cavour,  always 
vlie  fiiend  of  America,  had  died  in  the  early  summer.  But  his  suc¬ 
cessor  expressed  “his  earnest  hope  that  the  present  contest  between 
the  Government  and  the  seceding  States  would  end  in  the  reestablish¬ 
ment  of  the  lawful  authority  of  the  Union,  and  be  settled  on  terms 
which  would  secure  the  triumph  of  the  principles  of  freedom  and  the 
extinction  of  human  slavery.” 

Fiom  Missoni i  and  Kentucky  were  now  coming  conflicting  reports 
of  skirmishes  and  retreats,  and  contradictory  presages  of  success  and 
disaster.  Secretary  Cameron,  with  Adju Kant-General  Thomas,  went 
in  person  to  visit  General  Lremont  and  General  Sherman  and  their 
respective  commands. 

At  Washington  several  reconnoissances  and  skirmishes  on  the  Poto¬ 
mac  had  resulted  favorably;  when  the  disaster  at  Ball’s  Bluff,  with  its 
gieat  loss  of  life,  startled  and  rudely  shocked  the  growing  popular 
confidence.  This,  too,  was  used  abroad  to  damage  the  Union  cause. 
Seward  wrote  home: 

October  31. 

I  have  had  two  weeks  of  intense  anxiety  and  severe  labor.  The  pressure  of 
interests  and  ambitions  in  Europe,  which  disunionists  have  procured  to  operate 
on  the  Cabinets  of  London  and  Paris,  have  made  it  doubtful  whether  we  can 
escape  the  yet  deeper  and  darker  abyss  of  foreign  war.  The  responsibility 
resting  upon  me  is  overwhelming.  My  associates,  of  course,  can  differ  with 
me  about  what  I  ought  to  do  and  say,  but  not  advise  me  what  to  do  and  say. 

I  have  worried  through,  and  finished  my  dispatches.  They  must  go  for  good 
or  evil.  I  have  done  my  best.  I  thought  that  my  health  would  fail,  but  now 
I  am  well  and  cheerful,  and  hopeful  as  ever. 

Great  Britain  had  undertaken  to  be  “neutral”  between  the  two 
“  belligerents.”  But  neutrality  is  always  easier  to  promise  than  to 
practice.  It  was  difficult  to  be  impartial.  Just  at  this  time  the  drift 
of  the  events  of  the  war  tended  to  encourage  British  sympathies  with 
the  South.  The  Southerners  naturally  hated  the  blockade,  and  wanted 
it  broken  up.  The  British  as  naturally  shared  in  that  feeling.  The 
South  encouraged  communication  in  every  possible  way  with  England, 
while  the  North  had,  for  its  own  safety,  to  establish  a  system  of  pass¬ 
ports,  police,  blockading  squadrons  and  frontier  guards.  When  a 
British  subject  in  the  pursuit  of  lawful  or  unlawful  trade  got  arrested, 
imprisoned,  or  even  delayed  or  interfered  with,  he  hastened  to  proclaim 


628 


BRITISH  SHIPS  AND  SUBJECTS. 


[1861 


his  grievances  to  the  press  or  the  Foreign  Office.  Every  such  case 
tended  to  increase  the  bitterness  of  feeling  toward  the  “Washington 
Government.”  And  it  was  surprising  to  find  how  many  British  sub¬ 
jects  were  continually  falling  into  the  Federal  toils  —  all  declaring  their 
purposes  to  be  innocent  and  legitimate.  Sir  Edward  M.  Archibald, 
who  was  Her  Majesty’s  Consul  in  New  York,  described,  a  few  years 
later,  some  of  his  experiences  at  the  principal  seaport: 

It  was,  indeed,  a  time  of  great  anxiety  and  labor  by  night  and  by  day,  in¬ 
volving  incessant  correspondence,  occasionally  sharp  controversy,  with  the 
various  functionaries  of  the  Federal  and  State  Governments;  necessitating  also 
frequent  visits  to  Fort  Lafayette,  Ludlow  street  jail,  the  receiving  ship  at 
Brooklyn,  and  Hart’s  Island;  the  protection  and  defense,  in  the  first  instance, 
of  captured  ships  and  cargoes;  vexed  questions  of  allegiance  and  naturaliza¬ 
tion,  and  innumerable  complaints  of  forcible  or  fraudulent  enlistment  with  all 
their  attendant  grievances.  Not  the  least  difficult  part  of  my  duty,  occasion¬ 
ally,  was  the  irrepressible  ardor  of  the  u  Civis  Romanus”  —  the  British  sub¬ 
ject  —  who  could  make  no  allowance  for  a  state  of  war  or  martial  law,  and 
seemed  to  think,  very  naturally,  that  no  one  but  an  Englishman  had  a  right 
to  go  to  war.  And  here  I  desire  to  bear  my  grateful  testimony  to  the  pa¬ 
tience,  forbearance,  and  uniform  courtesy  which  I  met  with  from  all  the  dif¬ 
ferent  functionaries  with  whom  I  then  came  in  contact.  In  the  performance 
of  these  harassing  and  responsible  duties,  I  was  sustained  and  guided  by  the 
judicious  counsel  of  that  most  able  and  self-sacrificing  public  servant,  Lord 
Lyons. 

It  was,  indeed,  fortunate  for  both  countries,  that  Great  Britain  had 
such  judicious  and  sensible  representatives  at  Washington  and  at  New 
York.  They  did  what  they  could  to  avert  threatened  disputes. 

One  of  the  curious  delusions  assiduously  fostered  by  the  Confederate 
agents  abroad  and  the  press  in  their  interest,  was  the  notion  which 
appeared  to  have  gained  lodgment  in  the  British  mind,  that  the  Federal 
Government  was  seeking  a  quarrel  with  England  as  a  means  of  extri¬ 
cating  itself  from  its  troubles.  Absurd  as  was  the  idea  that  the  sorely- 
pressed  Union  wanted  any  more  enemies,  it  was,  nevertheless,  seriously 
believed. 

Writing  to  Mr.  Adams  in  October,  Seward  remarked: 

It  would  be  unjust  to  Her  Majesty’s  Minister  residing  here,  as  well  as  to 
Her  Majesty’s  Government,  to  omit  to  say  that  that  Minister  has,  in  all  his 
proceedings,  carefully  respected  the  sovereignty  and  the  rights  of  the  United 

States. 

But  there  were  some  British  officials  less  scrupulous  in  the  discharge 
of  their  functions.  Hence,  one  day  in  August,  Seward  had  found 
occasion  to  send  his  old  friend  Captain  Schultz  to  London,  on  a  secret 


1861.] 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  BAG. 


029 


mission.  The  Captain  carried,  a  mysterious  package  done  up  in  brown 
paper,  which  was,  in  fact,  an  intercepted  bag  of  letters.  A  dispatch, 
of  which  he  was  also  the  bearer,  thus  told  the  “story  of  the  bag.” 

Alexander  II.  Schultz,  a  special  messenger,  will  deliver  to  you  this  dispatch 
together  with  a  bag  containing  letters  addressed  to  Lord  John  Russell.  On 
the  5th  instant,  I  was  advised  by  a  telegram  from  Cincinnati,  that  Robert 
Mure  of  Charleston  was  on  his  way  to  New  York  to  embark  at  that  port  for 
England,  and  that  he  was  the  bearer  of  dispatches  from  the  usurping  insur¬ 
rectionary  authorities.  Information  from  various  sources  agreed  in  the  fact, 
that  he  was  ti’aveling  under  a  passport  from  the  British  Consul  at  Charleston. 
Upon  this  information,  I  directed  the  police  at  New  York  to  detain  Mr.  Mure 
and  any  papers  which  might  be  found  in  his  possession,  until  I  should  give 
further  directions.  He  was  so  detained,  and  he  is  now  in  custody  at  Fort 
Lafayette,  awaiting  full  disclosures.  In  his  possession  were  found  seventy  let¬ 
ters.  There  was  also  found  in  his  possession  a  sealed  bag  marked  “Foreign 
Office,  3,"  with  two  labels,  as  follows:  “On  Her  Brit.  Maj.  service.  The 
Right  Honorable  the  Lord  John  Russell,  M.  P.,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.  Dispatches  in 
charge  of  Robert  Mure,  Esq.”  Signed  “  Robert  Bunch.” 

The  bag  bears  two  impressions  of  the  seal  of  the  office  of  the  British  Con¬ 
sul  at  Charleston,  and  seems  to  contain  voluminous  papers.  There  were  also 
found  upon  Mr.  Mure’s  person,  in  an  open  envelope,  what  pretends  to  be  a 
passport;  also  a  letter  of  introduction.  There  were  also  found  several  un¬ 
sealed  copies  of  a  printed  pamphlet.  This  pamphlet  is  manifestly  an  argument 
for  the  disunion  of  the  United  States.  Several  copies  of  it  were  found  ad¬ 
dressed  to  persons  in  England. 

The  marks  and  outward  appearance  of  the  bag  indicate  that  its  contents 
are  exclusively  legitimate  communications  from  the  British  Consul  at  Charles¬ 
ton,  to  H.  B.  M.’s  Government.  Nevertheless,  I  have  what  seems  to  be  good 
reason  for  supposing  that  they  may  be  treasonable  papers,  designed  and  got¬ 
ten  up  to  aid  parties  engaged  in  arms  for  the  overthrow  of  this  Government. 
*  *  *  Moreover,  the  bearer  of  the  papers,  Robert  Mure,  is  a  naturalized  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  has  resided  here  thirty  years,  and  is  a  colonel  in  the  in¬ 
surgent  military  forces  of  South  Carolina.  If  the  papers  contained  in  the 
bag  were  not  illegal  in  their  nature  or  purpose,  it  is  not  seen  why  their  safe 
transmission  was  not  secured,  as  it  might  have  been,  by  exposing  them  in 
some  way  to  Lord  Lyons,  British  Minister  residing  at  this  capital;  whose 
vouchers  for  their  propriety,  as  Mr.  Bunch  must  well  know,  would  exempt 
them  from  all  scrutiny  or  suspicion.  Of  course,  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  dis¬ 
claim  any  thought  that  Earl  Russell  has  any  knowledge  of  the  papers,  or  of 
their  being  sent.  It  is  important,  however,  to  this  Government,  that  -what¬ 
ever  mischief,  if  any,  may  be  lurking  in  the  transaction  be  counteracted  and 
prevented.  I  have,  therefore,  upon  due  consideration,  concluded  to  send  the 
bag  by  a  special  messenger,  and  to  instruct  you  to  see  that  it  is  delivered  to 
its  address,  in  exactly  the  condition  in  which  you  receive  it. 

Among  the  letters  found  on  the  person  of  Robert  Mure,  there  are  many, 
which  more  or  less  directly  implicate  Mr.  Robert  Bunch,  the  British  Consul  at 


630 


AN  EXEQUATOR  REVOKED. 


[1861. 


Charleston,  as  a  conspirator  against  the  United  States.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  one  of  them: 

“Mr.  B.,  on  oath  of  secrecy,  communicated  to  me  also  that  the  first  step  to 
recognition  was  taken.  He  and  Mr.  Belligny  together  sent  Mr.  Trescot  to 

Richmond  yesterday,  to  ask  Jeff  Davis,  President,  to -  the  treaty  of 

- -  to  the  neutral  flag  covering  neutral  goods' to  be  respected.  This  is  the 

first  step  of  direct  treating  with  our  Government;  so  prepare  for  active  busi¬ 
ness  by  January  1st.” 

You  will  submit  this  information  to  the  British  Government,  and  request 
that  Mr.  Bunch  may  be  removed  from  his  office. 

A  few  weeks  later  the  answer  came  from  London.  Mr.  Adams 
yrrote: 

I  transmit  copies  of  two  notes  received  yesterday  from  Lord  Russell,  in 
answer  to  my  notes  of  the  3d  of  September,  transmitting  to  him  the  bag  of 
Mr.  Bunch.  It  appears,  from  one  of  them,  that  Mr.  Bunch  has  been  acting 
under  secret  instructions,  which  are  only  now  acknowledged  because  they 
have  come  to  light ;  and  that  his  granting  a  safe  conduct  to  an  emissary  of 
secession,  charged  with  treasonable  papers,  is  no  objection  to  his  neutral  char¬ 
acter,  in  the  eyes  of  his  employers. 

This  note  from  the  Foreign  Office  of  Great  Britain  said: 

Mr.  Bunch,  in  what  he  has  done  in  this  matter,  has  acted  in  obedience  to 
the  instructions  of  his  Government,  who  accept  the  responsibility  of  his  pro¬ 
ceedings,  so  far  as  they  are  known  to  the  Foreign  Department,  and  who  can¬ 
not  remove  him  from  his  office  for  having  obeyed  his  instructions. 

Seward,  however,  thought  differently;  and  so  brought  the  proceed¬ 
ings  of  this  representative  of  a  neutral  power  to  a  summary  conclusion. 
He  wrote: 

This  Government  finds  no  sufficient  justification,  or  excuse,  for  the  proceed¬ 
ing  of  Mr.  Bunch,  thus  shown  to  be  in  violation  of  the  law  of  the  United 
States.  You  will  inform  Earl  Russell  that  the  exequatur  cf  Mr.  Bunch  has 
been  withdrawn,  because  his  services  as  Consul  are  not  agreeable  to  this  Gov¬ 
ernment;  and  that  the  consular  privileges,  thus  taken  from  him,  will  be 
cheerfully  allowed  to  any  successor  whom  Her  Majesty  may  appoint,  against 
whom  no  grave  personal  objections  shall  exist. 

In  another  case,  two  New  York  brokers,  who  were  British  subjects, 
had  got  into  Fort  Lafayette,  through  the  discovery  that  their  seces¬ 
sionist  partner,  at  Mobile,  was  using  their  house  as  a  channel  for 
treasonable  correspondence.  This  brought  a  sharp  remonstrance  from 
the  Foreign  Office,  which  said: 

It  does  not  appear  that  Congress  has  sanctioned,  in  this  respect,  any  de¬ 
parture  from  the  due  course  of  law;  and  it  is  in  these  circumstances  that  the 
law  officers  of  the  Crown  have  advised  Her  Majesty’s  Government  that  the 
arbitrary  arrests  of  British  subjects  are  illegal. 


1861.]  REPLY  TO  THE  LAW  OFFICERS  OF  THE  CROWN.  631 

So  far  as  appears  to  Her  Majesty’s  Government,  the  Secretary  of  the  United 
States  exercises,  upon  the  reports  of  spies  and  informers,  the  power  of  de¬ 
priving  British  subjects  of  their  liberty,  of  retaining  them  in  prison,  or  liber¬ 
ating  them,  by  his  own  will  and  pleasure. 

Her  Majesty’s  Government  cannot  but  regard  this  despotic  and  arbitrary 
power  as  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  as  at 
variance  with  the  treaties. 

In  his  answer,  Seward  said: 

Even  in  this  country  —  so  remarkable  for  so  long  an  enjoyment,  by  its 
people,  of  the  highest  immunities  of  personal  freedom  —  war,  and  especially 
civil  war,  cannot  be  conducted  exclusively  in  the  forms  and  with  the  dilatory 
remedies  provided  by  municipal  laws,  which  are  adequate  to  the  preservation 
of  public  order  in  a  time  of  peace.  Treason  always  operates,  if  possible,  by 
surprise;  and  prudence  and  humanity,  therefore,  equally  require  that  violence 
concocted  in  secret  shall  be  prevented,  if  practicable,  by  unusual  and  vigorous 
precaution.  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  inconveniences  which  result  from  the 
practice  of  such  precaution,  embarrassing  social  life,  and  affecting  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations.  But  the  American  people,  after  having  tried  in  every 
way  to  avert  civil  war,  have  accepted  it,  at  last,  as  a  stern  necessity.  Their 
chief  interest,  while  it  lasts,  is  not  the  enjoyment  of  society  or  the  profit  of 
trade,  but  the  saving  of  the  national  life.  That  life  saved,  all  the  other  bless¬ 
ings,  which  attach  to  it,  will  speedily  return,  with  greater  assurance  of  con¬ 
tinuance  than  ever  before.  The  safety  of  the  whole  people  has  become,  in  the 
present  emergency,  the  supreme  law;  and  so  long  as  the  danger  shall  exist, 
all  classes  of  society— the  denizens  and  the  citizen— cheerfully  acquiesce  in  the  - 
measures  which  that  law  prescribes. 

This  Government  does  not  question  the  learning  of  the  legal  advisers  of  the 
British  Crown,  or  the  justice  of  the  deference  which  Her  Majesty’s  Govern¬ 
ment  pays  to  them.  Nevertheless,  the  British  Government  will  hardly  expect 
that  the  President  will  accept  their  explanations  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States;  especially  when  the  Constitution,  thus  expounded,  would  leave 
upon  him  the  sole  executive  responsibility  of  suppressing  the  existing  insur¬ 
rection,  while  it  would  transfer  to  Congress  the  most  material  and  indispen¬ 
sable  power  to  be  employed  for  that  purpose.  Moreover,  these  explanations 
find  no  real  support  in  the  Constitution  itself.  He  must  be  allowed,  theiefoie, 
to  prefer  to  be  governed  by  the  national  view  of  our  organic  law,  which 
receives  the  sanction  of  the  highest  authorities  of  our  country. 

The  success  of  the  rebels  in  fitting  out  privateers  and  vessels  of 
war  called  attention  to  the  very  insignificant  harbor  defenses  of  the 
Northern  cities.  As  Congress  was  no  longer  in  session,  the  Adminis¬ 
tration  decided  to  appeal  to  the  Governors  of  the  seaboard  States. 
Seward,  accordingly,  communicated  with  them,  and,  in  most  cases,  the 
suggestion  was  heartily  responded  to,  and  the  works  of  defense  begun. 
In  his  letters,  he  said: 


G32 


THE  TREASURY  AND  THE  BANKS. 


[1861. 


It  is  necessary  now  to  take  every  precaution  that  is  possible  to  avert  the 
evils  of  foreign  war,  to  be  superinduced  upon  those  of  civil  commotion,  which 
we  are  endeavoring  to  cure.  One  of  the  most  obvious  of  such  precautions  is 
that  our  ports  and  harbors  on  the  seas  and  lakes  should  be  put  in  a  condition 
of  complete  defense. 

On  the  subject  of  European  opinion,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Marsh: 

Europe  suffers  by  this  anomaly  of  civil  war  in  America  hardly  less  than  we 
do  ourselves.  The  first  manifestation  there,  as  here,  has  been  impatience 
under  this  suffering.  The  first  policy  of  the  European  States,  like  our  own, 
was  to  prevent  it,  and  the  next  to  bring  it  to  a  more  sudden  end  than,  in  the 
nature  of  tilings,  has  been  possible.  We  have  corrected  that  error  at  home. 
There  is  no  other  way  but  for  European  States  to  correct  it  among  themselves. 
When  this  impatience  shall  have  ceased,  they  will  be  prepared  to  consider  the 
matter  in  its  real  magnitude,  and  to  decide  whether  disunion,  civil  war,  and 
anarchy  throughout  the  wdiole  continent  of  America  would  immediately  and 
forever  bring  greater  benefits  to  other  nations,  and  to  mankind,  than  the  pre¬ 
servation  of  the  American  Union,  with  its  rightful  powers  and  its  benignant 
influences.  In  doing  this,  they  will  come  to  appreciate  the  resolution  of  the 
American  people.  In  any  case,  the  destinies  of  that  people  are  dependent,  not 
on  European  sympathies,  but  on  their  own  actions. 


CHAPTER  LXVII. 

1861. 

♦ 

Department  Work.  The  Treasury  and  the  Banks.  Organization  of  the  State  Department. 
Gossip  and  Slander.  Mr.  Seaton.  The  Life  of  Man  and  of  the  Nation.  The  Port  Royal 
Expedition.  Military  Success  at  the  West.  The  Stade  Dues.  Spanish  Occupation 
of  San  Domingo.  France,  Spain',  and  Great  Britain  Combining  against  Mexico.  In¬ 
structions  to  Ministers.  The  Sumter  in  Brazil. 

\ 

At  the  Treasury  Department,  during  the  summer  and  fall,  there 
were  frequent  conferences  between  Secretary  Chase  and  the  leading 
bankers  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  blow  the  Treasury 
could  be  strengthened,  so  that  the  “  sinews  of  war”  might  be  forth¬ 
coming,  was  a  problem  that  engaged  attention  of  financiers,  from  the 
very  first  days  of  the  contest.  Many  projects  were  suggested,  and 
theories  advanced.  Such  of  them  as  the  Secretary  deemed  feasible 
and  proper  became  the  subject  of  discussion  at  Cabinet  meetings. 
After  one  of  these  meetings,  Seward  remarked  to  Mr.  Chase:  “  I  ex¬ 
pect  to  agree  with  you,  and  give  you  such  help  as  I  can,  whatever 
plan  you  may  finally  decide  upon.  My  own  judgment  is,  that,  in  this 


FORTIFICATIONS  AT  WASHINGTON. 


THE  CHAIN  BRIDGE 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

JKIYEHSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


1861.1 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE. 


G33 


crisis,  what  the  country  needs,  is  some  form  of  a  National  Bank.  If 
the  old  United  States  Bank,  and  its  branches,  had  survived  till  now, 
this  would  be  their  time  of  usefulness.  But  that  ‘  bone  of  conten¬ 
tion  ’  between  parties  was  long  ago  disposed  of.  It  would  not  be 
wise,  now,  to  revive  the  issue.  Nevertheless,  some  form  of  National 
Banking  we  must  have.” 

“Exactly  so/’  replied  Mr.  Chase,  “and  we  are  trying  whether  we 
can  renew,  and  subdivide  its  functions,  without  renewing  the  old  party 
animosities.” 

Writing  to  Mr.  Dayton,  Seward  said: 

This  domestic  commotion  has  ripened  into  a  transaction  so  vast  as  to  in¬ 
crease  more  than  four-fold  the  labors  of  the  Administration  in  every  depart¬ 
ment.  You  can  readily  imagine  how  vast  a  machinery  lias  been  created  in 
the  War  Department,  in  the  Navy  Department,  and  the  Treasury  Department, 
respectively.  The  head  of  each  is  a  man  of  busy  occupations,  high  responsi¬ 
bilities,  and  perplexing  cares.  You  would  hardly  suppose  that  a  similar  change 
has  come  over  the  modest  little  State  Department  of  other  and  peaceful  days; 
but  the  exactions  upon  it  are  infinite,  and  out  of  all  that  offers  itself  to  be  done, 

I  can  only  select  and  do  that  which  cannot  be  wisely  or  safely  left  undone. 

The  Department  of  State  was  transacting  work  every  day  that  ex¬ 
ceeded  its  previous  labors  seven-fold.  Fortunately  its  little  corps  of 
officers  and  clerks  were  nearly  all  trained  and  experienced.  Its  Chief 
Clerk,  Mr.  Hunter,  had  been  over  thirty  years  in  the  service.  Every 
one  of  the  bureau  officers  was  discreet  and  capable.  At  the  head  of 
the  diplomatic  divisions  were  Mr.  Chilton,  Mr.  Pratt,  and  Dr.  Mackie. 
At  the  head  of  the  consular  divisions  were  Mr.  Abbott  and  Mr.  Jasper 
Smith.  The  financial  officer  and  disbursing  agent  was  Seward’s  old 
friend  and  biographer,  Mr.  George  E.  Baker.  The  librarian  was  his 
former  townsman,  Mr.  J.  C.  Derby.  A  temporary  bureau  had  been 
found  necessary  to  take  charge  of  the  cases  of  political  prisoners  and 
rebel  correspondence,  which  ^vas  under  charge  of  Mr.  E.  D.  Webster; 
and  the  two  messengers,  Messrs.  Donaldson  and  Hansell,  were  men  of 
proved  efficiency  and  integrity. 

When  Congress  was  in  session  and  making  provision  for  the  vast 
expansion  of  the  departments  under  the  pressure  of  the  war,  the  com¬ 
mittees  asked  Seward  for  suggestions  in  regard  to  suitable  increase  of 
the  force  of  the  Department  of  State.  He  told  them  that  he  found 
its  functions  so  well  arranged  and  apportioned  that  he  would  ask  no 
change  or  increase  of  the  regular  force,  but  simply  an  appropriation 
enabling  him  to  employ  temporary  clerks  to  be  assigned  to  duty  where 
required.  It  was  cheerfully  granted,  and  such  clerks  were  from  time 
to  time  appointed  —  their  number  varying  from  five  to  twenty-five. 


G34 


A  SUCCESSFUL  SYSTEM  OF  APPOINTMENTS. 


[1861. 


and  their  period  of  service  terminable  at  pleasure.  It  proved  to  be 
the  method  of  selection  best  adapted, to  promote  the  efficiency  of  the 
department.  No  man’s  time  was  wasted,  no  man’s  tenure  disturbed. 
The  regular  clerks  continued  in  the  old  places.  A  temporary  clerk 
who  proved  incompetent  could  be  quietly  dropped  at  the  end  of  a 
week’s  or  a  month’s  service.  A  competent  or  deserving  one  could  be 
continued.  As  vacancies  occurred  in  the  regular  corps  by  death, 
resignation,  or  transfer,  they  were  filled  by  promotion  in  due  course, 
and  the  vacant  place  thus  left  at  the  foot  of  the  regular  force  was 
filled  by  the  transfer  to  it  of  the  most  deserving  of  the  “temporaries." 
So  the  department  was  kept  continually  manned  by  capable  and  expe¬ 
rienced  men,  each  feeling  assured  of  bis  tenure  and  looking  to  deserved 
promotion.  The  system  was  a  simple  one.  That  it  was  a  good  one 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  was  never  found  necessary  to  change  it. 
It  was  continued  during  Seward’s  incumbency.  Five  successive  Sec¬ 
retaries  of  State  who  followed  him  have  each  taken  the  department  as 
they  found  it,  retaining  the  whole  clerical  force;  continuing  the  sys¬ 
tem  of  promotion;  appointing  new-comers  to  the  lowest  grade  to  earn 
promotion  in  their  turn.  Under  this  system  boys  have  now  grown 
gray-headed.  And  this  was  the  reason  why  the  State  Department, 
with  its  small  force  of  men,  has  been  able  to  accomplish  so  great  an 
amount  of  work,  and  to  accomplish  it  so  well.  During  the  whole  period 
of  Seward’s  stay, no  duty  of  the  department  was  ever  neglected;  no  paper 
ever  lost;  no  State  secret  ever  betrayed. 

At  every  seat  of  government,  gossip  and  slander  are  common  enough. 

•  But  when,  to  the  ordinary  crop,  are  added  also  the  “  rumors  of  war," 
and  the  vindictive  abuse  engendered  by  them,  the  gross  amount  in 
circulation  is  appalling.  Among  the  amenities  of  the  press  at  this 
period  were  caricatures  representing  President  Lincoln  as  an  ape,  or 
ourang-outang,  with  such  epithets  as  “drunken  buffoon,"  “incar¬ 
nate  fiend,"  and  “bloodthirsty  tyrant."  Seward  came  in  for  an 
equal,  if  not  a  greater,  share  of  abuse.  He  took  no  notice  of  it,  and 
made  no  contradictions.  Occasionally,  however,  some  zealous  friend, 
who  was  battling  against  the  tide  of  misrepresentation,  in  his  behalf, 
drew  out  a  letter  of  thanks  from  him.  He  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Joseph 
P.  Thompson  of  the  Independent : 

November  15,  1861. 

Accustomed  to  leave  misapprehensions  of  my  motives,  action,  and  character 
to  find  their  correction  in  the  course  of  events,  I  forebore  from  all  notice  of 
the  statement  in  the  late  number  of  the  Independent ,  which  was  calculated  to 
bring  my  loyalty  to  the  Union  in  question,  although  it  excited  my  profound 
astonishment.  But  the  rule  of  self-restraint,  to  which  I  have  adverted,  does 


1861.] 


GOSSIP  AND  SLANDER. 


635 


not  forbid  me  from  acknowledging  good  offices  rendered  to  me,  from  motives 
of  patriotism,  or  the  love  of  truth.  I  give  you,  therefore,  my  sincere  thanks 
for  your  magnanimous  contradiction  of  that  erroneous  statement.  This  cor¬ 
rection  having  been  made,  in  the  absence  of  any  complaint  on  my  part,  it 
comes  to  me  as  an  agreeable  surprise. 

Mr.  Seaton,  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  a  loyal,  courteous,  and 
dignified  “  gentleman  of  the  old  school,”  would  sometimes  come  in, 
with  a  newspaper  scrap  in  his  hand,  saying:  “  Now,  really,  Gov¬ 
ernor,  this  is  too  outrageous.  You  must  let  me  contradict  this.” 
Then  he  would  write  a  genial  little  paragraph,  like  the  following  : 

We  inquired  at  the  State  Department  to-day,  about  the  correctness  of  the 
statements  of  startling,  hostile  announcements  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and 
about  protracted  and  anxious  meetings  of  the  Cabinet,  involving  serious  mili¬ 
tary  and  civil  changes.  The  Secretary  simply  replied,  to  our  inquiries,  that 
the  alleged  consultations  were  imaginary;  that  the  reported  propositions  were 
apocryphal,  and  the  alleged  Cabinet  meetings  fabulous. 

But  such  “  oil  on  the  troubled  waters  ”  could  not  still  a  raging 
tempest.  He  wrote  to  his  daughter,  in  October: 

Things  here  go  on  very  much  as  when  you  were  here,  only  each  day  brings 
a  small  increase  of  business.  I  come  to  the  office  immediately  after  breakfast, 
and  find  no  respite  until  five  or  six,  sometimes  seven  o’clock.  They  seldom 
allow  me  a  full  hour  for  dinner. 

We  have  at  last  acquired  a  feeling  of  entire  confidence  in  the  safety  of  the 
capital,  and  of  the  State  of  Maryland.  But  the  faction  that  seeks  to  over¬ 
throw  the  Government  finds  sympathies  and  abettors  in  all  the  slave  States; 
and  these  persons,  betraying  the  communities  in  which  they  reside,  to  invaders 
from  without,  give  us  a  very  great  deal  of  difficulty  in  the  “Border  States.” 
We  should  feel  sanguine  of  success,  in  a  short  time,  if  it  were  not  that  com¬ 
manders,  by  sea  and  land,  sometimes  make  mistakes,  which  encourage 
treason.  A  steamer  has  just  entered  Savannah,  in  violation  of  the  blockade, 
with  arms,  powder,  and  military  stores.  The  Army  growrs  very  rapidly.  It 
has  almost  doubled  since  you  left  us  here,  and  is  vastly  improved. 

You  have  seen  in  the  papers  some  of  the  correspondence  which  I  am  carry¬ 
ing  on  with  great  people,  whom  I  love  much  less  than  I  do  you.  What  you 
see,  however,  is  only  a  very  small  part,  for  I  scarcely  find  time  to  see  anybody 
or  do  any  thing  else.  This  war  begins  to  produce  intolerable  suffering  in 
Europe,  and  the  European  statesmen  begin  to  complain.  If  they  had  been 
wise  at  the  beginning,  they  would  have  frowned  on  the  treason  of  slave-hold¬ 
ers,  which  is  aimed,  not  more  at  the  American  Union  than  at  the  interests  of 
mankind.  They,  however,  did  not  see  it  then.  Hence  they  suffer  with  us, 
and,  from  mocking  at  us,  they  proceed  to  argue,  and  to  reason  with  us,  how 
to  avert  from  them  the  suffering  they  heedlessly  provoked  for  themselves. 

I  send  you  an  autograph  of  the  Count  de  Paris,  heir  to  the  throne  of  France 
in  the  Orleans  regime,  now  an  exile,  and  so  a  captain  in  the  United  States 
Army. 


636 


SOUTHERN  EXPEDITIONS. 


[1861 


To  Cephas  Brainard,  of  the  Young  Men’s  Republican  Union,  in 
Yew  York,  he  wrote: 

I  rejoice  to  see  the  demonstrations  which  the  young  men  of  New  York 
are  making.  They  are  in  the  right  spirit,  for  individual  life  and  fortunes  are 
of  comparatively  little  importance,  while  the  life  and  destiny  of  the  Union 
are  of  inestimable  value.  Let  each  one  of  us,  in  this  great  emergency,  so  act 
as  to  make  sure  that  though  we  perish,  our  country  shall  be  immortal. 

Naval  expeditions  to  obtain  possession  of  points  on  the  Southern 
coast  had  been  the  subject  of  Cabinet  conferences,  as  soon  as  the  in¬ 
crease  of  force  seemed  to  warrant  them.  The  success  of  the  Hatteras 
expedition  stimulated  the  preparations  for  another  of  larger  propor¬ 
tions,  aimed  at  South  Carolina.  Commodore  Dupont  was  sent  for 
and  was  found  to  be  the  man  for  the  emergency.  So  was  G-eneral  T. 
W.  Sherman,  who  had  command  of  the  land  force.  The  expedition 
sailed  at  the  close  of  October,  and  a  few  days  later  came  the  news  of 
its  successful  capture  of  Port  Royal  and  Hilton  Head.  This  intelli¬ 
gence,  together  with  the  news  that  General  Grant  had  made  a  spirited 
attack  on  Belmont,  Missouri;  that  Nelson  had  defeated  the  Confed¬ 
erates  at  Pikeville,  Kentucky;  that  Rosecrans  had  attacked,  and  Ben- 
ham  was  in  pursuit  of  Floyd  in  West  Virginia;  and  finally,  that  the 
Union  men  in  East  Tennessee  were  destroying  the  bridges  between 
them  and  the  Confederacy,  looked  as  if  there  were  Union  successes 
all  along  the  line,  and  popular  hope  and  confidence  rose  accordingly. 

In  a  dispatch  to  Mr.  Judd,  Seward  remarked: 

Disunion,  by  surprise  and  impetuous  passions,  took  the  first  successes  and 
profited  by  them,  to  make  public  opinions  in  Europe. 

Union  comes  forward  more  slowly,  but  with  greater  and  more  enduring 
vigor.  This  nation,  like  every  other,  stands  by  its  own  strength.  Other 
powers  will  respect  it  so  long  as  it  exhibits  its  ability  to  defend  and  save 
itself. 

One  of  the  minor  diplomatic  questions  which  was  brought  to  a  suc¬ 
cessful  conclusion  this  fall  was  that  of  the  “Stade  dues,”  as  the  tolls 
were  called,  which,  until  this  time,  had  been  exacted  of  all  American 
merchantmen  entering  the  Elbe.  A  treaty  formally  abolishing  the 
“dues,”  was  made  with  the  King  of  Hanover,  and  signed  in  No¬ 
vember. 

Two  questions  of  grave  consequence  to  the  United  States,  though 
not  directly  connected  with  the  war,  were  the  subject  of  earnest  and 
protracted  correspondence.  One  was  the  Spanish  occupation  of  San 
Domingo,  and  the  other  the  combinations  entered  into  by  France, 
Spain,  and  Great  Britain,  in  regard  to  Mexico. 


1801.] 


SPAIN  ANI)  SAN  DOMINGO. 


63? 


Spain,  tempted  by  the  internal  discords  of  San  Domingo  and  invited 
by  one  of  the  parties  thereto,  had  again  “  unfurled  the  banner  of  Cas¬ 
tile  ”  on  the  Island  of  Hispaniola,  and  sent  an  army  and  a  squadron  to 
maintain  it. 

Seward’s  remonstrances,  based  on  the  principles  of  the  “  Monroe 
doctrine,”  were  made  in  a  friendly  spirit,  and  so  received  by  the  Span¬ 
ish  Cabinet.  Subsequently  events  there  and  in  Mexico  convinced  the 
Spanish  Government  that  attempts  by  European  powers  to  subvert 
republics  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  are  enterprises  rarely  attended 
with  either  success  or  profit. 

In  regard  to  the  Mexican  question,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Schurz: 

The  United  States  desire  it  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  by  reason  of 
their  position  as  a  neighbor  of  Mexico,  they  deem  it  important  to  their  own 
safety  and  welfare,  that  no  European  power  shall  subjugate  that  country  and 
*  hold  it. 

He  informed  him,  also,  that  the  United  States  had  already  made 
overtures  to  Mexico,  as  well  as  to  France  and  Great  Britain,  to  relieve 
the  controversy  by  assuming  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  bonds 
held  by  them  for  a  term  of  years.  “  Thus  far  we  have  no  answer 
from  either  party  to  that  proposition.” 

Instructing  him  to  assure  Mr.  Calderon  Collantes  of  the  willingness 
of  the  American  Government  to  use  its  good  offices,  and  “  even  to 
assume  some  responsibility  and  incur  some  sacrifice”  in  behalf  of 
Mexico  to  avert  war  between  her  and  Spain,  he  added,  “  in  any  case, 
whether  Spain  shall. proceed  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  other  pow¬ 
ers,  we  shall  expect  that  the  utmost  care  be  taken  on  her  part  that  no 
rights  of  American  citizens  in  Mexico,  nor  any  rights  of  this  Govern¬ 
ment  shall  be  disturbed  or  affected.  With  that  view,  we  shall  always 
have  a  naval  force  near  the  scene  of  possible  conflict.” 

A  few  weeks  later,  he  said: 

You  have  correctly  interpreted  to  Mr.  Calderon  Collantes  the  public  senti¬ 
ment  of  this  country  in  regard  to  Spain.  We  not  only  seek  no  controversy 
with  her,  but  we  desire  to  stand  in  the  most  friendly  relations  toward  her. 

We  are  watchful,  as  we  must  be,  of  every  fact  or  circumstance  that  seems  to 
indicate  a  disposition  on  her  part  to  favor  or  encourage  the  insurrection  with 
which  we  are  contending.  We  know  our  ability  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the 
Republic,  and  we  intend  to  maintain  it.  We  desire  that  when  it  shall  have 
been  completely  reestablished,  it  shall  be  found  that  nothing  has  been  done, 
in  the  mean  time,  by  Spain,  or  any  foreign  nation,  to  serve  as  causes  for  aliena¬ 
tion.  We  are  a  peaceful  State.  Indeed,  we  think  that  the  American  Union 
is  the  guaranty  of  peace  to  the  whole  world.  But,  like  any  other  State,  we 
are  jealous  of  our  rights,  and  must  maintain  them.  This  Government  seeks 


G38 


SPAIN,  CUBA  AND  BRAZIL. 


[1861. 


to  extend  its  influence  throughout  this  hemisphere  and  the  world ;  not  by  the 
sword,  but  by  commerce  and  by  peaceful  communication.  It  has  practically 
guaranteed  Cuba  to  Spain  heretofore  for  many  years,  and  it  has  no  design 
against  that  possession,  or  any  other  possession  of  Spain  now.  But  it  will  not 
look  with  favor  upon  any  policy  that  shall  make  that  island  the  fulcrum  of  a 
lever  for  overthrowing  either  this  Union  or  the  institutions  of  human  freedom 
and  self-government. 

We  have  said,  concerning  the  annexation  of  San  Domingo,  what  it  seems  to 
us  was  required  by  a  consideration  of  our  rights,  and  by  our  responsibilities  to 
mankind. 

News  that  the  Confederate  privateer  Sumter  had  been  permitted  to 
enter  a  Brazilian  port  called  out  an  earnest  protest  from  him.  He 
wrote  to  General  Webb: 

Y on  will  lose  no  time  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  Emperor’s  Government 
to  the  affair.  You  will  ask  explanation  thereof,  and  unless  satisfactory  expla¬ 
nations  are  rendered,  you  will  then  inform  his  Majesty’s  Government  that  the 
shelter  and  supplying  of  pirates,  as  the  Sumter  is,  in  the  ports  of  Brazil  is 
deemed  an  unfriendly  act  by  this  Government. 

We  have  supposed  that  Brazil,  and  every  other  State  on  the  American  Con¬ 
tinent,  have  an  interest  second  only  to  our  own  in  the  stability  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Union,  the  downfall  of  which  would  inevitably  be  followed  by  the  decline 
and  fall  of  every  independent  nation  on  this  continent,  which  must,  in  that 
case,  become  once  more  a  theater  for  the  ambition  of  European  powers. 


INDEX. 


'T* 


'I' 


-£*-•  PAGE. 

Abbott,  Chauncey  . 463 

Abbott,  George  J .  G33 

Abolitionists  casting  13,000  votes .  32 

looked  on  with  dread .  104 

Abdallah,  Hadji .  417 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  75,  138,  278, 

353,  447,  459,  461,  540,  57S,  582,  605, 

614,  624,  628 

first  meeting  with .  138 

at  Free  Soil  Convention .  75 

nominated  for  Vice-President .  75 

appointed  Minister  to  England .  525 

dispatches  to  and  from . 556,  600 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  at  Washington. . .  45 

opinions  and  hopes .  45 

illness  and  death  of . 63,  64 

last  words  of  .  66 

Seward’s  oration  on . . .  65 

compared  with  Napoleon .  66 

life  of .  109 

position  on  Monroe  Doctrine..  199 

Albany  Evening  Journal. .. .57,  67,171,  241 

Allen,  Charles . 503 

Allen,  William  F .  245 

Allen,  Stephen. . 191 

Allison,  Senator . 465 

Albany  Bridge .  350 

Amory,  Colonel  J .  583 

Amistad,  story  of  the .  354 

American  Union,  a  model  for  the  world.  96 

American  party . .210,  256 

Andre,  Major .  205 

Antonelli,  Cardinal .  400 

Anti-renters . 32,  34 

Anticosti .  315 

Anti-Nebraska  men . 222,  236,  270 

Anderson,  Major  Robert,  488,  490,  500, 

533,  601 

Andrew,  John  A . ,.451,  262,  618 

Andrews,  S.  G .  608 

Anti-slavery  men . 71,  112 

in  powerless  minority .  158 

Anthony,  Senator .  359 

Appleton,  D.,  &  Co .  335 

Appleton,  John .  522 

Ariel,  steamer  .  361 

Argyle,  Duke  and  Duchess  of . 373 

“Arbitrary  arrests” .  608 

Archibald,  E.  M . 628 

Ashmuu,  George . 450,  580 


PAGE. 

Atchison,  Senator . 140,  211,  265 

Atlantic  cable .  295 

first  message  over .  348 

Auburn  enterprises .  347 

Austin,  Rev.  John  M .  109 

Australia,  gold  discoveries  in .  168 


B. 


Badger,  George  E . 106,  131, 

Banks,  N.  P . 266,  291,  460,  566, 

Baker,  George  E . 353,  461, 

letters  to  and  from . 195, 

private  secretary  to  Governor  Clark 

New  York  Tribune  and . 

edits  Seward’s  works . 202, 

Bache,  Professor . 

Baker,  Edward  D . . . 

Baldwin,  Roger  S . 

Barn  Burners  and  Hunkers,  30,  33,  55,  58, 

carry  war  into  Africa . 

agree  on  Compromise  Bill . 

Bailey,  Dr.,  and  National  Era . 72, 

Barnes,  Rev.  Dr . 

Bates,  Joshua . 

Bates,  Edward . 450,  518, 

Belknap,  Colonel . 

Benedict,  Lewis . 55, 

Bell,  John,  73,  105,  131,  141,  220,  228, 

260,  277.  297,  343, 

compromise  resolutions  of . 

speech  on  Compromise  Bill . 

Doll  Tcnnp 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward.’.'.'.’. *226,*  329, 

Benjamin,  J.  P . . 

Bennett,  Henry . 

Bemis  Heights,  visit  to . 

Benton,  Thomas  II . 74, 

fine  preseuce  of . 

speeches  of  originality  and  inde¬ 
pendence .  . 

in  Senate . 139,  140,  215,  227, 

opposing  Nebraska  Bill  . 

Berrien,  John  M . 

and  Southern  Whigs . 7S,  105, 

Bingham,  Senator . 

Blair,  Francis  1\,  264,  267,  270,  282,  283, 

324, 

Blair,  Austin . 

Blair,  Governor . 

Blair,  Montgomery . 478,  518, 


219 

601 

633 


278 
209 
213 
704 
358 
114 
503 

64 

34 

156 

279 
181 
365 
521 

63 

455 


456 

123 

143 

558 

440 

346 

211 

237 

105 

120 


131 

231 

217 

38 

131 

359 


326 

452 

562 

521 


-7 


6 


C40 


INDEX 


PAGE. 

Black,  Jeremiah  S . 29S,  491,  525 

Black,  Governor . 562 

Blackwood,  Mr .  368 

Blanc,  Louis . . . . 375 

Birthday  reflections . . 46,  132 

Blondeel  von  Cuelebrouck .  520 

Blatchford,  Richard  M.,  83,  98,  243,  483,  551 

Blatchford,  Samuel . 45,  213,  237 

Blockade,  proclamation  of .  537 

Blockade  running .  627 

“Border  States”  ....526,  527,  546,  574,  616 
“Border  Ruffians”  and  “Free  State 

men  ” . 275 

Bowen,  James _ 83,  205,  226,  243,  250,  533 

Bowen  &  McNamee. .  159 

Boyd,  Linn  . 114,  174,  211 

Bragg,  Captain . 35,  49 

Brady,  James  T .  558 

Brainerd,  Cephas  . . 636 

Breckinridge,  John  C.,  275,  280,  293,459, 

466,  517 

Bremer,  Fredrika  ....'. .  147 

Bright,  Jesse  D . .  .260,  286 

Bright,  John .  374 

Brigham,  Dr .  52 

Briggs,  Dr.  Lansing .  52 

British  subjects .  630 

Brodhead,  J.  M .  297 

Broderick,  Senator .  439 

Brown,  John . 439,  441,  469,  613 

Brown,  Aaron  V .  298 

Brown,  Albert  J .  114 

Burnside,  Ambrose  E . . 561,  601 

Burke,  Martin .  608 

Burns,  Anthony .  230 

Butler,  Senator .  144,  223,  277 

Burlingame,  Anson .  274,  440,  525 

Buchanan,  Commodore . ; .  566 

Buchanan,  James,  30,  185;  275,  280,  291, 

293,  297,  299,  337,  479,  516 

Buell,  D.  C . 601 

Bulwer,  Sir  Henry .  135,  147,  148,  153 

Bunch,  Robert .  629 

Bronson,  Greene  C . ...48,  558 

Brooks,  PrestonS . 271,  274 

Burroughs,  Silas  M .  353 

Butterfield,  General  Daniel. . .  561 

Butler,  Benjamin  F  . , .  75 

Butler,  Gen.  B.  F.,  557,  564,  585,  601,  610,  620 

with  6th  Mass.  Regt .  548 

and  “Contrabands” .  617 

Burden  v.  Corning,  hook-headed  spike 

case .  236 

Burgesses’  Corps  of  Albany. ...........  297 

c. 

California,  gold  discovered  in.... 89,  90,  108 

shipments  of  gold  dust .  157 

original  “  Forty-niners  ” .  90 

Constitution  prohibiting  slavery...  117 

debates  in  Congress  over . 137 

admission  of,  resisted . 139,  151 

Seward  advocates  admission  of.  125,  129 

i  -i  ■» 


grateful  letters  from . 128 

admitted  as  free  State . 151,  154 

dry  dock  and  navy  j^ard .  159 

Seward  urges  return  of  customs...  159 
California  and  New  Mexico . .  113 


PAGE. 

Calhoun,  John  C . 69,  74,  106,  181,  199 

in  the  Senate .  105 

failing  health  ;  last  speech  of .... »  122 

gloomy  forebodings  of .  124 

Seward  replies  to .  125 

death,  and  funeral  honors  to .  131 

Cameron,  Simon,  347,  358,  450,  455,  525, 

552,  627 

elected  to  Senate .  297 

Secretary  of  War .  518 

Campbell,  Lewis  D . 69,  114,  237 

Campbell,  Robert .  351 

Cambreling,  C.  C .  55 

Canterbury,  Archbishop  of . 369,  370 

Call  for  troops,  the .  544 

Canada,  future  of .  319 

Canadian  French .  305 

Cartter,  David  K .  ]14 

Carlisle,  Senator .  597 

Cass,  Gen.  Lewis,  130,  131,  177,  185,  220, 

229,  284,  299,  344,  478 

in  the  Senate .  105 

nominated  for  President . 63,  68 

defeat  of .  87 

the  Nicholson  letter .  75 

speeches  of..,.. .  117,138,  139 

on  Nicaragua  treaty .  216 

appointed  Secretary  of  State .  298 

resigns  office .  491 

Castle  Garden,  Union  meeting  at .  123 

Cavour,  Count . 427,  627 

Chandler,  Joseph  R .  174 

Chandler,  Zachariah . 298,  346,  358,  462 

Chatfield,  Levi  S  .  171 

Cheever,  Rev.  Dr....  .  440 

Chew,  Robert  S .  537 

Chilton,  R.  G .  633 

Church,  Sanford  E .  245 

Chancery,  court  of .  367 

Channing,  Rev.  William  E .  213 

Chapin,  Rev.  E.  H .  68 

Christmas .  213 

Cicero .  409 

Chase,  Salmon  P.  ..106,  174,  191,  221, 

222,  229,  260,  264,  279,  286,  447, 

448,  450,  472,  503,  521,  632 

as  Van  Zandt’s  counsel . 39,  40 

elected  U.  S.  Senator .  98 

presides  at  Free-Soil  Convention  ...  75 

letter  to  Lewis  Tappan .  41 

with  Seward  on  slavery  question...  123 

opposes  Clay’s  compromise .  131 

nominated  for  Governor  .  254 

re-elected  Governor .  327 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury .  517 

Clapp,  Mr . 96 

Clark,  John  S .  561 

Clark,  Myron  H.,  Governor. . 238,  251 

Clarke,  Charles  E . 114 

Clark,  Willis  Gaylord .  73 

Clay,  Cassius  M . 525,  553 

Clayton-Bulwer  treaty . 135,  157,  263 

Clayton,  John  M.,  74,  84,  89,  90,  112,  149, 

215,  219,  277,  279,  288 

Secretary  of  State .  100 

advising  with  Seward . 101,  103,  111 

elected  to  U.  S.  Senate .  201 

death  of,  eulogy  by  Seward .  294 

Clay,  Henry  ...78,  82,  128,  130,  140,  149, 

166,  524 


INDEX. 


641 


'page. 

Henry  Ciay,  in  the  Senate . 105 

at  Philadelphia  Convention .  69 

discusses  political  prospects  with 

Seward .  61 

speeches  of . 57,  132,  148,  151 

resolutions  on  slavery .  122 

his  select  committee  of  thirteen  ....  131 
his  compromise  plan,  117,  124,  131, 

134,  136,  151 

supporting  Fillmore’s  Administra¬ 
tion.... . 147,  148 

death  of,  in  Washington .  188 

Clemens,  Jeremiah . 133,  140 

Clarendon,  Lord . 374,  396 

Civil  War  and  emancipation  predicted..  127 

Civil  War . 126,  487,  489,  494,  497,  545 

Colfax,  Schuyler . 251,  440 

Ccllamer,  Jacob,  106,  149,260,266,268,  482 

Cobb,  Howell . 112,  114,  298,  491 

Cochrane,  Clark  B .  353 

Collier,  John  A . 87,  90,  96,  98 

Cook,  James  M . 171,  209 

Comte  de  Paris .  367 

Commercial  revulsion  of  1857 .  323 

Compromises,  118,  131,  142,  151,  155, 

162,  480,  496 

Conkling,  Judge . 97,  116,  169,  190 

Conkling,  Roscoe . 353 

Conrad,  Charles  A .  114 

Confederacy,  the  Southern . 501,  529 

Confederate  commissioners,  530,  531, 

537,  538 

Confederate  privateers . 614,  625,  638 

Congress  of  Paris _ ,.396,  557,  614,  615,  624 

Constitutional  Convention,  New  York. 30,  31 

Conventions  Presidential,  67,  68,  74,  186, 

187,  252,  264,  273,  278,  447,  450,  456,  458 

Conspiracy  R.  R.  trials . 165,  166 

Cowley,  Lord .  396 

Court  of  Appeals  established .  31 

Cooper,  Senator .  139 

Covode,  John . 440 

Corcoran,  W.  W .  216 

Corning,  Erastus . 41,  455 

Corwin,  Thomas,  37,  62,  78,  93,  103,  105, 

140,  146 

speech  on  Wilmot  Proviso .  75 

Minister  to  Mexico . 524,542,  583 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury . 140,  146 

Cox,  General . 597 

Craft,  William  and  Elien .  169 

Crystal  Palace  in  New'  York .  207 

Cuba . 357,  359 

American  prisoners  in... . 135,  139 

Crawford,  Governor .  100 

Secretary  of  War . :  111 

Crampton,  Minister . . . 228,  230 

Crist,  Mr .  191 

Creedon,  Father .  561 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  37,  89,  188,  260,  277, 

298,  339,  344,  358 

Attorney-General . 100,  164 

in  the  Senate . 493,  498 

Curtis,  B.  R .  300 

Curtis,  Edw'ard . 107,  217 

Curtin,  Governor  Andrew. .  562 

Cushing,  Caleb .  202 

Cushman  Charlotte . 172,  344 

Custis,  G!  W.  Parke .  332 

Cutting,  Francis  B . 211  | 

41 


D. 


PAGE. 


Dallas,  George  M.. . ......370,  522,  578 

Dante  . 43  44 

Dana,  Charles  A . 240 

Davis,  Henry  Winter, . 493 

Davis,  Jefferson,  40,  140,  334,  346,’ 358, 

.  4 .  Cl  449,  482,  486 

in  the  Senate . 74,  105,  141,  138,  298 

President  of  Confederacy . 501,  530 

Davis,  John . . .  106,  120 

in  U.  S.  Senate. . . .105,138 

Dayton,  William  L.  74,  283,  524,  582,  614,  633 

in  U.  S.  Senate  . . . 38,  105,  139 

nominated  for  Vice-President .  278 

appointed  Minister  to  France .  525 

dispatches  to  and  from .  555 

DeJoinville,  Prince. . . .  619 

De  Lane,  of  London  Times .  370 

Democratic  review .  133 

Democratic  party .  256 

Denmark,  first  treaty  of  Seward...*....!  595 
Dennison,  William,  'Governor.  .447,  562,  618 

Denver,  Governor .  338 

Department  of  State,  519,  520*  568,’  622, 

_  633,  634 

Derby,  Lord . '. . 368,  372 

Derby,  J.  C . 137,  633 

Derby  &  Miller . 109,  294 

Devonshire,  Duke  of . 377 

Dhuleep  Singh . .  366 

Diary. . 521 

Dickinson,  A.  B . 33,  85,  224,  583 

Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  113,  131,  140,  245,  558 

in  U.  S.  Senate . 105,  160 

Diplomatic  customs  and  correspondence, 

531,  532,  556,  557,  568,  582,  595,  624 

D’ Israeli,  B . 374 

Disunion,  in  debate  .  115 

in  conversation .  109 

“Diversions  of  Purley” .  58 

Dix,  John  A.,  74,  75,  90,  245,  505,  525, 

551,  585,  612 

Secretary  of  Treasury . 491,  500 

Dixon,  James .  298 

Dix,  Miss  D.  L .  227 

District  of  Columbia,  slavery  in. ..  .154,  155 

improvements  in .  341 

Doane,  Dr.  A.  Sidney . 33,  174 

Dodge,  Henry .  71 

Doolittle,  James  R . 55,  298,  482 

Doniphan,  Colonel .  49 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  38,  117,  177,  184, 

185,  201,  268,  275,  280,  286,  287, 

299,  328,  330,  332,  339,  359,  449,  472 

in  the  Senate . 105,  134,  139 

on  Oregon  question .  75 

on  compromise . 131 

on  Nebraska  Bill .  216 

in  debate  with  Lincoln . 351 

for  the  Union .  549 

Downing,  A.  J .  190 

Draper,  Simeon . 33,  98,  114,  222,  473 

Dred  Scott  case . 299,  337 

Durkee,  Charles .  114 

E. 

East  India,  mutiny  in . . .  323 

Elements  of  empire .  94 

Elgin,  Lord . 228,  230,  378 

Ellice,  Edward . 359 


642 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Ellmaker,  Amos o..o.©oo.«©c...»o.»..e».  5  i 


Elmer,  Senator. ...  . . 130 

Ellsworth’s  Zouaves. ..  . . 565 

Ely,  Alfred  . 353 

Emancipation . 33,  34,  86,  126,  154,  155 

prediction  of . 127 

plan  of . 161 

Emmett,  Robert . 278 

England  and  privateering .  614 

English  corn  laws . ✓. .  30 

Erie  canal  enlargement .  165 

Erie  Railroad  jubilee . . . 164 

Ericsson,  Captain  John .  623 

Esterhazy,  Prince . 422 

European  revolutions . ...54,  76,  89,  108 

Evarts,  William  M . 446,  551,  558 

Seward  nominated  by . 451 

supported  for  U.  S.  Senator .  505 

Everett,  Edward . 216,  247,  456 

Secretary  of  State . 197,  226 

U.  S.  Senator . . .  201 

opposing  Nebraska  Bill .  225 

Ewing,  Thomas . 100,  101,  112 

Secretary  of  Interior . 133,  149 

“  Executive  theatricals” .  289 


F. 

Fairbanks,  Governor . .  585 

Father  Matthew .  Ill 

debate  over . 115 

Fenton,  Reuben  E . 211,  254,  353 

Fessenden,  W.  P . 241,  260,  284,  359,  484 

[J.  S.  Senator .  223 

Field,  Cyrus  W . 348,  349 

Field,  David  Dudley . 55,75,  503 

Figaniere,  Commander..... .  520 

“Finality” . 155,  159 

Fillmore,  Millard,  53,  69,  94,  152,  166, 

201,  245,  291,  293 
Vice-President....  100,  101,  106,  107,  143 
becomes  President,  145,  146,  151, 

156,  164 

Cabinet  of . 147 

nominated  for  President .  275 

“Filibustering  expeditions  ”  .  333 

Financial  panic  and  crash  of  1857  .  323 

Fish,  Hamilton . 202,  212,  260,  332,  558 

elected  Lieutenant-Governor .  53 

Governor . . .....75,96,  113 

on  extension  of  slavery .  122 

U.  S.  Senator . 160,  173 

Fogg,  George  G.,  Minister  to  Switzer¬ 
land  .  525 

Fitch,  Senator .  100 

Fort  Lafavette . 608,  633 

Floyd,  John  B . 298,  347 

Foote,  Henry  S . 14j,  151,  329,  442 

Foote,  Admiral,  on  Mississippi .  609 

Foot,  Solomon . 194,  241 

Roxana. . .  329 

Fort  Hill  Cemetery . 204 

Ford,  Thomas  H . 254 

Forney,  John  W.,  Clerk  of  Senate _  211 

Foreign  Governments,  unfriendly  feel¬ 
ing  of . 577 

Fosgate,  Dr.  Blanchard.... .  52 

Foster,  Lafayette  S . . . 260,  281,  282 

Foster,  Stephen  C . 440 

Fowler,  Rev.  Mr . . . 561 


PAGE. 

Fowler  &  Wells. ..  ...  .OQ  ,0 ...... .  115 


Fox,  Captain  G.  V . 533,  537,  539 

Frank,  Augustus . 353 

Francis  Joseph,  Emperor .  423 

Franklin,  W.  B .  (J0i 

Frelinghuysen,  Frederick  .  503 


French  Republic,  recognition  by  U.  S..  72 

Fremont,  John  C.,  35,  49,  62,  278,  283, 

291,  293,  524,  566,  617,  620,  627 

U.  S.  Senator . 123,  154 

Fugitive  Slave  Law... .40,  155,  158,  160,  163 
Fugitive  slaves . 160,  169,  170,  230,  247 

Gr. 

Galloway,  Samuel . 69 

Gales  &  Seaton . 328 

Galphin  claim . 130,  133 

Gardiner,  Addison  . .  48 

Lieutenant-Governor .  32 

Judge  of  Court  of  Appeals .  54 

Garland,  Colonel.... . . .  63- 

Garibaldi . .......  609 

Gates,  Seth  M .  77 

Gavigan,  Owen .  561 

George  III . 387 

Gerolt,  Baron . ..520,  553 

Gentry,  M.  P . .166,  493 

Gladstone,  Mr.  and  Mrs. . .  374 

Gibson.  John .  73 

Giddings,  Joshua  R _ 75,  114,  221,  266,  279 

Gilmer,  John  A .  487 

Gore,  General . 377 

Goddard,  Mrs.  M.  V . „ .  344 

Goodrich,  Aaron .  . .  459 

Gott,  Daniel,  on  the  slave  trade  in  Dis¬ 
trict  . 94 

Gortschakoff,  Prince . 626 

Graham,  William  A . 38 

nominated  for  Vice-President .  187 

Granger,  Francis. . . 86,  503 

Granger,  A.  P . 440 

Grant,  General . 620 

Granville,  Earl  and  Lady .  369 

Greeley,  Horace,  83,  278,  283,  345,  440,  455 

ThurlowWeed  and .  42 

on  Taylor  and  Clay.  ..62,  63,  67,  70,  80 

on  Chapin . . .  68 

on  Fourierism .  71 

libel  case .  71 

elected  to  Congress. . . .  92 

on  reforms  in  Congress .  92- 

article  in  Whig  Review .  137 

letters  to  Seward . 168,  239,  '457 

on  Fremont’s  nomination .  279 

meeting  Seward  in  1859 .  360 

on  “firm  of  Seward,  Weed  &  Gree¬ 
ley  ”  . 457 

Evarts  opposed  by . 505 

Grier,  George  M.,  executor  and  trustee  110 

Grimes,  Senator .  359 

Grinnell  Arctic  expedition . 157 

Grinnell,  Moses  H . 98,  173,  483,  558 

Griswold,  John  A .  623 

Grover,  Martin .  75 

Grow,  Galusha  A . 446,  593 

Guthrie,  James . . 503 

Gwin,  Senator _ 123,  226,  341,  346,  358,  441 

Seward  and . 154,  226 


INDEX. 


643 


X  AUEj, 

Habeas  corpus  and  jury  trials .  608 

Habeas  corpus  suspended . 574,  607,  609 

Habits  of  study  and  oratory .  95 

Habits  of  reading .  47 

Hale,  John  P.,  74,  106,  113,  180,  191,  260,  359 

in  U.  S.  Senate . 105,  136,  138,  139 

opposing  Clay’s  compromise .  131 

uniting  with  Seward  and  Chase. ...  123 

nominated  for  President .  195 

Hadley,  Amos  K.,  elected  Speaker .  96 

Hall,  N.  K.,  appointed  Postmaster- Gen¬ 
eral. . 149 

Hall,  A.  Oakey . .  517 

Hall,  Mayor  B.  F .  182 

Hall,  David  A . 332,  618 

Hamilton,  Mrs.  Alexander . 116,  216 

Hamilton,  Schuj'ler .  552 

Hamlin,  Hannibal . 260,  339,  451,  511,  517 

,  Vice-President .  475 

flammond,  Senator . 338,  343 

Hammond,  Governor .  345 

Hancock,  General  W.  S .  623 

Harper’s  Ferry  and  Norfolk  navy  yard. .  549 

Hard  times  and  political  defeats'. .  327 

Hartford  Convention  and  Southern  agi¬ 
tators .  129 

Harlan,  James . 261,  294,  503 

Harris,  Ira . 31,  50 

elected  U.  S.  Senator .  505 

Harris,  Townsend . 343 

Harrington,  George . 135 

Assistant  Secretary  of  Treasury...  525 

Harding,  Chester . 78 

Hatherton,  Lord  and  Lady .  368 

Havemeyer,  W.  F .  558 

Hawley,  Seth  C . ,71,  96,  169 

Helper’s  “impending  crisis” . 440 

Henry,  Professor  Joseph .  358 

Hicks,  Governor,  of  Maryland .  554 

“  Higher  Law”  speech . 126,  128 

opinions  and  comments. ..  .128,  161,  334 

Fugitive  Slave  Law  and .  161 

Hoffman,  Ogden .  38 

Hoffman,  Michael .  245 

Holt,  Joseph .  491 

Secretary  of  War. .  525 

Hone,  Philip .  33 

Hooker,  General  Joseph .  561 

Houston,  General  Sam . 105,  297 

speeches  of . 138,  141 

“  Home  Department,  The” .  101 

Howard,  William  A .  . 268 

Homestead  Bill . . . 343,  359 

Hungarian  Revolution .  116 

Hunt,  Alvah . 53,  240 

Hunt,  Randall . 487,  493 

Hunt,  Washington . .....33,  145 

Governor . 157,  161 

Hunter,  William . 519,  633 

Hunter.  R.  M.  T . 105,  339,  482 

T 

JL. 

Intelligencer,  National . 108 

Inverness,  Duchess  of .  371 

Ireland,  famine  in .  30 

Daniel  O’Connell  and .  52 


“  Irrepressible  conflict,”  86,  193,  194, 

292,351,  352 


*  PAGE. 

Jay,  John .  272 

Jewett,  Freeborn  G .  48 

Johnson,  Andrew . 343,  490,  498 

elected  to  Congress .  114 

U.  S.  Senator .  298 

re-elected .  593 

Johnson,  Dr .  389 

Johnson,  Herschel  V .  459 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  73,  89,  113,  188,  358,  503 

conference  with . 38,  93 

Attorney-General .  103 

Jones,  J.  Glaucy .  522 

Jones,  Wharton .  39 

Jordan,  Ambrose  L . 48,  53 

Juarez,  Benito,  President  of  Mexico. . . .  542 

Judd,  N.  T . 451,510,  525 

Minister  to  Prussia . 531,  636 

Judd,  Rev.  Dr .  136 

Judiciary,  elective .  48 

Julian,  George  W .  195 

Jullien’s  “monster  concerts” .  207 


K. 

Kansas  troubles,  242,  249,  265,  268,  275, 

280,  325,  336,  340,  443 


“Free  State”  Constitution .  241 

visit  of  Seward  to .  ...  466 

Kelly,  James . 437,  515 

Kennedy,  John  A . 608 

Kennedy,  T .  561 

Kemble,  Fanny .  394 

Keyes,  E.  V .  . 552,  601 

Kearney,  General .  35 

King,  Horatio .  491 

King,  James  G . 140 

King,  John  A  . 114,  140,  254,  278 

elected  Governor .  293 

King,  Preston,  38,  55,  75,  114,  245,  278, 

440,  455,  480,  482,  532,  611 

in  U.  S.  Senate .  298 

King,  Thomas  Butler . 114,  118 

King,  William  R.,  Vice-President  .  184 

Ivinnaird,  Lord  and  Lady .  376 

“  Know-Nothing  ”  party,  209,  210,  234, 

246,  250,  264,  290 
Kossuth,  Louis. .  .117,  177,  178,  227,  366,  368 

Austria  and  Russia  and .  168 

arrival  in  New  irork .  174 

in  Washington .  176 

welcomed  by  Congress .  175 

at  Mount  Vernon . 

reception  at  Auburn .  182 

Hungarian  fund  of .  185 

L. 

Labrador,  a  cruise  to . 303,  326 

landing  in .  309 

inhabitants  of. .  313 

Lansdowne,  Marquis  of . 365,  372 

Lafayette  .  369 

Lampson,  Sir  Curtis .  374 

Lamartine .  393 

Law  practice . ....46,  50 

Lamon,  Ward  H . 509,  511 

Lane,  James  H .  553 

Lane,  Joseph . 452 

Lander,  F.  W .  521 

Latrobe,  Mr  .  Ill 


044 


INDEX 


PAGE. 


Lawrence,  Abbott . 69, 

Lecompton  debate . 


Leavenworth,  Elias  W . 

Ledlie,  J.  S . 

Lee,  Robert  E . 561, 

Lee,  Mrs.,  anecdotes  of  Washington  by. 
Lefferts,  Colonel  Marshall . 548, 


Little,  Weare  C . 

Littlejohn,  DeWitt  C  . 244, 

Lind,  Jenny . 


Lincoln,  Abraham,  first  meeting  with 

79, 

in  debate  with  Douglas . 

nominated  for  U.  S.  Senate . 

lominated  for  President . 

elected  President . 468, 

journey  from  Springfield  to  Wash¬ 
ington  .  .508, 

inaugural  address  of . 

warned  of  plot  to  assassinate  him.. 

inauguration  of . 

letters  to  and  from,  482,  484,  486, 

504,  524,  526, 
proclamation  calling  for  troops.... 

President  and  Cabinet . 518,  537, 

Lincoln,  Ezra . 

Lincoln,  Robert  T . 

Lisboa,  Senhor . 

Liberty  party . 

Long,  Henry . 

Lovejoy,  Owen  . 440, 

Lyndhurst,  Lord . 

Lyon,  Caleb . 

Lyon,  General  Nathaniel . 575, 

Lyons,  Lord . 358,  520,  545,  554, 


100 

325 

432 

209 

561 

564 

152 

557 

245 

58 

549 

157 

80 

300 

351 

451 

475 

511 

511 

510 

515 

592 

545 

552 

263 

509 

521 

57 

160 

469 

366 

211 

609 

581 


M. 

Mackay,  Dr.  Charles . 367, 

McCormick  Reaper  case . 

Mackie,  Dr . 

“  Macomber  letter  ” . 

Macedonian,  U.  S.  S . 

“  Mah-Brooka,  the  Blest  ” . 

Magruder,  General . 

Massachusetts,  Sixth  Regiment  of . 

Macaulay,  Lord . 

Mangum,  Willie  P.  ..38,  73,  78,  105,  131, 


Mann,  Horace . 73, 

in  Congress .  . 


Webster’s  Newburyport  letter . 

Mansfield,  General . 561,  566, 

Mansfield,  Lord . 

Martineau,  Harriet .  . 


i,ial  tttJV/UU,  U  1  .  . . 

Marcy,  William  L.  ..41,  51,  59,  185,  202, 

203  230 

Marsh,  George  P .  525,  619, 

Mason,  John  M . 131,  136,  279,  441, 

Mason,  John  Y.\ . 51, 

Matteson,  O.  B . 114,  211, 

May,  Rev.  Samuel  J . 

McDowell,  General  Irwin . 585,  597, 

McLean,  John... .37,  40,  78,  88,  215,  278, 
McClellan,  General  George  B.,  561,  566, 
575,  597,  601,  613,  615, 

McClellan,  Dr . 

McClernand,  John  A . 


369 

237 

633 

91 

418 

413 

566 

548 

372' 

180 

181 

114 

192 

136 

585 

383 

380 

299 
632 
443 
396 
345 
169 
598 

300 

617 
44  : 
114  i 


PAGE. 

McMichael,  Morton .  50 

Meigs,  General  M.  C . 534,  53S 

Memminger,  C.  G .  109 

Mercier,  Henri . 520,  581 

Meredith,  Wm.M . 100,149,  15$ 

Secretary  of  Treasury . 100,  133,  14$ 

Methodist  Conference .  347 

Mexico . 200,  542,  544,  637 

Mexican  war . 30,  38,  42,  44,  49,  54,  59 

Millard,  Harrison . 561 

Miller,  Elijah . 167,  172,  173 

Miller,  Mrs.  Hannah .  329 

Military  situation,  circulars  on  the  ....  604 

Mingan  Islands  .  310 

Mintons,  manufactories  of . 383 

Minnesota,  admitted  as  State .  343 

Missouri  Compromise .  219 

Miner,  Myrtilla . 342 

Molina,  Senor  .  520 

Monckton,  Milnes . 378 

Morgan,  Christopher . 45,  53,  57 


Morgan,  Gov.  E.  D....254,  278,  351,  353, 

438,472,  551,  562,  61S 

Morgan,  George  D .  551 

Morrill,  Lot  M .  503 

Morton,  Governor . . . 134,  562,  618 

Mount  Vernon  in  1850 .  152 

Mure,  Robert .  629 

Murray,  Marshall .  608 

Murray,  William .  211 

Murphy,  Henry  C  .  522 

Myers,  Michael  S . 438 


K 


Napier,  Lord  and  Lady,  299,  332,  341, 

345,  351,  372,  376,  377,  430,  471 

Napier,  Sir  Charles . .  366 

Napoleon,  Louis . 367,  435 

elected  President  of  Frauce .  96 

Napoleon,  Prince .  607 

Neilson,  Charles . 237 

Nebraska  and  Anti-Nebraska  parties, 

222,  236,  270 


Nebraska  Bill .  217 

passage  of . 224,  228 

Neutrality,  British . 627,  628,  638 

New  Mexico .  149 

debate  on  admission  of .  150 

organized  without  proviso .  155 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad .  163,  164 

celebration  at  opening  of .  164 

New  York  Herald .  166 

New  York  Times  .  168 

founded  by  Raymond  &  Jones . 168 

Nicaragua  treaty .  135 

“  Nobility  and  gentry  ” . 368 

Nott,  Ehphalet . 121 

letters  and  counsel  . 99,  127 

Northrup,  Henry  B .  294 

Northrup,  Solomon .  294 

North,  John  W .  464 

Noyes,  William  Curtis .  503 

Nye,  James  W . 75,  257,  461,  469 


o. 


O’Connell,  Daniel . 52,  53 

eulogv  on .  .  54 


INDEX 


i  p 

O’ Conor,  Charles . 

Ohio  election . 

Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company . 

Olden,  Governor . . . 

Old  Hunkers  and  Barn  Burners . 


conflict  between . 30, 

Olin,  Abram  B . 

Oliver,  Mordecai . 

“  Omnibus  Bill” . 131, 


“Onto  Richmond”... 
Oregon  dispute  settled. 
Orleans  Princes,  the... 

Orr,  J.  L . 

Speaker . 

Orth,  G.  S . 

Opdyke,  George . 

Oxford,  University  of. 

P. 


Pacific  Railroad  Bill . 110, 

Pakenham,  Mr . 

Paris,  Congress  of . . 

Palmerston,  Lord . 367, 


“Paris  and  Charters,  Captains”.  . 

Parker,  Theodore . . 

letters,  32,  169,  192,  198,  225,  231, 


254,  262, 

Patterson,  General . 585, 

Patterson,  George  W . 75,  96,  108, 

Paulding,  Commodore  . 333, 

Paxton,  Sir  Joseph . 

Peace  Conference . 503, 

Peckham,  Rufus  W . 211, 

Peel,  Sir  Robert . 

Pemberton,  General . 

Pennington,  William . 442, 


Petigrus,  South  Carolina . 

Phillips,  Wendell . 263, 

Pinkerton,  Detective . 

Pickens,  Governor . 

Pierce,  Franklin .  184,196,275, 

inauguration  of . 201, 


Pierrepont,  Edwards . 

Pierpont,  Governor . '. 

Pius  IX . 

elected  Pope . 

Pike,  James  S . 

Minister  to  Hague . 

Pickens,  Fort.... 533,  534,  536,  538,  539, 


540, 

Plymouth,  oration  at . 258,  261, 

Polk,  James  K . .  . 30, 

administration  of . 91, 

Polk,  Bishop . . . 


Pollock,  Sir  Frederick  . 

Pompey . 

Pompeii . 

Porter,  General  Andrew 


Porter,  Admiral  David  D . 539, 

Porter,  General  Fitz  John . 

Post,  New  York  Evening . 

Potter,  Alonzo . 

Potter,  Horatio . 34, 

Pratt,  Senator . 


Pratt,  H.  C.  J  . 

Presidential  Conventions,  67,  68,  74,  186, 
187,  252,  264,  275,  278,  447,  450,  456, 


G45 


PAGE. 

Presidential  elections. .  .82,  87,  196,  291,  475 

French .  90 

Price,  Sterling  .  620 

Pringle,  Benjamin . 211 

Prince  Albert .  370 

Princes,  the  Orleans . 619,  620 

Prisoners  of  War.... .  615 

Privateers . 614,  625 

Pugh,  J.  L . 286,  297,  339 

Pulszky,  Count  and  Mrs... 179,  180,  366,  373 
description  of  Seward’s  home  by...  183 

Putnam,  Harvey . 58,  114 

Pusey,  Dr .  375 

Q. 

Quitman,  General  John  E .  35 

Queen  Victoria . 370,  373,  374,  381 

Queen’s  proclamation  of  belligerency. . .  577 

R. 

Railway  life .  41 

Randall,  Governor  A.  W . 327,  562,  618 

Randall,  Henry  S .  171 

Rantoul,  Robert .  192 

Raymond,  Henry  J .  239 

founding  New  York  Times  by .  168 

letters  from .  196 

elected  Lieutenant-Governor .  238 

address  by .  267 

Reagan,  Congressman . 443 

Rechberg,  Count . 421 

Reeder,  Governor  Andrew  H.,  253,  265, 

266,  268,  300 

Governor  of  Kansas .  242 

Reynolds,  John  H . 315 

Rhett,  R.  B .  109 

Rice,  Governor  A.  H .  588 

Ringgold,  Major .  35 

Ripley,  George .  202 

“  Seward’s  Works”  reviewed  by..:  202 

Risley,  Elijah .  114 

,  Ristori,  Madame .  394 

Rives,  John  C .  .  . .  215 

Robinson,  Governor .  467 

Rogier,  M . 435 

Rosecrans,  General . 575,  597 

liuggles,  Samuel  B .  222 

letters  from . 94,  128 

Rusk,  Thomas  J .  348 

Russell,  Lord  John . 371,  578 

Republican  party,  233,  234,  253,  256,  275,  352 

s. 

Sackett,  William  A .  114 

Sage,  Russell . 211,  271 

San  Domingo  and  Spain . 577,  637 

Sanford,  Henry  S . 532,  580 

appointed  Minister  to  Belgium .  525 

General  Garibaldi  and .  609 

Sanford,  General . 585,  597 

Santa  Anna,  General . 35,  43 

Sartiges,  Count  . 216,  230,  322 

Schenck,  General  R.  C . 114 

Schermerhorn,  A.  M .  114 

Schoolcraft,  John  L...112,  113,  166,  457,  458 


Scott,  Robert  E .  487 

Scott,  Thomas  A .  601 


AGE. 

446 

85 

323 

562 

55 

31 

353 

268 

132 

155 

597 

30 

619 

287 

358 

251 

551 

-375 

356 

30 

557 

374 

620 

192 

349 

597 

171 

343 

377 

514 

227 

157 

566 

478 

461 

109 

440 

510 

538 

293 

202 

558 

597 

404 

30 

525 

525 

593 

262 

37 

102 

620 

377 

408 

411 

601 

540 

601 

345 

44 

134 

149 

633 

458 


€46 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  35,  49,  G3,  148, 

166,  184,  186,  196,  507,  534,  553,  566 

at  Philadelphia  Convention .  69 

attacks  Vera  Cruz  .  37 

Lieutenant-General.  .42,  62,  71,  149,  159 

nominated  for  President .  187' 

organizing  defense  of  Washington.  560 

“ habeas  corpus”  and .  609 

Schouler,  William .  589 

Schuyler,  George  W .  250 

Schuyler,  General  Philip .  238 

Seaton,  W.  W . 212,  635 

Sedgwick,  Charles  B . 75,  353 

Selden,  Dudley  It .  293 

Secession . 479,  486,  489,  499,  504 

Senate,  U.  S . 104,  119,  120,  260,  357,  359 

506 

Seymour,  Horatio .  245 

Shadrach,  fugitive  slave .  169 

Shaftsbury,  Earl  of . 369 

Shannon,  Governor .  .  300 

Sherman,  John . .  268 

Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T . 601,  602,  627,  631 

Shields,  General . 134, 139,  176,  185,  220 

Shultz,  Capt.  A.  H . 629 

the  story  of  the  bag .  630 

Shubrick,  Commodore . 344 

“  Silver  Grays  ” .  159 

Sibley,  Henry  H .  114 

Sims,  fugitive  slave. .  169 

Simonton,  J.  W . 28,  216 

Simmons,  George  A .  211 

Sigourney,  Mrs.  L.  H .  344 

“Sixty  Days” . 483,  505,  512 

Slade,  Governor .  75 

Slemmer,  Lieutenant .  500 

Slidell,  John . 357,  441,  443 

Slave  trade . 349,  354 

Slaves  in  Washington .  72 

Slaveholder’s  dream .  142 

Slavery  and  freedom .  86 

conflict  between . 86,113,  229 

Smith,  Caleb  B....58,  75,  101,  103,  278,  521 

Secretary  of  Interior .  518 

Smith,  Gerrit . 169,  211,  213,  221 

Smith,  Jasper . 633 

Smith,  Truman. ..  .92,  101,  103,  107,  140, 

143,  146,  216,  219,  226,  227 

Smith,  William . 160 

Soldiers,  volunteer  and  regular .  244 

Seward,  Augustus  H ...  .46,  62,  100,  134, 

135,  241,  279,  621 

Seward,  Clarence  A . 157,  183,  561,  598 

Seward,  Mrs.  Frances  A... 112,  172,  179, 

182,  481,  497 

letters  of . 116,  120,  146,  179 

Seward,  Fanny _ 67,  152,  213,  241,  461, 

497,  534,  575,  596,  611,  638 
Seward,  Frederick  W.,  46,  72,  112,  141, 

173,  191,  219,  239,  299,  324,  326, 

329,  333,  452,  471,  489,  491,  502, 

511,  530,  586,  611 

Evening  Journal  and . .  171,  241 

warning  to  Mr.  Lincoln  by .  508 

Assistant  Secretary  of  State .  518 

Seward,  Mrs.  Frederick  W . 239,  240, 

296,  324,  334,  611 

Seward,  Samuel  S . 109,  110 

Seward,  William  II.,  Jr . 241,  459 

Seward  Institute,  the  S.  S .  110 


PAGE. 


Seward,  William  H. 

Addresses : 

At  mass  meeting  in  Boston .  79 

At  Yale  College .  235 

Before  the  American  Institute  in 

New  York .  208 

On  the  destiny  of  America .  207 

To  the  cartmen  of  New  York .  82 

To  Whig  meetings  throughout  the 

State  of  New  York .  78 

Advises: 

President  Fillmore  to  retain  present 

Cabinet .  144 

With  Weed  about  appointments  to 

office .  107 

Weed  of  Judge  Miller’s  death . 172 

Weed  to  come  to  Washington .  151 

Advocates : 

Abolition  of  slavery  in  District  of 


Abolishing  slave  trade  between  the 

States .  119 

Appropriation  Bill  for  Kansas .  285 

Appropriation  for  bringing  water  to 

Washington .  201 

Atlantic  telegraph .  295 

Building  war  steamers .  189 

Cheap  postage  .  158 

Distribution  of  land  to  soldiers. .  .  243 

Election  of  Taylor .  77 

Emancipation  in  District  of  Colum¬ 
bia .  154 

General  Scott’s  election .  187 

Gott’s  bill  abolishing  slavery  in  Dis¬ 
trict  of  Columbia .  94 

Homestead  Bill . 359 

Immediate  admission  of  Kansas. . . .  £68 
President’s  plan  on  California  ques¬ 
tion .  119 

Protection  to  American  industries..  246 
Purchase  of  Catliu’s  Indian  por¬ 
traits . 189 

Railroad  bridge  at  Albany. . . 350 

Railroad  to  the  Pacific .  110 

Relief  expedition  to  find  Sir  John 

Franklin .  131 

Reimbursing  Captain  Paulding .  159 

Right  of  petition . ' .  122 

Settlement  of  Texas  debt .  201 

Accepts : 

The  office  as  Senator  in  Congress 

98  99 

Office  of  Secretary  of  State . 487 

Acknowledges  Weed’s  wise  counsel..  163 
Affectionate  parting  with  John  Quincy 

Adams  at  Washington .  44 

Always  addressed  “Governor”  by 

his  friends .  105 

Amazed  at  Clay  and  Webster’s  atti¬ 
tude . 139 

An.  evening  with  General  and  Mrs. 

Gaines . • .  88 

Apprehensions  about  the  President’s 

illness .  143 

Argument  in  the  Ohio  slave  case .  34 

Artist  Harding  to  paint  John  Quincy 

Adams’  portrait  .  78 

At  the  old  Eagle  Tavern,  Albany .  32 

A  thousand  lessons  from  John  Quincy 
Adams .  44 


INDEX. 


647 


•  PAGE. 

Seward,  William  H. 

Attacked  by  advocates  of  slavery,...  119 
Attends  : 

Circuit  Court  in  Charleston .  109 

Dr.  Butler’s  church .  103 

Hutchinson’s  concert .  167 

His  nephew’s  wedding .  157 

His  son’s  wedding . 239 

President  Taylor’s  funeral .  146 

Rev.  Dr.  Pyne’s  church . 137 

Attitude  in  the  Senate  described  bv  his 

wife  . .120,  121 

A  trip  on  Lake  Erie .  85 

to  New  Orleans  . 473 

Begins  writing  life  of  John  Quiucy 

Adams . .109 

Becomes  Secretary  of  State .  518 

Becomes  surety  for  fugitive  slave  res¬ 
cuers  .  170 

Bishop  Potter’s  discourse .  34 

Calls  on  Colonel  Taylor  and  Dr.  Wood  146 

Ex-President  Fillmore . 202 

Father  Matthew . Ill 

Fredrika  Bremer  .  147 

Governor  Young .  33 

Greeley  at  Tribune  office . 67,  240 

Jefferson  Davis . 216 

Joseph  R.  Ingersoll .  93 

Mrs.  John  Quincy  Adams .  138 

Mrs.  Madison .  93 

Mrs.  Polk . .  93 

Mrs.  Stowe  and  Mr.  Beecher .  226 

President  Pierce  with  Charles  Sum¬ 
ner . 202 

President  Pierce .  212 

President  Taylor . 109 

Senator  Fish .  182 

Secretary  Marcy .  44 

Retiring  Cabinet .  149 

With  Colonel  Benton  on  Mrs.  Fre¬ 
mont  .  217 

William  M.  Meredith .  113 

Choice  classics  added  to  his  library. ..  43 

Confers  with  Secretary  Clayton. .....  125 

Confidential  letter  to  Weed .  162 

Conflict  between  slavery  and  freedom.  85 

Congratulated  by  Dr.  Nott . 98,  121 

Congratulates  Weed  on  canal  enlarge¬ 
ment  victory .  165 

on  his  return  from  Europe .  187 

Continues  to  present  anti-slavery  pe¬ 
titions  .  161 

Converses : 

With  the  Emperor  of  Austria . 423 

With  Pope  Pius  IX . 405 

With  Queen  Victoria . 371 

With  Victor  Emanuel . 428 

With  King  of  Belgium . 433 

Criticises  Lincoln’s  inaugural  address.  512 

Death  of  his  father .  109 

Declines  nomination  for  Vice-Presi¬ 
dent  .  67 

Defeat  of  Compromise  Bill .  151 

Defense  of  John  Quincy  Adams .  199 

Defends  Thomas  Corwin .  148 

Defends  Drayton  and  Sayre .  72 

Defends  Fillmore’s  administration  on 

the  fishery  question .  192 

Defends  Father  Matthew  in  Senate...  115 
Defends  the  Monroe  doctrine . 199 


PAGE. 

Seward,  William  H. 

Denounces  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law...  125 


Despises  Northern  recreants . 139 

Dispatches  to  foreign  Ministers  after 
Bull  Run .  .  603 


Differs  with  Daniel  Webster’s  views..  129 


Dinner  given  in  honor  of  Hungarian 


patriots . 117 

Dines  with  John  Quincy  Adams  and 

family .  61 

With  General  Cass . 166 

With  General  Scott .  182 

With  T.  Butler  King .  63 

With  Justice  Wayne  .  61 

With  Speaker  Winthrop .  61 

The  Cabinet .  148 

Colonel  Thomas  H.  Benton .  138 

Mr.  Harrington .  135 

Senators  Douglas,  Mortou  and 
Shields . . .  134 


Diplomatic  dispatches  to  Ministers, 

568,  572 

Distinguished  U.  S.  Senators  in  1849..  105 
Enormous  number  of'  his  speeches 


franked  by  members  of  Congress..  162 

Enters  on  his  fiftieth  year . 132 

Eulogy  of  John  Quincy  Adams .  65 

Of  Clay  in  U.  S.  Senate . 183 

Of  Daniel  Webster . 197,  198 

Executor  of  his  father’s  estate . 110 

Farewell  speech .  361 

Favorite  authors . 47,  204 

Festivities  at  Albany .  33 

“  Fifty  thousand  dollars  reward  for 

his  head  ” . 440 

First  and  last  page  of  his  diary . 521 

First  elaborate  senatorial  speech.. 106,  127 

First  meeting  with  Lincoln .  79 

First  meeting  with  Theodore  Parker..  262 
Franks  ten  thousand  of  his  California 

speech .  129 

Genial  hospitality  found  in  Charleston  109 
General  Scott’s  precautionary  meas¬ 
ures. . 514 

Drivingwith  Horace  Greeley . Ill 

Great  ends  cherished .  136 

Habits  of  reading .  47 

“  Have  you  seen  Sam” .  209 

Hears  Henry  Ward  Beecher  speak  for 

the  first  time . 226 

Bishop  Wainwright  at  Trinity 

Church . Ill 

Charlotte  Cushman  in  “  Romeo  and 

Juliet” .  172 

Mme.  Bishop  sing .  88 

The  Bishop  of  Jamaica .  137 

His  biography  by  a  Southern  fire- 

eater . .  . 445 

Course  approved  by  Whig  State 

Convention .  156 

Daily  occupation . 587 

Daughter’s  birthday . .  .  329 

Daughter’s  illness...  . 5S9 

•  If  found  in  Georgia,  threatened  with 

hemp  and  flax .  130 

“I  muzzle  not  my  mouth  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  slavery  ” . 148 

Inspecting  printing  machine .  42 

Interview  with  Judge  McLean .  61 

With  Thomas  Corwin .  61 


648 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 


Seward,  William  H. 

Introduces  Charles  Sumner  to  an  Au¬ 
burn  audience . * .  250 

Invited  by  Lincoln  to  become  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State  . 481 

“Irrepressible  conflict”  in  1848.. 193,  194 
Is  not  his  own  defender  or  advocate; 
“My  life  and  acts  must  speak  for 

me” .  121 

“  It  deserves  to  be  printed  in  letters 

of  fire” .  95 

John  Quincy  Adams’  prophecy .  38 

Judge  Nelson’s  decision .  63 

Legislature’s  vote  of  thanks .  66 

Letter  from  Abraham  Lincoln .  492 

From  Theodore  Parker .  198 

On  his  fifty-fourth  birthday .  251 

To  George  E.  Baker .  259 

To  his  daughter . 575,  586 

To  Theodore  Parker,  192,  198,  208, 

249,  353 

To  the  Republican  Central  Commit¬ 
tee  .  454 

To  his  youngest  son . ...  241 

Long  interview  with  President  Taylor.  101 

Manifesto  of  John  A.  Collier .  96 

Meets  Charles  Francis  Adams . 138 

Greeley  at  the  Astor  House .  63 

General  Lafayette  in  Paris .  367 

Julius  J  Wood .  63 

Methods  of  traveling  by  stage  coach..  41 
“  Memorandum  ”  for  the  Confederate 

Commissioners . 531,  538 

Michigan  conspiracy  trials .  165 

Minister  Crampton  and  his  dinner. . . .  214 
New  residence  on  F  street,  Washing¬ 
ton  . 354 

New  school  law  confirmed  by  popular 

vote . 168 

Offers  resolution  in  U.  S.  Senate  wel¬ 
coming  Kossuth .  175 

“On  the  stump”  for  Fremont .  291 

Opinion  of  Horace  Greeley .  52 

Opposes  “  Know-Nothing  ”  party....  234 
Orange  and  Chautauqua  land  invest¬ 
ments .  171 

Oration  at  Baltimore,  “  True  greatness 

of  our  country” .  94 

Oration  on  Daniel  O’Connell  at  Castle 

Garden  .  53 

Personal  appearance  as  U.  S.  Senator  105 
Placed  on  the  Committee  on  Com¬ 
merce .  181 

Planing  machine  trial .  88 

Predicts  financial  crash  of  1857 .  201 

Prediction  of  civil  war  and  emancipa¬ 
tion .  127 

Presents  credentials  of  Hamilton  Fish  174 

Process  of  writing  his  speeches .  95 

Predicts  survival  of  the  Union  through 

any  conflict .  127 

Reaction  of  public  feeling  in  the  Free¬ 
man  murder  trial . 29 

Reading  English  classics  in  Washing¬ 
ton  . 153 

Rebukes  Senator  Pratt  of  Maryland..  150 
Receives  the  British  and  French  Min¬ 
isters  separately  ;  refuses  to  receive 
joint  action  by  England  and  France.  581 
Re-elected  U.  S.  Senator .  . .  245 


PAGE. 

Seward,  William  H. 

Reflections  on  the  President’s  death. .  144 
Regarded  as  the  leader  by  the  Whig 

members . *. .  142 

Replies  to  British  law  officers .  631 

Replies  to  James  Kelly  and  other  vis¬ 
itors . * .  515 

Replies  to  Theodore  Parker . 232 

Replies  to  invitation  from  Philadelphia  177 
Returns  from  Europe  on  steamer 

“Arago” .  437 

Retires  from  U.  S.  Senate . 505 

Residence  in  Washington .  Ill 

On  Lafayette  Square,  Washington.  562 

Selects  his  senatorial  seat .  105 

Sends  tokens  to  his  daughter  Fanny, 

153,  1S2 

Sees  Lola  Montez  on  the  stage .  186 

Severe  trials  in  Washington .  121 

Shows  confidential  notes  to  Mr.  Ewing  125 
“  Shall  it  be  freedom  or  slavery  ”  . . . .  82 

Slave  trials  at  Washington .  72 

Speeches: 

At  Auburn  the  night  before  election  257 

At  Albany .  255 

At  the  State  Agricultural  Fair  at 

Rutland,  Vt .  194 

At  the  New  England  dinner,  in  New 

York . 483 

At  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  cel¬ 
ebration  .  164 

At  Plymouth,  “  The  Pilgrims  and 

Liberty” .  261 

Advocating  election  of  General  Scott  190 

For  freedom  in  Kansas . 443 

In  favor  of  Hungary .  117 

On  admission  of  California .  125 

On  admission  of  New  Mexico .  149 

On  American  commerce . 200,  201 

On  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific 

Ocean . / . 189,  190 

On  Clayton  Bulwer  treaty .  199 

On  French  spoliations .  158 

On  “  Freedom  and  Public  Faith  ”. .  219 

On  freedom  in  Europe .  178 

On  “  Usurpations  of  Slavery”.  ...  249 

On  his  return  from  Europe . 437 

On  the  state  of  the  Union . .  493 

Regarding  republic  domain .  158 

Second  speech  against  a  compromise  141 
Submits  Van  Zandt’s  case  to  the  Su¬ 
preme  Coui't .  35 

Summer  life  at  Auburn . 203,  204 

Sustained  by  the  Legislature  in  Albany  122 

Takes  oath  of  office  as  Senator .  104 

Telegraphs  Weed  to  come  to  Washing¬ 
ton .  145 

The  forged  letter  in  the  New  York 

Herald .  91 

“There  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Con¬ 
stitution  ” .  126 

“  There  is  a  power  higher  than  human 

law” . :....  150 

“  There  is  a  superior  power  that  over¬ 
rules  all  ” . 221 

“  The  Macomber  letter  ”„ .  96 

“  The  negro  might  be  crazy,  after  all,” 

29,  30 

The  old  house  at  Auburn  .  47 

Trip  to  Europe  in  1859 . 360,  362 


/ 


INDEX. 


64r> 


PAGE. 

Sew.ard,  William  H. 

Vindicates  President  Taylor  on  the 

“  Free-Soil  ”  question .  108 

Visits  scene  of  the  battle  ground  of 

Waterloo .  431 

Visits  scene  of  the  capture  of  Major 

Andre . . . 205,  207 

Visit  to  Mount  Vernon . 152 

John  Quincy  Adams .  37 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benton .  116 

The  King  of  Belgium .  433 

Sir  Henry  Bulwer .  147 

Henry  Clay .  61 

John  M.  Clayton . 84,  101,  113 

A.  Sidney  Doane .  82 

William  M.  Evarts,  at  Windsor,  Vt.  450 

Mrs.  Alexander  Hamilton .  116 

Abraham  Lincoln,  at  Springfield,  Ill.  468 

Judge  John  McLean  .  37 

President  Polk .  61 

Josiah*  Randall .  81 

Mrs.  James  Watson  Webb . 196 

Voyage  to  the  Holy  Land .  413 

Walks  and  talks  with  Secretary  Mere¬ 
dith . 137,  141 

Warning  to  Vice-President  Fillmore..  94 

Washington  in  1849 .  104 

Weed’s  hospitable  mansion .  99 

William  Freeman  dies  insane .  52 

Will  not  reply  to  personal  attacks.. ..  150 
Whig  speeches  in  Philadelphia. . .  .80,  81 

Writes  to : 

Fowler  and  Wells,  New  York .  116 

His  son  Augustus .  ....  135 

Judge  Alfred  Conkling .  116 

Mr.  "Homberger,  of  Tennessee .  162 

Christopher  Morgan  about  Fugitive 

Slave  Law .  161 

Weed  in  Europe .  176 

Soule,  Pierre .  105,  134,  135 

Southern  States .  500 

secession  of . 501 

Spirit  rappings .  157 

Spaulding,  Elbridge  G....114,  209,  353,  455 

Sprague,  Governor  William . 562 

Spanish  American  Republics  . 583 

Spinner,  Francis  E . 287,  353,  440 

Star  of  the  West .  500 

Stanley,  Edward . 78,  174,  283 

Stanton,  Edwin  M....491,  492,  525,  537,  605 

Stanton,  Frederick  P . 114,  299 

Stanton,  Henry  B . 75,  443 

Stebbins,  Miss .  344 

Stetson,  Charles  A .  140 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.  .75, 114,  153,  339,  501 

Stevens,  Thaddeus . 51,114,  155,  174 

Stockton,  Commodore.... . 35,  49,  291 

Stoeckl,  M.  Edward  de .  520 

Stone,  Colonel  Charles  P . 508,  601 

Stowe,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher,  40,  207,  294,  329 

Stratford-on-Avon .  379 

Stringham,  Commodore . 559,  610 

Sumter,  Fort,  500,  528,  529,  534,  536,  537, 

•  543,  593 

Sumner,  Charles,  i60,  186,  191,  202,  204, 

212,  214,  219,  229,  247,  250,  252, 

260,  279,  282,  287,  330, 

assault  on  . 

speeches  of . 182,  192,  223, 

reelected  Senator . 


PAGE. 

Sumner,  General . .  561 

Sutter,  Captain .  89 

discovery  of  gold  by . 89,  90 

Sutherland,  Duchess  of . 369,  377,  385 


480 

241 

271 

296 


T. 


Talbot,  Lieutenant. 
Tassara . 


Taylor,  Colonel . 62,  87,  89, 

Taylor,  General . 35,  36,  42,  49, 

nominated  for  Presidency. .  ..43,  49, 

69,  70,  71, 

President.  .87,  89,  100,  101,  103,  107, 

112, 

“  plan  of  ” . 118, 

Cabinet 'of . 89,  92,  103,  107, 

family  of . 100,  101,  138, 

death  of . 142,  144,  146, 

Texas . 126, 

formation  of  States  from . 63, 

Boundary  Bill  . 153, 

Tennant,  Sir  James . 

Thayer,  Eli . 

emigrant  aid  societies  of . 233, 

Thomas,  General  L . 491, 

Thomas,  G.  H . 

Thompson,  Rev.  J.  D . 

letters  to . 507, 

Thompson,  Jacob  . . . . 

Secretary  of  Interior . 

Thorburn,  Grant... . 

Thouvenel,  M . 

Times,  New  York . 196,  345, 

Tiemann,  Mayor . 

Tooke’s  “Diversions  of  Purley” . 

Three  Million  Bill . 

Toombs,  Robert.. 114,  153,  223,  226,  286, 

287,  442,  482,  486, 

Toucey,  Isaac . 

Townsend,  General  E.  D . 

Treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo . 63, 

Trentham . . 

“True  Greatness  of  Our  Country” _ 

Trumbull,  Lyman . 260,  281,  468,  484, 

Tucker,  Gideon  J . 

Tweed,  William  M . 

Twiggs,  General  . 

Tyler,  John . * . 

President . .  . 


533 

520 

146 

63 

78 

117 

119 

145 

147 
147 
153 
126 
155 
369 

233 

234 
627 
601 
634 
634 
114 
298 

67 

580 

483 

437 

58 

38 

530 

298 

552 

64 
385 

94 

503 

212 

211 

501 

73 

503 


u. 

Ujhazi,  Governor .  117 

Ullman,  Daniel .  171 

“  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin” .  40 

Underground  railroad . 170,  258 

Underwood,  Senator .  43 

Upham,  Senator .  141 

Uprising  of  the  people. . .  .546,  548,  558,  563 

Utah  Territory .  155 

the  army  in . 335 

Y. 

Van  Arman  in  Detroit .  167 

A’an  Buren,  John . 55,  75 

speeches  of . 75,  84 

Van  Buren,  Martin . 71,  84,  87 

nominated  by  Free-Soilers .  75 

Vanderbilt,  Cornelius .  287 

Van  Limburg. . .  . 520 


650 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 


PAGE. 


Van  Rensselaer,  Henry .  552 

Van  Wyck,  Charles  H .  353 

Van  Zandt,  story  of  John . 39,  40 

Vatican . 407 

Victor  Emanuel,  King  of  Italy  . 428 

Virginia  plantation  life .  321 

Vinton,  Samuel  F  . 114,  344,  358 

Vosburg,  Colonel .  561 


w. 


Wade,  Benjamin  F...174,  223,  226,  247, 

260,  287,  298,  441,  472,  4S2 

Wadsworth,  James  S .  55 

Wales,  Prince  of . 471 

W alker,  Robert  J . . .  58,  299,  325 

Secretary  of  Treasury .  58 

Governor  of  Kansas . 300 

Walbridge,  Hiram .  211 

Walsh,  Mike .  211 

“  Walker  Amendment  ” .  102 

Walewsky,  Comte  de .  396 

Walworth,  Chancellor . 79,  235,  236 

War  in  the  Crimea .  264 

Washburne,  E.  B . 440,  511 

Washburn,  Israel. .  .  .232,  455,  456,  459,  480 

Watson,  P.  C  . . 492 

Wayne,  Justice . 109,  605,  J308 

Washington  in  1849 .  104 

in  1858 . 341 

in  danger . 547,  551 

in  war  time . 610,  611,  612 

W ashington’ s  Head-quarters  at  Newburg,  157 
Webb,  General  J.  Watson,  33,  98,  279,  284,  638 

Webb,  W.  Seward.  .  196 

Webster,  Daniel.  ...38,  69,  70,  74,  78,  80, 

82,  84,  94,  128,  130,  131,  140,  166, 

176,  177,  188,  191 

Senator.. 102,  105,  120,  124,  132,  136, 

137,  138,  140,  148 
Secretary  of  State. .37,  147, 151, 164,  192 

death  of .  197 

character  of . 198 

Webster,  E.  D .  633 

Webster,  Professor .  157 

Weed,  Thurlow 

Advice  about  new  Constitution .  31 

Approves  Seward’s  course  in  Father 

Matthew’s  case .  115 

Clay’s  speech  against  the  President’s 

plan . 134 

Confidential  letter  from  Seward . 162 


Congratulated  by  Seward  on  canal  en¬ 
largement  victory .  165 

Colonel  Taylor  a  warm  friend .  89 

Dispatch  from  Seward . 559 

Efforts  to  avoid  Whig  dissension . 107 

Errand  of  love  and  tenderness  to 

Greeley .  42 

“Freedom’s  banner  trails  in  the  dust 

at  Washington  ” . 155 

Favors  General  Taylor’s  nomination 

for  President .  69 

Getting  ready  for  the  battle .  68 

Invitation  to  visit  Auburn .  34 

His  magnanimous  friendship . 103 

His  star  again  in  the  ascendant .  55 

Letters  from  Seward . 453,  478 

“Must  stop  publishing  Wilmot  pro¬ 
viso  articles  ” .  70 


Weed,  Thurlow 

Not  to  be  supplanted .  87 

Obnoxious  to  the  “Know-Nothing” 

party .  210 

Praise  of  Granger  by  Seward .  86 

Predicts  Hamilton  Fish’s  success .  96 

Seward  and  Fillmore  meet  at  Weed’s 

house .  106 

Seward  advises  him  to  come  to  Wash¬ 
ington  . 145,  151 

Seward  thanks  him  for  wise  counsel, 

121,  163 

The  Evening  Journal  waging  a  gener¬ 
ous  conflict . 137 

Thanks  Seward  for  his  New  Mexico 

speech  .  151 

Union  Defense  Committee .  576 

Upon  General  Scott .  516 

With  Christopher  Morgan .  161 

Weed,  Harriet  A . . . 173,  454 

Weller,  Senator .  286 

Welles,  Gideon .  521 

Secretary  of  Navy _ 518,  521,  552,  585 

Wentworth,  John .  114 

Westbrook,  T.  R .  211 

Westminster,  Marquis  of . 371 

Whittier,  John  G . 496 

poetic  tribute  to  Seward. . 496 

Whittlesey,  Frederick . 33,  48,  100 

Whig  party . 107,  156,  158 

end  of . - . 56,  256 

Whig  Review . 137 

Wilmot  Proviso . 38,  55,  56,  58,  102,  143 

Wilmot,  David . 114,  278,  279,  451 

Wickliffe,  C.  A .  503 

“Wide  Awakes” . 461,  470 

Wilder,  A.  C .  466 

Wilkes,  Captain . 358 

Wilkinson,  M.  S . 455,  460 

Willard  Guards . 297 

Willey,  Senator .  597 

Williamson,  Passmore . 253,  254 

Wilson,  Henry.... 69,  157,  247,  251,  260, 

266,  270,  277,  281,  346,  359,  455, 

460,  478,  591 

history  of  slavery  by . 273,  616 

Winslow,  John  F . 623 

Winthrop,  Robert  C..58,  78, 112,  421,  423,  424 

Wirt,  William .  51 

Wiseman,  Cardinal. .. .  . . 369 

Wood,  Bradford  R . 525,  596 

Wood,  Julius  J .  63 

Wood,  Dr .  83 

Wood,  Sir  Charles . 376 

Wood,  General  John  E . 35,  49 

“  Woolly.  Heads” . 159 

World’s  Fair  in  London . 168 

Woolsey,  President .  235 

Worden,  Alvah . 267 

Worden,  Mrs . 183,  329,  610 

Worth,  General . i . 35,  49 

Wright,  H.  G . 552,  601 

W  right,  Silas .  32 


Y. 

Yale,  address  at . 

Young,  John . 31,  32, 

Y  rissari . . . 

Yulee,  D.  L . 


235 

34 

520 

197 


/ 

PETER  WYCKOFF. 

Flushing  Ave.  &  Purdy  Place* 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


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